Universities & students’ unions do fantastic work supporting Student Opportunities, providing training and making sure spaces are safe and the people involved are having great experiences. However, we know that racism is a problem in Higher Education and a lot more needs to be done to support Black students. We want Student Opportunities to be anti-racist spaces and for the people involved to be actively anti-racist.

1000s of students get involved with Student Opportunities every month across the UK. Student Opportunities are how many students get involved with things and many Sabbatical Officers start their journey through sports, societies, volunteering, fundraising, and media. We want to make sure that the Black students are given the same opportunities to thrive in university.

That’s why we’ve teamed up and created Anti-racist Student Opportunities Training.

We want to help you to feel confident taking anti-racist actions. We will explore ideas for ensuring new opportunities are anti-racist and share ideas for changing existing practice.

We have delivered the training to a number of organisations who have made significant impacts through their anti-racism work after doing the training. This has been successful in both students’ unions and in university sports departments.

Learning Objectives

Understand key terms used in tackling anti-racism
Understand how racism presents itself in student opps
Understand what an active anti-racist university & SU looks like
Understand what data to collect to help your anti-racism mission
Understand how to embed anti-racism in your student opportunities work.

Our offer

6 hours of training designed by experts in diversity and student opportunities
A training workbook to create your action plan
An extensive reading & resources list
Digital check in meeting with your trainers 3 months on from the training (30 mins)

When & how is it delivered?

Our digital offer

The training is split over two, half days (3 hours each). We’ve organised it this way so that participants have time to work on other things during the rest of the day and are able to fully engage with the training whilst you are in the (virtual) room.

We can have up to 4 organisations in each training cohort. If we are fully booked we will discuss the next available date with you and others on the waiting list.

All of the training and associated resources will be accessed digitally. The two training sessions will be delivered via Google Hangouts, Teams or Zoom. When you have signed up we will share the joining instructions & links via email.

Our in-person offer

The training is delivered over 1 day (6 hours) with time for lunch in the middle. We can train groups of up to 50 people or as small as 10.

We prefer to work with one organisation at a time but can discuss a collaborative approach.

Who is the training for?

The content focuses on Student Opportunities so we recommend that people attending the training work within societies, sport, volunteering, media, fundraising and social action.

The training is useful for staff and sabbatical officers. Staff at all levels have benefitted from the training.

Whilst colleagues working in departments outside of student opportunities are welcome, the examples and activities within the training are specific for opportunities. The content is useful for senior managers with oversight of student opportunities.

Is this training just for people working in students’ unions?

No! Initially we designed it for a students’ union audience but we have since adapted it.

We were asked to adapt the content for sport and worked with a university sport department to train their entire team. This was great and received wonderful feedback.

The content focuses on student opportunities, and is appropriate for anyone working in this area, whether you are part of the university or students’ union.

Cost

Digital

£1,100+VAT per institution/students’ union for three digital places on the training. You will be asked upon booking to confirm the names, email addresses and roles of the attendees.

Additional attendees can be added for £350+VAT per person.

In-person

Pricing depends on group size, but starts at £3,500+VAT. We will discuss your plans and tailor our charge to your needs and our expenses.

Payment is made via invoice. There is space within the booking form for your purchase order/reference number and the details for where we should send the invoice. We will send your invoice when the training dates have been confirmed.

Training dates

We run the digital training in cohorts across the year:

Anti-racist Student Opportunities - student sport

7th & 8th August 2024

Anti-racist Student Opportunities - general (covering societies, fundraising, volunteering, media and sport)

6th & 7th November 2024

Sign ups close 1 week before the training is due to take place

The dates for all cohorts can also be found here.

In-person training can be arranged when you need it - contact Rosie to arrange your dates

About the trainers

Osaro Otobo

Higher education consultant specialising in diversity and inclusion, and in democracy and governance. Osaro is Deputy Chair of the British Youth Council and created the #makediversitycount campaign which is calling for all UK organisations to have transparent and effective anti-discrimination policies and procedures for long-term change. She co-wrote Anti-racist Student Opportunities with Rosie (Director at Organised Fun).

Alvin Ramsamy

Associate Trainer with Organised Fun and Deputy Chief Executive Officer at Queen Mary Students’ Union. Alvin has worked in students’ unions for 10 years, has experience in the private sector and started his career as a sabbatical officer.

Find out more

Register your interest and we will get back to you to answer your questions and discuss options.

For anything else please email us.

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