Springing into Summer 2009 - Unipol Training Events April to August 2009
I thought it might be useful to update you on our training programme over the next four months. The third term, if you have those any more, is always where we concentrate on more specialist themes and needs within the accommodation sector and this year there are several new, or very substantially revised events:
Our first post-Easter event is a new half day seminar looking at The LACORS Fire Safety Guidance and How It Applies To Student Housing, on Friday 24th July in central London. This guidance sets the main fire standards for all smaller houses under local authority enforcement. This Guidance has also been subject (on 30th March 2009) to a separate "written clarification" of some key issues. We are fortunate that Mr Neil Marsden, an acknowledged expert and part of the LACORS panel who wrote the guidance, has agreed to lead this event. Bookings are strong, but there are still about 9 places available.
Our one day seminar, Putting Mediation into Practice takes place in Leeds on Wednesday 29th April deals with the applications of mediation and conflict resolution in managing student accommodation. The day is led by Chris Tucker from Sussex University, assisted by Sarah McDonald from Unipol. The day looks at a number of scenarios and involves group work.
Inspecting Smaller Houses for Student Occupation, on Friday 15th May, taking place in Leeds, looks at how to inspect a student house and prepare a report. The day, led by Mr Philip Moxon, an independent environmental health officer, involves examining the techniques that make inspections worthwhile and then a visit to a house and a report back, from each group, are examined.
On Monday 1st June 2009 in Leeds we are running a new one day seminar, aimed at staff and advisers dealing with court actions where monetary settlement is important entitled Using the Country Court: Small Claims in Housing Cases. The day has been priced in order to ensure that advisers can attend. The day is being led by Mr John Martin, the barrister. Bookings are already strong for this course that is limited to 25 delegates.
The popular three day residential course Advanced Housing Skills, is being run in York between 6th to 8th May. This course has been fully revised to include the use of disciplinary procedures, deposit protection and the HHSRS in the context of the complex legal issues as they affect contractual enforcement of student tenancies. The intensive nature of the course, including much group work and participation, provides real in-depth legal knowledge on issues of central importance to students and their housing.
As the credit crunch takes effect there is evidence that rent is becoming ever more difficult to collect. Collecting Student Rent Effectively, held in Leeds on Monday 8th June, is entirely new and has been structured to look at three examples of good practice in effective rent collection and then looks at the legal perspective on what sanctions housing suppliers have enforced to collect debt payment, ideally without having to resort to court action. This should be a stimulating day, allowing in-depth discussion of issues and techniques surrounding the ever-increasingly important area of collecting the rent.
On Friday 19th June we are undertaking a revamped one day seminar entitled Responding to Disability in Student Accommodation in central London. This gives a full update looking at legal obligations in this area and there are two important case studies of how institutions are implementing strategies: The University of Leeds and the University of the Arts in London. What difference has the 2005v Act made and how are institutions using their Disability Equality Schemes to bring about change? The seminar aims to be right up to date and includes an insight into the forthcoming single Equalities Bill.
On Thursday 25th June, also in central London, we are holding a special one day conference entitled The International Student Experience and Student Housing Needs: Meeting the Needs. The day is designed to explore the accommodation expectations and needs of international students and look at how well we are meeting those. There are reports back on four pieces of research in Nottingham, Leeds, and nationally through UKISA and i-Graduate.
STOP PRESS - NEW EVENTS
There are three dates for the diary and further details will appear very shortly on the Unipol web site.
Unipol is undertaking a round table seminar on Friday 10th July in central London looking at The Future Development of Student Accommodation: What Happens After the Credit Crunch: Trends, Difficulties, Likely Developments and the Future, geared at policy makers and those running and leading services. The day will involve key movers and shakers from within the sector.
On Thursday 11th June we are planning to hold a joint one day conference hosted by Birmingham Guild of Students with NUS looking at Students in the Community: Recent Developments in Student-Led Community Partnerships. This follows the recently published Neighbourhood Briefing by NUS and will look at: the development of community elected officers, supported by staff in Birmingham, Leeds and Nottingham, together with developments in Local Authorities and Government in this important area. This one day conference follows on from last year's success hosted by Leeds University Union and this will be similarly priced to ensure maximum participation from interested parties.
Also on the subject of community is a three day residential event, geared at student sabbaticals and staff, looking at Student Housing, the Market, the Community and What Students Unions Can Do. This is being held over three days on Tuesday 18th to Thursday 20th August 2009. Those who attended last year found this a rewarding experience with much discussion, interaction and a lengthy community game that was highly productive.
I hope you find these events of interest and that some of the more specialist events are of help to you, or your colleagues. Can I take this opportunity of thanking you, and our speakers, for your continuing support of our programme and we are doing everything possible to hold down and, in some cases, reduce prices in these difficult times.
I am always keen to receive feedback from those who attend our events and even keener to have suggestions for future events, or matters to be included in our programme, so do not hesitate to get in touch.
