The Big Impact Quiz
2025–26 Edition
How well do you know what students achieved last year?
15 questions. £100 up for grabs. Go!
We introduced Community Organising, with Citizens UK
It’s how students build power together and win real change. We joined Citizens UK, the national alliance, to learn how.
The five steps of social change.
New Era
How students took the lead last year
4
4 paid, part-time SU Reps now speak up for you
Four part-time SU Representatives replaced the Full-Time Officers. They’re current students, representing you while they study. And more of you now know what they do:
Helping Students Achieve
Meet Chak
I’m proud that I have taken the voices of students to the power holders. From lobbying for mandatory disability awareness training and sensory rooms on campus, to the national Pay the Placement campaign, I’m especially proud that I have championed voices that are historically marginalised in the student movement.
Chak Yee Former SU Representative
Students now make the Union’s big decisions
Union Leadership, made up of SU Reps and School Reps, sets the agenda. Our first ever Student Assemblies, open to all, met in December and April to pick what the Union works on. How it works:
How an issue becomes a Union priority.
Meet Safurah
Being a School Rep has been so rewarding! It’s helped me grow so much in confidence, develop skills I never expected and, most importantly, realise how much of a difference students can make when their voices are heard. I’ve been given the opportunity to turn ideas and feedback into meaningful changes that support other students. I’d encourage anyone thinking about getting involved to go for it, because you never know how much of an impact you could have!
Safurah Hans School Rep for Psychology and Humanities
Students chose four Union Priorities last year
Each one now has an action group working on it.
- Timetabling
- Placements
- Cost of Studying
- Accessibility
Helping Students Achieve
69
69 Communities were set up to help you find your people
Academic, faith, identity and nationality. Paid student Community Organisers help each one find its leaders and the issues that matter.
69 Communities across four clusters: Academic, Faith, Identity and Nationality.
Protecting Student Wellbeing
Tackling the Cost of Studying
Making university more affordable
£230,000+
More than £230,000 was paid to student staff
Over 70 students worked for us in jobs that fit around their studies, including new Student Researcher and Community Organiser roles. 95% would recommend the Union as a place to work.
Tackling the Cost of Studying
£2,818
£2,818 helped 57 students join a club or Society
The Access to Activity Grant gave about £50 each to students who could not otherwise afford to take part.
57 students supported, with about £50 each.
£12,660
£12,660 was saved on the weekly shop
202 Essentials Hub members paid £5 a week for up to £30 of food and toiletries. Mature students, students with jobs and students from lower-income areas use it most.
£5 a week for up to £30 worth of shopping.
Tackling the Cost of Studying
£2.99
A meal deal at the Union Café starts at £2.99
We price food, drink and socials below the going rate on purpose, so there’s always a cheap place on campus to eat and meet up.
Over 32,000 hot drinks were also served in the SU Café, bringing students together over a cuppa.
Tackling the Cost of Studying
20%
Students now get 20% off at Lampworks
We also launched a brand-new menu designed with students, to help keep a night out affordable. And it’s been a hit, with over 6,000 meals and 26,000 drinks served, bringing students together to socialise and make connections.
Tackling the Cost of Studying
Meet Sean
Lampworks always has something going on. With the weekly quizzes and events like the recent Halloween bingo, it is the best spot to get together with your friends.
Sean Worrall Computer Science Student
We backed the national campaign for paid placements
#PayThePlacement calls for nursing and healthcare students to be paid for placement hours. Students here signed the petition, shared their stories and joined action groups.
Placement hours that go unpaid.
We took your student loan concerns to Parliament
Our Reps joined the NUS campaign Don’t Freeze Our Futures. MPs then launched an inquiry into student loans, and we were one of 26 Students’ Unions to give evidence.
One of 26 Students’ Unions to submit evidence.
Tackling the Cost of Studying
A map of the UK with lines spreading out from Preston to cities across the country.
Joining the National Movement
Our SU Rep Avery was elected NUS Vice-President of Liberation and Equality
Avery’s activism started here at the Students’ Union, years before she became an SU Rep. She won the national election in the first round, with 42% of the vote. Her campaign was built on listening: she contacted 96 Reps and held 18 meetings, and heard again and again that Reps feel undervalued. Now she’s taking that message to the national student movement.
Meet Avery
The Students’ Union gave me the space to practise my activism in a safe and supportive environment, providing opportunities to speak on bigger stages regionally and nationally which eventually became vital to achieving my goal of leading the national movement. Your Union has the tools to help you do great things, make the most of those tools.
Avery Greatorex Former SU Rep and NUS Vice-President of Liberation and Equality
Protecting Student Wellbeing
Finding your people and feeling supported
5,600+
5,600 of you came to our three Welcome fairs
We served 300 free meals on Welcome Sunday too, and students starting in January got their own Welcome.
2,000 at Societies Fair, 1,500 at Sports and Activity Fair and 2,100 at Freshers' Fair.
Protecting Student Wellbeing
83%
83% of Nepalese students joined their new Community
That’s 372 students in its first year. This year, we plan to engage more students in our other Nationality Communities.
83 of every 100 Nepalese students
Each square is 1% of Nepalese students
Protecting Student Wellbeing
100+
More than 100 students joined the new Medical Society
The Medicine and Dentistry Societies joined together and relaunched.
Separate Societies came together as one Medical Society.
200
200 students came together at our Holi Festival
We planned it with the Hindu Community, and Hindu and non-Hindu students celebrated together.
We held the University’s first ever Grand Iftar
Planned with the Muslim Community, it was one of several ways we backed faith Communities last year.
Our student Community Organisers built spaces where students feel they belong
Student parents and carers met over half-term. LGBTQ+ students came together for LGBT+ History Month. Black students had their own get-togethers. Places to be with people who get it. And belonging is one of the biggest reasons students stay and succeed.
Meet Taqdees
Through building relationships with students, listening to their experiences, and helping them work together on issues that matter to them, I’ve seen positive change happen across our university Communities. The most rewarding part of my role is connecting students with each other and watching them grow as leaders and as individuals.
Taqdees Ur-Rehman Community Organiser
Live music is back at 53 Degrees
Lucy Spraggan reopened it in summer 2025. Paul Heaton, Blossoms and The Script followed. And every gig means paid shifts for our student staff and over 33,000 drinks sold since.
Protecting Student Wellbeing
We supported a whole-university approach to mental health
The University’s Charter outcome recognised our role in making sure students’ voices shaped the support on offer.
What students said fed into the Charter.
Protecting Student Wellbeing
We started work with the University on sensory spaces for neurodivergent students
Chak, one of our SU Representatives, listened to the Disabled Students’ Community and took their feedback to University services. It’s the start of a journey towards calmer spaces on campus, shaped by the students who need them.
A busy, noisy space becomes a calm one.
Disabled students set three priorities for change
With the Disabled Students’ Community, we focused on building trust and growing new leaders. We found strong emerging leaders, and we’re supporting them to develop. Together, students set three clear priorities:
Safer physical access, British Sign Language interpreters and inclusive support in the classroom.
The Community has been clear and vocal about the need for change. This year we’ll back students to take action on all three and lead that change themselves, while our SU Reps take their feedback to the University.
Meet Alicia
Most students have ideas for making things better, but joining together with others facing similar issues means you can make change. Having been involved in campaigns and being able to see the real results around campus is an amazing feeling. Sometimes the changes may only seem small to others, but for people in the communities affected they can be huge, and that is why it is so important that we have a voice.
Alicia Cartwright Accessibility Action Group Member
Helping Students Achieve
Turning what you tell us into change
Your timetabling feedback went into University policy
Timetabling was one of the four priorities students chose. For years you’ve told us the same things: confusing systems, poor communication and a crammed academic calendar. So when the University reviewed its Timetabling Policy, our Timetabling Priority Action Group was ready with your experiences, ideas and questions.
A crammed timetable settles into a tidy week.
What came of it:
Your feedback went straight into the policy review, the University took it seriously, and wider issues went to the schools and services that can fix them.
We launched our Insight & Influence Team
Two paid Student Researchers turned what you told us into evidence, so students walked into meetings with the University armed with facts. In their first year they:
Researched placements, assessments and retention; briefed Union Leadership; produced reports on the NSS, the Union Survey and each school; launched Student Soundbyte with joint editions alongside University teams.
300 University and Union staff read Student Soundbyte every month. Along with the Medicine & Dentistry School Rep, the team gathered students’ views on the Burnley bus between campus and placements. That evidence opened talks with the University about a better service.
Travel between Preston, Burnley and placement locations.
Students told us five things that keep them on their course
Knowing why students leave helps us put better support in place. So our Student Researchers asked, for the University’s Retention Project Group. You’re more likely to stay when you have:
Accessible teaching, clear communication, help with the cost of living, events that celebrate culture and diversity, and groups where you can make friends.
3,688
3,688 students were in a Student Group, about 1 in 7
Up 24% on the year before. Feeling part of something helps you do well at university.
Membership grew by 24% on the year before.
Helping Students Achieve
Meet Owen
Being part of a Society has helped me meet loads of new friends and given me so many opportunities I never thought I’d get, from directing a full musical to teaching classes. If you’re wondering whether to join a Society or start your own, my advice would be: do it, you won’t regret it!
Owen Law Student and Co-Chair, Centre Stage Musical Theatre Society
500+
More than 500 students got free, independent advice
About 10 new cases a week, and they’re getting more complex. A new online portal makes advice easier to find. We can help with:
Academic Appeals, Attendance Appeals, Academic Misconduct, Mitigating Circumstances, Student Complaints, Fitness to Practise, Student Disciplinary, Support to Study and Student Fees.
Helping Students Achieve
In their words
The Advice Team supported me when I needed it most. I was facing a complicated situation and felt completely out of my depth. They guided me through my case, attended an important meeting with me, and advocated on my behalf when I felt at my most vulnerable. Their support made a difficult experience much more manageable, and I’m incredibly grateful to know I can rely on them when I need help.
Anonymous Advice Service User
26
Our Net Promoter Score is 26, up from 13 the year before
In the Union Survey 2026, more of you would recommend the Union.
say we act on your feedback
feel academically represented
say we support your wellbeing
rate our events good or excellent
Helping Students Achieve
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