ENSA: Your Students’ Association
To all Napier students old and new, welcome (back!)
We wanted to give you a brief overview of ENSA (Edinburgh Napier Students’ Association). And how you can use the services we provide to make the most of your time at Edinburgh Napier.
Firstly, if you don’t already know, ENSA is a not a university department, we are an independent charity representing Edinburgh Napier’s students.
We are based in our office at B34 in Merchiston. But have advice offices at both Sighthill and Craiglockhart too. And now have shared use of the Upper Apex at Merchiston and the Hangout (the seating area just across from the Cafe) at Sighthill. We will be holding events in both spaces. Creating a less formal space for students to spend time.
We’re now going to give you a brief overview of ENSA’s areas of work – and how YOU can get involved!
ENSA REPRESENTATION
ENSA exists to both represent the students at Edinburgh Napier University and to facilitate students representing themselves to the university. This is done in a variety of different ways.
Every year the students of Edinburgh Napier elect our 3 Sabbatical Officers, who work with ENSA staff to fulfil their election manifestos and to represent Napier students to key decision-makers at the university. You can find out more about your 3 presidents, Evans, Chika and Ryan, and the work they’ll be doing this year, here.
If you want to get involved in student politics yourself. We have several ways to do so!
Student Council is the place where students come together to debate issues, propose solutions and create positive change. And if you want to have a say in your education and represent students academically why not become a Programme Rep. Programme leaders will be looking for volunteers at the start of term!
ENSA ADVICE
ENSA offers Edinburgh Napier students free advice on a range of education and welfare rights issues. We have offices at all 3 campuses and a team of 4 trained, professional advisers to provide students with up-to-date, practical advice, helping them to make informed choices.
ENSA Advice is independent of the University which means that we can give you the best advice possible when it comes to issues. The service is also completely confidential, and the team will not share any information without your consent.
Our Advice service can help you with:
- Academic appeals
- Extenuating circumstances and “Fit to Sit”
- Academic and non-academic misconduct
- Fitness to practice
- Complaints
- Issues with courses
- Housing
- Other welfare matters
- Money advice (student funding, fees, benefits and budgeting)
Students can book appointments online or in person at napierstudents.com/advice
EVENTS and CAMPAIGNS
Obviously, one of the biggest events in ENSA’s calendar, Welcome Week, is just around the corner, but we also hold many events throughout the year, both on-and-off campus, featuring everything from club nights to cultural celebrations, craft sessions and more.
A lot of events have a focus on student wellbeing, including our Movember and Feel Fab Feb campaigns, and our World Mental Health Day event coming up in October. You can read about how the university and ENSA work together to support student mental health in our recently launched Student Mental Health Agreement.
We also hold regular Give-It-a-Go sessions to encourage students to try new things and encourage a focus on sustainability through regular clothes, book and household items swaps along with other environmentally focussed activities.
The academic year finishes on a high with our all-day Varsity event against QMU and our Societies and Sports Awards Ball, and we offer students the chance to give positive feedback to their lecturers and tutors via our ENSA Excellence Awards.
Events like these all aim to help students make friends and create a sense of community and belonging. So please do come and join in!
We have over 30 sports clubs and over 40 societies, providing something for everyone whether you’re into Dance or Dungeons and Dragons, Rugby or Rock and Metal! Whether you want to try something new, or meet people who share your passion, joining a sports
club or society is a great way to make new friends, and get involved in a whole host of events and activities.
Most of our Sports Clubs and Societies run taster sessions at the start of term so why not browse their upcoming events and get involved!
By Catherine Jones (ENSA)
