Activities ASV Allocations FAQs
What is happening?
The Students' Union is changing the way we allocate our training resources for Aberdeen Sports Village (ASV) and the University of Aberdeen (UoA) campus sites for sports clubs. This may result in changes to where you train, the frequency of training and your training day/time that is funded through the Students' Union (SU).
Why are we changing the system?
There are two main drivers for this change. The first is to make the system as fair as it possibly can be to all clubs. The second is that there is less court/pitch time available overall for Student Activity compared to previous years due to the limited budget the University of Aberdeen provided us with. This means that it is more important than ever to have a system that is fair to all who use these facilities. We also need to acknowledge that the budgets for campus sites and ASV are not connected so we need to ensure there are fair systems for both sites in order to maximise the overall available training times funded by our budgets.
Was it not a fair system before?
Our old system was very much based on how things were done historically and has not been edited or updated for a number of years. When there was more money, this was less of a problem but as funds are limited its vital that we have a system which is fair, transparent and adapts to the number of members in the clubs.
Why is there less court/pitch time available?
All three partners involved in student sport (University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen Sports Village, and the Students' Union) are facing significant challenges when it comes to funding. The short version is that none of the three organisations have enough money and both ASV and the SU have been affected by the financial issues that Higher Education Sector is dealing with. This has meant a number of changes that affect sport and physical activity. The first is that ASV have put their prices up to deal with the fact they have much less income coming in than before. This means that we are getting less value for money than previously, which results in us being able purchase less space, even if we had the same level of funding. Additionally, the SU is putting less money into space allocation at ASV than in previous years. The SU has had a real terms funding cut of £300K over the last ten years and simply cannot sustain the level of funding going into sport and physical activity. Inflation in recent years has meant SU costs continue to rise significantly without an increase in block grant from UoA. While we regret this decision, we were forced to make this decision to stay financially sustainable. Last year the SU used £20,000 of its own reserves to top up the amount of money going into sport to ensure spending remained the same. However, this cost is not sustainable going forward and has not been included in the budget for the upcoming year.
Moving forward its vital we find ways of getting more money into student sport at UoA.
What will this mean for my club?
This means that your allocation may not be consistent to what your Student Activity has experienced in the past. Your Student Activity should have already received its allocation for the year emailed to your Student Activity @AUSA email, if not please e-mail the SU Sports Office on fixtures@abdn.ac.uk.
What is new system based on?
The allocation policy can be found in its entirety here, but the headlines are as follows: Student Activity Membership numbers over the last 12 months will be of primary consideration (the more members you have the more budget allocation you will receive) Clubs that have no alternative but to training at ASV will be prioritised Clubs with BUCS Teams will be prioritised BUCS/SSS fixtures will be excluded from allocations and are guaranteed
I am unhappy with my allocation, what should I do?
The first thing you should is set up a meeting with a member of the SU team to help. They will be able to talk you through the process, look at potential alternatives and support you to find the best way forward. Please book a time that suits you on the following link.
I have some ideas about how to make the new allocation system better. What should I do?
We want to constantly improve and evolve our allocation system. If you have any ideas for us, please email the Vice President for Activities on ausaactivities@abdn.ac.uk and send us your ideas or ask for a chat with us so we can sit down together.
Later in the year, there will also be a formal opportunity to provide feedback on the new system.
Is there a way of getting more money into Student Sport?
Yes. The SU intends to go back to UoA and ask for more funding for student sport in October. However, there is no guarantee of success. UoA is facing a number of financial challenges.
We are striving to get UoA to recognise the wider importance of Student Sport. The key to success is you, our clubs, to show the university the importance of Student Sport and we can't do it without you.
We are holding a Student Sport conference on September 25th where this will be discussed in depth where we will work together to develop a plan.
What is the long-term plan?
Student Sport at UoA is done in a very unique way. Our view is that if you were building a system for student sport in UoA from scratch it would probably look nothing like it does today. We believe that a radical overhaul is required but we will need your help.
The University is in the process of writing a strategy for student sport with help from ourselves and ASV. This should help us come up with a shared vision but your input in what any new system might look like is essential. This will also be discussed in depth at the conference on September 25th.