9 months on and the plan ahead

It is now 9 months since I began my first term as UJS Chair. As term draws to a close it is important for me and the entire UJS team to evaluate how we have developed and taken UJS forward. Our mission was: To inspire every Jewish student to engage in meaningful Jewish campus experiences and to make an enduring commitment to their Jewish identity, Israel and the community. At the beginning of the year the UJS team laid-out four key objectives:

1. To build a lasting and genuine partnership between UJS & J-Soc.
2. To develop programmes that are well organised, relevant and supportive of J-Soc.
3. To inspire activism and leadership on campus.
4. To strengthen the union and democracy of UJS.

It is mainly by these criteria that we will be judging ourselves. However, over the next few months UJS will be asking many of you how UJS can better support J-Soc and Jewish students. Your ideas, input and ingenuity will be crucial to strengthening UJS next year.

In the past week some key decisions have been taken. First, UJS has finalised the details of a new database system that will give J-Soc the ability to target text-messages and e-mails to their membership. In addition, each J-Soc will have their own event-management system to sell tickets for free online. Second, UJS is now re-designing the www.ujs.org.uk website to include various new features, such as podcasts, videos, and will be integrated with new media, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. It will be launched by the start of the next academic year. Finally, UJS is in the process of finalising the budget for 2009-2010. The allocation of funds to J-Soc will be a priority. Next year, a UJS Initiative Fund will be set aside to support the ideas and projects of Jewish students on campus. More details to follow...

The remainder of last week was spent preparing for the Tel Aviv 100 White Party in Birmingham on Tuesday night, as well as the UJS Student Awards on Sunday 22nd March. At the awards the 'UJS Apprentice', 'UJS Initiative Fund' and 'Eilu v'Eilu' will be launched. The winners of each of the awards, besides winning trips across the world, will now sit on the top table at the Friday night with the Chief Rabbi on Friday 27th March. To reserve your place visit www.tribeuk.com

At the end of this week I visited Birmingham and joined the J-Soc for Friday night. In four years of tasting J-Soc chicken soup on campus, it was one of the best. Congratulations to Antony Bunt and his J-Soc team!

May the battle of best J-Soc chicken soup commence! Perhaps next year we will have a UJS Student Award to recognise such culinary achievement.