Curtin Student Guild
Annual General Meeting
cur t in s t udent guild 速
Table of Contents 2 History of the Guild 4 President’s Report 6 Managing Director’s Report 8 2009 Guild Executive 9 2009 Faculty Representatives 10 2009 Highlights - Council Governance 12 Representational / Educational Issues 16 Commercial: Food and Beverage 20 Commercial: Retail 25 Events/Clubs 26 Support/General Services 30 Membership Package 31 Membership Services 32 Council Statement 33 Independant Audit Report 35 Financial Reports 38 Student Services Expenses 39 Revenue Breakdown 40 2009 Guild Staff Listing 1
History of the Guild A few years after the WA Institute of Technology (WAIT) had been established in 1966 it was recognised there was a lack of ‘community’ amongst the students. The WAIT decided a student association was required to manage student facilities and bring community life on campus. With approval from the Minister for Education, the WAIT Student Guild was established - opening it’s doors for business in February 1969. The Guild started to distribute its first newspaper ‘Aspect’ and other weekly publications, ‘Spectrum’ and ‘Wisgo’. The Guild organised George James Week (named after the St Georges Terrace and James Street WAIT sites), Orientation Week and the Recovery Ball. The Guild also recommended WAIT to implement the common
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free time we still enjoy every Wednesday afternoon to this day. In 1971 amendments to the WAIT Act allowed student representation on Council and some Boards. In 1972, three years after the official Guild establishment, the Guild Building was finally opened. As a result of the new facilities available to the Guild, the 1970’s was a time of expansion providing more services to the students. A second-hand bookshop, fruit and vegetable market and Guild Emporium were set up, and a full pharmacy established. Bookshop grants were introduced along with student insurance coverage, a taxation advisory
service, external student’s newsletter, student radio station and the appointment of environmental and homosexual affairs officers. During the late 1970’s, in an effort to subdue student voices in higher education, the WA Government abolished compulsory membership of student associations and compulsory charging of student service fees. In 1979, the Guild President took an extraordinary measure of halting all Guild operations. This led to students becoming more aware of the Guild’s significant role in services and a unified group of 1,000 students protested at the Government’s attempt to restrict student organisations. Although the Guild suffered
from financial and internal turmoil in the 1980’s it continued to provide support for students and even extended services through new projects. Commercial services were expanded to include a Guild owned hairdresser (Campus Cuts) and leased a health food shop, an optometrist and a health appraisal centre. Guild regulations needed to be changed to suit the new WAIT divisional based system and a policy handbook was developed.
the Guild Emporium, Guild Shop and the tool library, and suspension of the Emergency Student Loan Service. On the other hand the Guild began operating the Curtin Tavern, which was previously run by the Curtin Student’s Social Club, and set up the Sports Store and Copy Centre and took over catering on campus. To enable the continued provision of a range of free services, the Guild became more commercially focused in these trading areas.
In 1994, VSU legislation was passed by the WA Government thereby enforcing a voluntary student services fee. Fortunately, with the ever present threat of the new legislation, the Guild had taken precautionary measures pre-empting the decline of student funding. This included the closing of
When the Guild celebrated its 30 year anniversary in 1999, it was calculated that Guild Representatives had sat on around 19,500 boards and committees, organised over 100 rallies and petitions and written over 10,000 reports.
students paid to the university, which was then handed to the Guild. This once again allowed the Guild to provide more free services to students. By 1 July 2006 however, Federal legislation came into effect which now prohibits the University from charging a compulsory amenities and services fee. However, in line with Western Australian legislation, a student still automatically becomes a Basic Guild Member on enrolment, which grants students limited access to the Guild’s basic services at no charge to the student. Despite these set-backs, the Guild has continued to expand its range of benefits and provide great service and representation to all students.
In 2002, the State Government reintroduced compulsory student amenities fees, which
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President’s Report Welcome to the 2009 Annual Report. This publication is designed to better inform members of the Curtin Student Guild, and the wider Curtin community, of our operations and achievements for 2009. This document ensures that the office bearers of the Guild are held accountable to the students they represent, and demonstrates that the Guild office bearers are being actively engaged in representing the student population of Curtin to the best of their ability. Looking back, 2009 was undoubtedly a phenomenal year for the Guild, however it was not without trials and difficulties. Nonetheless, the Guild continued to fight hard for the rights of students on campus. Many issues were brought to our 4
attention and we dealt with them effectively. The 2009 Guild President Chee Lai actively supported the student cause throughout his term. We took issue with the requirements of the Business Capstone unit which forms an integral part of the Commerce degree. The issue was raised that the students needed to buy a bundled textbook which included a license key. This was a requirement to successfully complete the unit. Curtin Student Guild expressed its concerns to the Curtin Business School administration that this requirement to buy a license was indeed a breach of the Higher Education Support Act 2003. The Administrative information for higher education providers (AIP) (a supporting document for Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA)), states that:
(20.1): Commonwealth supported students and domestic fee paying students generally must be able to complete the requirements of their course of study without the imposition of fees that are additional to student contribution amounts. We do not support the unnecessary burdening of students with additional (and illegal) charges for their course. The Guild president welcomed the actions undertaken by Curtin Business School to rectify the breach in policy by removing the bundle from the required text lists, and providing the license free of charge to students enrolled in the unit. In hindsight, this action has saved every CBS student approximately $80.00! In 2009, we continued to actively voice our concerns on a national level. Manish Jhowry, the Science
and Engineering Faculty representative was invited to take part in the international student round table hosted by the Ministry of Education. The roundtable was held over 3 days in September and focused on the quality of education, visa and immigration, social life, managing costs to basic services and equal rights. The document outlining the outcomes of this meeting was presented to the Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard by Manish Jhowry. The Guild began their capital works projects at the end of the year, which continue into 2010. New developments include refurbishment of the Vege Patch, extension of the Curtin Concept CafÊ, the Tavern, Copy and Design Centre, and relocation of both IT Works and Curtin Concept retail store. All works are designed to improve the Guild’s service offering on campus, thus enhancing campus life for students. After many years of lobbying the University to implement public place recycling, the Guild boldly decided to implement public place recycling within the Guild Precinct. Due to a $25,000 grant from the Packaging Stewardship Forum, the presence of dedicated recycling bins has finally
laid the foundation for a widespread adoption of a recycling policy on campus. Student poverty is still a huge issue for students and the Guild continued to support those struggling to make ends meet. In 2009, the Guild launched their fortnightly barbeque breakfasts – a massive success. The first breakfast saw a panel of speakers from the Curtin Student Guild departments, Ethics Equity Social Justice and the Scholarships office talk about the pending Government reform to student income support, social inclusion policy and support for international students. The event was well attended and received local media coverage. In 2009, Curtin University announced that they were looking to discontinue enrolling students at Muresk. Muresk students were and still are outraged and continue to demand a fair education delivered to them at a regional campus. Muresk Student Association (which is an affiliate of the Guild) gained media coverage about students being misinformed about the pending closure of the campus. Curtin Student Guild continues to work with the Muresk Student Association and make sure that their concerns
are heard at the highest decision making levels. The Guild and National Union of Students continued to lobby the Federal Government to reform Youth Allowance. Such changes were finally made earlier this year including increasing the personal income threshold, increasing the parental income threshold and decreasing the age of independence. The Guild has campaigned over many years for reform of Youth Allowance, so this change in policy was a massive win for students. It also goes to show that student representatives continually advocate for change on a state and federal level and collectively our voices do get heard. I urge you to read on in order to learn more about what has been accomplished by the Guild in 2009, and to see how we will continue to break new ground in 2010 and beyond!
Jessica Short 2010 Guild President
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Managing Director’s Report We closed 2009 with a sense of real pride at the results achieved as reflected in the accounts, but tempered with a tinge of frustration that many of the projects embarked on during the year and for which funding had been anticipated, were still on the drawing board. Our main focus in building up a surplus was to ensure we had sufficient funds to enable us to really improve student amenities whilst also researching and improving student services. While our cash reserves are strong and the off-set facility with the bank of $900,000 remains untouched, these will be drawn down upon mid 2010, thereby effectively redistributing profits back to students. The surplus for 2009 of $600,000 arose against a break even budget through a combination of cost savings and income growths across the board, 6
but as emphasised, this surplus is regarded by us as a timing difference with short term distribution back to student and campus services the intended goal. Guild membership showed growth in pure numbers of some 63% against the previous year which reflects the enhanced benefits considered by students in supporting their representation on campus. Our intention is to continue to reward those supporters through the provision of cost effective services on campus. Strong growth in membership has been sustained to date. Whilst we continue to investigate new business service areas to introduce to the campus, we strive to enhance the services we already provide. The frustrations of delay in capital projects referred to above translate to student disadvantage.
Our self service printing area is dependent upon an increased area of operation which cannot be commenced until other building works, planned for December 2009 and now likely to be completed in July 2010, are finalised. Our IT repair service has been enhanced and is providing a valuable service to the campus, but awaits its new operational area as well. The Tavern, limited and dated by its confined operations area, will be a wonderful venue once the landscaping and stage is completed. A huge under cover study area, funded by the Guild, is about to commence beneath a new canopy covering the courtyard adjacent to the Guild building, again planned for December 2009 but currently still passing the red tape process. All these capital works have been estimated at some $2.5 million.
Student services and departments are the backbone of our operation but in 2009 certain of these languished through a dearth of inspired drivers. We have relocated many of these service areas and incorporated them into the body of the Guild and the hope is that, combined with the study area integration with the Guild, these services will expand and flourish. Regional centres and by default, funds allocated to them, were depleted through lack lustre student direction in 2009. This situation is being addressed in 2010 as a priority. Relations between the University and the Guild remain strong with a mutual recognition of the benefits we each provide to the Campus and acknowledgement by them that we are a well regarded organisation operating professionally.
One concern we have is that we have no security of long term tenure over the areas we are investing heavily into and it is hoped that a revised form of lease can be agreed to which will ensure the Guild can guarantee its services into the future. The handover of financial control of Childcare, intended for early 2009, did not transpire and the Guild continued to act as a conduit for fee income. By placing those funds in overnight deposits the Guild was able to accrue a small management fee, but negotiations are now well advanced for hand over this aspect by mid 2010. 2009 was a year of high expectations emanating from Government enforced proposed student fee changes, but always with confusion as to how they would affect our income stream and services. We decided to focus on
a ‘no change’ policy of growth which has paid off with the Government proposals being shelved. Whilst we have limited ability to set up new growth operational areas on campus, we continually look for opportunities off campus from which we can use our expertise to service the community whilst providing profits to redistribute back to our student services. We look forward to 2010 as being the year for consolidation and capitalisation of all the great ideas conceived in 2008 and 2009.
Cliff Paget Managing Director 2010
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2009 Guild Executive Education Vice President
General Secretary Arun Ramdin
Jessica Shor t
Guild President
Chee Lai
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Activities Vice President
Matthew Grant
2009 Faculty Representatives Business Faculty Representative Emma Grant
Engineering &Science Faculty Representative Manish B. Jhowr y
Health Sciences Faculty Representative
Bethany Doher t y
Humanities Faculty Representative Owen Altham
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2009 Highlights The following is a listing of all Guild Representatives on University Boards and Council in 2009.
President University Council Academic Board Academic Services Committee Guild University Liaison Committee Fees and Charges committee
Council Governance
Reconciliation Action Plan Committee
Commonwealth Scholarship Selection Panel
Quality Management Steering Committee
Occupational Health and Safety Committee
English Language Proficiency Group
ARPLA Committee
Academic Integrity Committee Disabilities Access and Inclusion Plan Implementation Committee Meetings with Corporate Communicatons University Library Advisory Committee Student Plagiarism Working Party Student Housing Advisory Committee
University Council Retreat
Education Vice President Academic Board Academic Services Committee Commonwealth scholarship Selection Panel Environment and Sustainability Committee
Monthly Meetings with John Rowe
Monthly Meetings with John Rowe
Monthly Meetings with Vice Chancellor Jeanette Hackett
Scholarship Reference Group I-Portfolio Working Party
Work Integrated learning committee
Monthly Meetings with Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic
University Teaching and Learning Committee
Information Communications and Technology Committee
Admissions and Recognition of Prior learning
Microsoft Live Eduworking Party
Transport committee I-Portfolio working Party C2010 committee Flexible Learning Committee
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C2010 Committee
Textbook Working Party
& Guild Meeting
Selection Panel Interviews
Academic Services Committee
Meetings with Corporate Communications
Activities Vice-President Meetings with Corporate Communications University Guild Strategy Group Meeting CBS Disciplinary Hearings Academic Services Committee I-Portfolio working Party
Health Sciences Health Sciences Teaching and Learning Committee
Academic Services Committee Selection Panels
Selection Panels
I-Portfolio Working Party
I-Portfolio working Party
Courses Management Committee
Humanities Humanities Teaching and Learning Committee Meetings with Corporate Communications Selection Panels
Business Business Teaching and Learning Committee Meetings with Corporate Communications
Academic Services Committee
CBS Disciplinary Hearings
I-Portfolio Working Party
I-Portfolio Working Party
Selections Panels CBS Board
Science and Engineering
Meetings with Corporate Communications
Science and Engineering Teaching and Learning Committee
Health Sciences Academic Board
Meetings with Corporate Communications
Corporate Communications 11
Representational / Educational Issues 2009 saw some big and exciting events in the representation and welfare department at the Guild. The hard work of the student representatives is starting to bear fruit, and positive change is all around. Education Vice President Jessica Short and the Guild’s faculty representatives sat on every board, committee, working party and action group in the University. Not only has this helped the Guild present the student voice but it allows us to build a strong working relationship with the University. In 2009 the University tried to take common free time away from students. The Guild recognised that common free time is an integral part of the campus life and is what makes Curtin unique. The Guild
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fought it out in Academic Services Committee and was successful in keeping it. Therefore in 2010 students still have time to do group assignments, take part in a social or academic club or come up to the Guild precinct for a sausage sizzle. Curtin Student Guild is affiliated with the National Union of Student (NUS). This is the peak national representative student body and works with Government and other institutions in order to give students an overall better quality of education and life whilst studying.
The 2009 NUS Campaigns were: • Say No to Deregulation • Increase student income support • Lower the age of Independence to 18 • Support Campus life • Justice For International Students
Our Semester 1 National Day of Action gave Curtin students an opportunity to address the twin concerns of Youth Allowance and voluntary student unionism. The day began with student representatives standing at each entrance of the University, holding banners to increase youth allowance, increase parking, increase safety and get rid of HECS - drivers honked their car horns in support. A barbecue and speak out were held and 300 students attended the event. By the end of Semester 1, the Guild received over 900 signatures to reform Youth allowance, this was sent to the Hon. Minister for Education Julia Gillard. The Guild’s International Student Committee (ISC) played a huge role in the NDA, with an official report on the Governments Baird Review (which outlines several flaws in the laws that
govern International students in Australia) planned for 2010. In the past year ISC has made a lot of progress with the convener developing a strong working relationship with Deputy Vice Chancellor International David Wood and the International office. ISC events for 2009 included Multicultural Week, Pasar Malam and the International prep weeks, which were all incredibly successful. The Guild and ISC are looking forward to delivering them again in 2010. For 2010 ISC will be focusing their attention on student fees; a concerning trend has been noticed where Curtin’s fees are being increased dramatically compared to our competitors. Other areas of focus include: the quality of Curtin affiliated education agents, lack of integration between domestic and international students and a 2010 second semester campaign raising
awareness of international student exploitation in terms of housing, landlords and employers. The Guild’s Queer Department has been very successful in its plans to represent queer students on campus whilst at the same time creating a safe space for the collective. The department continued to fundraise for Queer Collaborations (QC) ‘09 and finally attended QC in Canberra. The outcomes of QC were fantastic and raised the profile of the department and W.A. Universities in general. The Queer Department has started the ground work for bidding to hold QC in W.A. in 2011. Pride Parade was the one major event that was attended by the department under the flag of CCQNWA (Cross Campus Queer Network W.A.). The department contributed by
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Representational / Educational Issues hiring the truck that carried the CCQNWA delegates. The department officers represented the department, CCQNWA and Families for Freedom during the events of Mardi Gras in Sydney. They marched in the parade and attended a marriage equality dinner and met some key leaders in the community involved in campaigning at local, state and national levels and also members of federal parliament. The department ran BINGAY to celebrate International Day Against Homophobia for the first time which was a big success and also had a hand in running the Genderf@%k Ball this year, where one of the department officers cohosted the event and was raffled off for a staggering $55 for one slow dance. The Curtin Student Guild Women’s Department was a proud participant of the
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V-Day 2009 worldwide campaign. The 2009 V-Day Spotlight campaign focused on women and girls from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Women’s Department were granted the rights for a V-Day benefit production of Eve Ensler’s award winning play, “The Vagina Monologues”, to raise money and awareness for local organisations that work to stop violence towards women and girls. The Women’s Department raised over $1000. Proceeds from the event went towards women and young girls in the DRC to put an end to the sexual violence they face. The Vagina Monologues were held at Curtin University and University of Western Australia. The changes to postgraduate research spaces have seen CUPSA, the Guild’s postgraduate association, working tirelessly trying
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to keep spaces open on campus without students being moved over to Technology Park. Unfortunately for some faculties, we weren’t successful in keeping research spaces on campus, but we are confident that other faculties such as Humanities will stay here. Postgraduate students have also benefited from CUPSA’s small grants and conference grants for students needing a helping hand in their research. The Federal Government is currently phasing in their new Higher Education monitor department TEQSA (Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency), which made it the perfect time to get involved with the NUS Education Quality Survey. This survey was active across every university campus in the nation and at Curtin we were very
fortunate to receive 2,500 responses from students. These results will be added to the national figures and soon we will see where Curtin standard of education is ranked in comparison to the rest of the country. 2009 saw the last year of the comprehensive course review and the final phases of the University’s C2010 project, which was established to test the sustainability of Curtin courses. This project saw the University cutting several courses that were deemed to be no longer viable due to small enrolment numbers. The Guild continues to monitor courses in every faculty to make sure that they are not only compliant with University policy but also demonstrate effective and equitable means of teaching and learning. Student rights on campus
have always been a big issue for the Guild, but the difficult task has always been making sure students know their own rights. The Guild launched Your Rights in the Classroom, a 5 page booklet that outlines the key rights and responsibilities taken straight from the University approved policy database. The booklet covers all rights from the maximum amount of assessments you are allowed to have per unit to the appealing against termination from a course. It is not only vital that students are aware of their rights on campus, but also be empowers to question the university allowing more accountability and transparency.
always want to be able to see past exam papers as a means of revision and it’s a great way of getting a feel of how your upcoming exam will be structured. Anxiety around examinations is becoming a common trend at Curtin and this concerns us greatly, therefore there is an onus on the University to make sure that they ready students as much as possible so that there are no majors shocks when it comes to sitting the exam. This policy has been supported by Robyn Quin (Deputy Vice Chancellor Education) and the Guild hopes this will be approved some time in 2010.
Digitising past examination papers and making them available for all students to see on the Library website has been put on the Guild’s agenda for 2010. Students
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& Commercial: Food Beverage 2009 was again
a great year in the Food & Beverage Department, with sales showing a marked improvement on previous years.
we sold over:
37 000 Chocolate Bars
72 000 Regular Hot Meals
23 000 Croissants
43 000
94 000
Iced Teas
Flavoured Milks
55 000
Juices
36 500
Cheese Sausages at Bookmark Cafe
29 000
Daily Specials at the Main CafĂŠ 16
The planned expansion and improvement of Vege Patch (Building 210) started early in 2009. The café was completely refitted internally and a whole new servery and espresso bar was built. EFTPOS functionality was also added, further increasing convenience for customers. The new Vege Patch opened on Monday 2nd March and was an immediate success with a great reception from Curtin students and staff. We also extended the trading hours at the Vege Patch; the café now operates 50 weeks of the year and stays open until 5pm during the teaching weeks. Concept Café (Building 106) has continued to be a star performer amongst the Guild outlets. Sales are getting stronger and stronger and it seems clear that we have gained some very regular & loyal customers keen to have their daily coffee hit. The food available at the Concept also filled a niche market particularly with gluten free cakes and biscuits and the more healthy options and smaller portions. Works began on the new Engineering Hub in the Building 204 precinct in the second half of 2009. Sadly this meant that many entrances to building 204 (and the surrounding area) were blocked and customers had to find new and impractical ways to get to the Basement Café. Despite the restricted access, loyal customers still found a way
in and the Basement showed amazing sales growth for 2009 considering the obstacles to access the Cafe. Due to customer demand, changes were made to trading hours. The Basement now operates for 42 weeks per year with plans to extend the trading days in the near future taking into account the CIC student attendance. In addition to increasing the Full Guild Member Discount on coffee to a whopping 20%, and branding the outlets with frosted window graphics, 2009 also featured the introduction of the Fantastic Guild Plastic – Recharge Card. Recharge is a cashless card that can be used at any Guild operated site. You simply load your card with cash (or EFTPOS at Reception, Concept Store, Vege Patch or The Spot) then use it when making purchases on campus. As an introductory bonus Recharge card users were rewarded with an extra $10 for every $50 that they spent up until the end of August. The system is working well and card holders should look for further bonus promotions in the future. To ensure that our staff are providing exemplary levels of service at all times, a mystery shopper programme for the café outlets commenced in 2009. Each outlet was reviewed several times during the year giving us quantitative data by which we can measure their performance. This data provides quality
insights, highlighting potential areas of improvement, and also underlying what we are already doing well. This provides us with the ability to not only to compare ourselves with competitors on campus but also within the hospitality Industry at large. During the year the University put to tender 4 venues on campus including the Kirribilli Café run by us since 1996. After careful consideration, the Guild responded to the tender using a frank and candid approach keeping in mind the needs of our members. The Guild offer was rejected by the University and the 4 venues including our Kirribilli went to a multinational company. After the disappointment of losing the Kirribilli and not being able to increase the Guild presence on Campus, we moved on and concentrated on improving our existing premises. The introduction of a new food service provider on campus has not had any significantly negative impacts on sales for any Guild operated outlets. Kirribilli Catering continued to perform above expectation during 2009. In addition to the summer graduations, we were able to cater for the first time on campus for the spring graduations that took place at the new Curtin Stadium. Helped by some balmy nights, the events were executed faultlessly. We also managed to cater for events all over the metropolitan area with the bulk of our functions served on campus.
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Commercial: Food & Beverage cont...
The kitchen brigade, led by Executive Chef Christophe Jerome, were busy throughout the year as our operations gradually prepare more and more food in house. With a decreased reliance on contractors to supply items, we were able to develop our own recipes and cater for the individual needs of our customers. The results were evident during the year showing growth in all facets of the business. Our plans are to continue in that direction - being independent and unique with our services. The Noodle Corner at the Main Café providing Halal food was ever popular. This was the first year of full operation for that subdivision of the café, serving Indonesian food to complement the rest of the offerings at the Main Café.
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Promotions Following the introduction of the Recharge Card, Schweppes undertook some promotional activity, offering customers the opportunity to win a $50 loaded card by purchasing any Schweppes product. There were six winners per week over six weeks making a prize pool of $1800 and 36 lucky customers.
In partnership with Braziliano & National Foods the Coffee Lovers Loyalty programme ran again in 2009. Customers who purchased 9 coffees, teas or hot chocolates and received the 10th hot beverage free. During the promotional period more than 2000 bonus coffees were provided! This promotion offers amazing value to customers – especially Guild members! National Foods ran two great promotions during the year. The major prizes were a 42” plasma TV and men’s & women’s bikes. During the year, the Guild members benefited from the diary specials and some heavily discounted items were available on a weekly basis. Thank you to our suppliers for making this possible.
What’s next? There are a number of exciting projects in the pipeline for the Food and Beverage department. Foremost is a facelift for the Main Café – Internals will be repainted to freshen up the interior, before the Café is modernized and transformed into a great place to have a meal. In collaboration with the University, 2 major renovations are coming up over the next couple of years. Once the Engineering Precinct is complete the Basement café will be overhauled from top to bottom to complement the new area. There will
be better facilities, more menu choices, an espresso coffee bar and more seating available for the students to enjoy the new environment. Also in the planning stages is a transformation of the Bookmark Café to coincide with the creation of a new entrance to the Library. This change will integrate the café and library areas.
Tavern The Curtin Student Guild Tavern continues to be an integral part of student life on campus.
crowds as popularity of the venue continued to grow. Oktoberfest was taken to Edinburgh oval for 2009 to enable a larger venue with a sold out event for 5000 staff/ students and their guest. The Guild is seeking support from the University to secure this venue for future events going forward into 2010. Increased student population and patronage has led to continued negotiations with the University with regards to increasing the size of the Tavern for the commencement of 2011.
Wednesday Student nights and all events saw capacity
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Commercial: Retail
Curtin Concept When we look back to the infancy of Curtin Concept, where we only provided four colours of t-shirts and hooded sweats, it is hard to fathom how far we have come. Today you will find our Curtin memorabilia is broken into collegiate and corporate ranges which include T-Shirts, polos, sweats, hooded sweats, jackets, hooded jackets, shorts, caps and more. The store is undoubtedly the premier re-seller of Curtin merchandise at Curtin University. Curtin Concept also provide wholesale services to Clubs and Societies as well as University Departments for the manufacture of uniforms etc.
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Bonds clothing continued to provide our consumers with cheap options on those cold chilly days; but due to the increased range of Curtin memorabilia we are now producing we had to decrease our range of Bonds products. Although this was disappointing we made every effort to ensure that we retained all of our Bonds lines that were in high demand. We also took a very aggressive approach to our poster range. Our regular poster range was increased by 80%, and we also started to stock giant and door posters for the first time. In fact, we are now the largest store based re-seller of giant and door posters in Western Australia. With the continued success of poster sales it was decided to purchase a block mounting
machine. This service has not been heavily promoted to date, however we have big plans for it in 2010. We introduced a new range of thongs late in the year. Originally we were looking to stock Havaianas but we had reservations about providing a product that was already in mass distribution. As per the store’s mandate of being new and innovative we decided to look to the wider market place to see what was available us. After extensive research and consultation we decided to import Braziliano Praia direct from South America. In our opinion the styles, colours and the innovation is superior to the other mass marketed products. Wait and see what we do with it in 2010! Due to all these changes taking place over the last year and the unexpected
growth in turnover it has necessitated relocation to more appropriate premises. A new location, adjacent to Guild Reception was identified in July. Plans for the new location and shop fit were drawn up during the October-December period. Construction begins in January, with an estimated completion date of April, we will look forward to welcoming you to our new bigger and better Concept in 2010.
The Spot The Spot has been Curtin Student Guild’s flagship store since its refit in mid 2007. Ideally situated in the very heart of the Guild Precinct the store continues to go from strength to strength. The store had a great start to the year with the first
ever “The Big Stationery Sale” conducted in the Guild Courtyard during O Week and the first week of semester. The management and administration of a sale of this calibre was a logistical nightmare for the small sales team that operate The Spot, but their hard work definitely paid off. Students flocked to the courtyard to reap the benefits, such as USB Thumb drives from $9, and Lecture pads from $1.20. When purchasing stock for a sale of this size great discounts are often offered to us by suppliers and these savings are then passed onto our students. At the completion of the two weeks we decided to continue offering the sale price until we ran out of stock. This meant that punters continued to receive discounted product well into first semester.
Phone credit continued to be the staple for the store. In excess of $400,000 worth of phone credit was ‘rung’ up. On average we receive 8% commission for administering the sale of these products resulting in about $32,000 gross profit, a relatively meagre return given the overall sales. Discounted movie tickets were introduced mid year. These tickets were only available to Full Guild members but it has become apparent that this must be a significant member benefit, as over 5,600 movie sessions were attended by our members and their friends. There will be some changes in the store over the next year due to the redevelopment of the IT Works and Curtin Concept. Unfortunately The Spot will be eliminating phones
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Commercial: Retail cont...
and phone accessories (not phone credit) from the product range. These will now be expanded upon and on sold through IT Works. This vacated area will now become a massive confectionery area. The bulk lollies will expand to a range of 30 products and we will have almost any chocolate bar your taste buds desire.
Guild Copy & Design Centre The Centre has made significant progress during the year, with a number of improvements being undertaken as a result of both changes within the University, and increased demand from students. Curtin Print & Design was closed down on January 30 and Curtin University’s printing is currently
outsourced to Salmat – PrintZoo. Before Curtin Print & Design closed, Guild Copy & Design Centre bought some of their machines and printers, in addition to the purchase of other new equipment to improve efficiency and enhance the centre’s existing service offering. These changes also brought about an increase in sales for the binding and digital print services, as thesis binding demand was directed to the Guild Copy & Design Centre, and personal orders for student’s name badge orders. Beyond 2009 plans are in place to renovate the area currently occupied by IT Works, and to transform the space into a self service printing room with print management solutions and features including print and
release, remote printing via internet, 20 PC access points and payment via the Guild’s Recharge Card system. Sales performance in 2008 was only 1% bettered to 2007. However, with the closure of Curtin Print & Design, and prior to that, the bindery in Robertson Library, Guild Copy & Design Centre has essentially, a “captured” market on campus. 2009 saw an increase in students and uni staff who normally would have used Curtin print & Design services use the Centre’s services instead. Overall sales performance was an encouraging increase of 106% compared to 2008/2007. There were significant increases in a number of product categories, contributing to the healthy bottom line of the Centre.
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Events / Clubs Events Once again the Curtin Student Guild hosted an awesome array of events throughout the year. As always O-Day was huge and was the perfect way to start the year. gGames, held in Henderson Court, attracted a substantial crowd for the entire afternoon with many keen to participate and take home some great prizes. The annual Evening
of Elegance ball was also a resounding success. The Tav was the venue for many of the traditional events on the calendar, including the Air Guitar Competition, National Campus Bands Comp, and heaps more. Notably, for the first time, the DJ Comp was held on a Wednesday evening during the popular ‘Wicked Wednesdays’ at the Tav. This ensured the
success of the event, with a capacity crowd filling The Tav and enjoying the display of talent from Curtin students. The shift to Edinburgh oval for Oktoberfest, with a record capacity of 5000 was also hugely successful. No doubt 2009 set a precedent for events that all future years cant help but build upon.
clubs, 14 religious clubs, 4 special interest clubs, 5 issue based clubs, and 4 social clubs made use of the fantastic club services that the Guild provides including equipment hire, use of venues and various funding arrangements.
Membership. In 2010, these vouchers will increase to a massive $10 value.
Clubs Clubs and Societies are an integral part of University life. Each year, many clubs register with the Guild, representing almost every aspect of campus life. 2009 was a big year for the Guild and clubs with the transitioning responsibility for sporting clubs from the Guild to the University. Registered club numbers however remained high with 65 clubs registering with the Guild for 2009. 25 academic clubs, 13 international
In 2009, the Guild provided clubs with over $14,500 in funding including some $4,500 in $5 membership vouchers given to student’s with Guild
At the 2009 Guild Club Awards presentation, DESI were the winners of the Guild “Club of the Year” award and were presented with the title for standing out as the most impressive club overall for 2009. The “Most Outstanding New Club” award went to Mech X.
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Support / General Services Student Assist Bookshop Almost 500 students utlised Grants 2009 the services of the Guild Student Assist Department in 2009. The confidential nature of the service restricts the recording and subsequently the degree to which the nature of the case loads can be reported. Nonetheless, a range of support was provided, from dealing with academic misconduct charges to time management and budgeting.
A total of 511 semester one grants were allocated, 7 of which went to Muresk students. The majority of the remaining 504 grants went to Bentley students, however 40 of these were for distance/ external students. All students who applied in Semester One received a grant, with the exception of those applications which were deemed incomplete or completed incorrectly.
Second Semester Grants 456 students applied for a Bookshop Grant in Semester Two. 299 grants were issued, each with a value of $200. Applicants were ranked based on highest financial need. 20 of these were awarded to students who are enrolled externally, or who live and study regionally or interstate. 25 applications were deemed incomplete or completed incorrectly. Overall for the year, 810 grants were provided to students on a low income and/or experiencing financial hardship.
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Tax Help The Guild has for a number of years acted as a tax help centre, coordinating and delivering the program from the main reception building. The program is open to all Curtin students who meet the basic eligibility criteria of the program of low income and simple tax affairs. The Tax help program is an initiative of the Australian Tax Office (ATO) which aims through the recruitment and training of volunteers to provide a program “designed to provide assistance to an identified target client group (students) to help them comply with their tax obligations at tax time.”
This year, the Curtin program was delivered by a team of 4 dedicated volunteers who in the three month period ( August October), provided 192 tax help appointments which helped 147 students to lodge a tax return The Tax help program not only benefits its service users. During the past year, Student assist has had contact with three past tax help volunteers who have recently graduated and gone on to secure professional appointments. All these volunteers directly attributed their success in landing their “dream jobs” to the experience that had gained on the Tax help program.
On-Show Arts Grant “On Show’ is a project of the Curtin Student Guild which aims to support the artistic and creative projects of enrolled Curtin students. The program recognises that while students produce excellent artwork and have innovative creative ideas, the fulfilment of these ideas is often impeded by lack of time and funding. To encourage and enable the creative pursuits of students the Guild established this sponsorship program, now in its second year, to fund a series of exhibitions incorporating the theme “FAITH”, to be shown at the Access Gallery within the John Curtin Gallery on campus. The exhibitions consisted of a one week installation and a three week
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Support / General Services
cont...
run, with the winning entries be shown at the Access Gallery during 2009/10. The On-show Judging panel awarded a total of $4,500 in grants this year divided evenly between the three winning entries. Two of the winning entries were allocated exhibition time in Semester Two 2009 with the third being carried over in to Semester One 2010. This year’s winners were (in order of exhibition dates) Anne Walmsley “Audacity of Faith” - an exhibition of mixed media drawings and six hanging sculptures of manipulated clothing, producing metaphors for the mantel of belief and which reflected both the artists faith and doubt in faith.
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Shaun Passmore “Faithfool” - A series of freestanding sculptures, documents /drawings and video projection that presented the endeavours of a constructed character and his single handed attempt to prevent the moon receding from the earth. Aska Dolinska & John Hutchinson “Our Faith in Numbers”. An exhibition of mixed media, which when combined formed a loose narrative, tracing the human relationship with numbers, mathematics, physics and nature from the beginnings of time to the present day.
Reboot The Reboot program is a Guild initiative established to assist disadvantaged students at Curtin University. The aim of the program is to provide computers to financially constrained students. From humble beginnings, the program originated in 2007 with only 12 computers to give and has grown in strength since then. In 2008, the program gave away 40 computers and in 2009 over 60 computers were given. Through a push from both faculty reps and gNews we have had a positive response in donations. We wish to acknowledge from our internal sources such as
the faculty of Science and Engineering, the department of Nursing, Student Central and CITS. We acknowledge our external sources such as City of Cambridge and Clarkson Community High School. Due to the generosity of our sources we currently have over 150 computers donated to the program today. As the program moves forward in 2010 we now have a dedicated area within the Guild building allowing for greater storage and work area for volunteers to refurbish the computers. We are looking forward to the further expansion of the program for the coming year.
Guild Rec Each semester the Guild provides an opportunity to Curtin students and the wider Curtin community
to take time out from hectic work and study commitments through the Guild Recreation programme. The 2009 Guild Rec Program saw 826 participants involved in the 112 short courses within 50 interesting and fun disciplines. The program incorporated courses such as First Aid, outdoor adventures, dance, sightseeing trips and tours, water sports, health and fitness and certified industry qualification courses at a significantly discounted cost in contrast to what course providers would normally charge. All previous Guild Recreation Program enrolment records were broken in 2009, beating 2008 by some 165 participants. Among the most popular courses was First Aid with the need for 7 classes to run throughout the year. To adapt to this demand, 9 classes will run in
2010. Other popular courses for the year were Kickboxing, The Guild Tav Introductory Bar Course and the Guild Student Assist Resume and Interview Skills workshops.
Publications The primary publications released by the Curtin Student Guild in 2009 included Grok Magazine and the 2009 Student Diary. A total of 5 issues of Grok were published this year, with solid advertiser support for each issue. Our designers efforts were recognised winning Best Promotional Poster for Oktoberfest at the 2009 Tertiary Access Group conference. We also received a runner up award for Best Student Magazine and Honourable mention in the Best Student Diary category.
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Membership Package In 2009, significant changes were implemented to the Guild membership package. These changes included: • Lowering the price of a full years membership to $99.95. • Offering a $40 Gift Card to spend in our Food & Beverage outlets to those who sign up for a full years membership effectively reducing the cost of membership to under $60.
• Increasing the discount offered on hot drinks at Guild-operated outlets to 20%. • Integrating online sign up within the OASIS student portal to make it easier for students to sign up, as well as including an option to pay by BPay •
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These changes resulted in achieving an annual membership of 6,272 students and staff. This is an increase of approximately 65% over the previous period, and the highest membership total achieved under voluntary student membership since the legislation was introduced. Changes planned and implemented for 2010 include introducing a loyalty bonus for returning members.
Membership Services As part of the Guild Membership package, members gained exclusive access to the following services: Work Experience Discounts Insurance Cover The off-campus discount 48 work experience insurance letters were provided to Full Guild Members in 2009. Students who dominate in their requests for work experience insurance letters are those from the Humanities faculty, many studying in the areas of Film, Television and Screen Arts, Communication and Cultural Studies, Journalism and Media and Information as most work experience takes place with newspapers and television studios.
program was a collaborated effort between the Student Guilds of Curtin, UWA, Murdoch and ECU. The Curtin Student Guild coordinated and produced the booklet for each respective University. It featured a range of both large and small businesses across Perth designed to appeal to students in a broad fashion. Collaboration between all of the University Guilds is an ideal way to strengthen the appeal of the program from potential discount providers, and is therefore planned to continue in subsequent years.
Employment Board A greater focus was placed on this service in 2009, in an effort to improve on the administrative side of the board, improving turnover of ads and ensuring that those that were expired were removed. A mixture of 150 public and private businesses from across Perth advertised jobs on the board in 2009. At the beginning of semester the Employment Board advertisements were moved into the Guild Reception area. This move has made it easier to keep track of old advertisements and update or remove them as required. It also has a more professional appearance and works better as a visual unit. 31
Financial Statements FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2009
Statement By Guild Council In accordance with a resolution of the Council of Curtin University Student Guild we state that – In the opinion of the Council: (a) the Statement of Comprehensive Income and Statement of Cash Flows are drawn up so as to give a true and fair view of the performance of the Guild for the year ended 31 December 2009; (b) the Statement of Financial Position is drawn up so as to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Guild as at 31 December 2009; and (c) at the date of this statement there are reasonable grounds to believe that the Guild will be able to pay its debts as and when they fall due.
On behalf of the Council
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Joseph Quick
Bethany Doherty
Curtin Student Guild Education Vice-President
Curtin Student Guild Activities Vice-President
Independent Auditor’s Report To the Members of the Curtin University Student Guild We have audited the accompanying financial statements of Curtin University Student Guild (the “Guild”), which comprises the statement of financial position as at 31 December 2009, and the statement of comprehensive income, statement of changes in equity and statement of cash flows for the year ended on that date, a summary of significant accounting policies, other explanatory notes to the financial statements and the statement by the Guild Council.
Guild council’s responsibility for the financial statements The Council members of the Guild are responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards (including the Australian Accounting Interpretations), and the requirements of the statutes of the Curtin University of Technology Act 1966. This responsibility includes establishing and maintaining :internal controls relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error; selecting and applying appropriate accounting policies; and making accounting estimates that are reasonable in the circumstances.
Auditor’s responsibility Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with Australian Auditing Standards which require us to comply with relevant ethical requirements relating to audit engagements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement. An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgement, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant to the entity’s preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the entity’s internal control. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by the members of the Council, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion.
Independence In conducting our audit, we complied with applicable independence requirements of the Australian professional ethical pronouncements.
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Independent Auditor’s Report cont... Auditor’s opinion In our opinion,: a) the financial statements of Curtin University Student Guild are in accordance with the Curtin University of Technology Act 1966, including: b) presenting fairly the Guild’s financial position as at 31 December 2009 and of its performance and cash flows for the year then ended on that date; and c) complies with Australian Accounting Standards (including the Australian Accounting Interpretations) and the Curtin University of Technology Act 1966.
GRANT THORNTON AUDIT PTY LTD Chartered Accountants
J W VIBERT Director - Audit & Assurance Services
Perth, 29 June 2010
Grant Thornton Australia Limited is a member firm within Grant Thornton international Ltd. Grant Thortnton International Ltd and the member firms are not a worldwide partnership. Grant Thornton Australia Limited, together with its subsidiaries and related entities, delivers its services independently in Australia.
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation
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Financial Reports Statement of Financial Position As at 31 December 2009
2009
2008
$
$
Current Assets Cash
4,398,023
3,652,801
Receivables
269,585
209,587
Inventory
368,487
264,647
Other
10,168
44,786
5,046,263
4,171,821
Property, Plant & Equipment (nett)
3,058,121
3,189,733
Total Non-Current Assets
3,058,121
3,189,733
8,104,384
7,361,554
1,078,929
1,061,719
Short -term provisions
390,478
347,901
Total Current Liabilities
1,469,407
1,409,620
Long -term provisions
95,094
89,642
Total Non-Current Liabilities
95,094
89,642
Total Liabilities
1,564,501
1,499,262
Net Assets
6,539,883
5,862,292
5,934,363
5,789,360
605,520
145,003
6,539,883
5,934,363
Total Current Assets
Non-Current Assets Receivables
Total Assets
Current Liabilities Trade and other payables Short -term borrowings
Non-Current Liabilities Long -term borrowings
Equity Opening Accumulated Surplus Surplus for 2009
Total Guild Equity
Financial Reports Statement of Cash Flows
Year ended 31 December 2009
Cash at Bank (at the beginning of the financial year) plus Deposits and Interests less Payments
2009
2008
$
$
3,652,801
2,503,183
16,098,364
12,573,347
(15,353,142)
(11,423,729)
745,222
1,149,618
4,398,023
3,652,801
Net Cash Flow for Year
Cash at Bank (at the end of the financial year)
Statement of Financial Performance
Year Ended 31 December 2009
2008
$
$
Income from Sale of Goods
11,644,061
10,249,971
less Cost of Goods Sold
(5,294,019)
(4,522,850)
less Other Costs of Sales
(4,460,876)
(4,470,049)
Gross profit from Sales
1,889,166
1,257,072
1,608,496
1,350,929
less Cost of Services
(2,652,214)
(2,119,728)
plus Finance Income
210,436
275,518
plus Other Income
145,000
139,699
less Other Costs
(595,365)
(748,119)
Surplus / (Deficit) before Tax Expense
605,520
155,371
plus Services Income (Membership/Uni Grant)
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2009
Financial Reports Details of Operating Expenses As at 31 December 2009
2009
2008
$
$
Student Services Representation, Advocacy & Advisory
316,171
289,316
Student Support (Student Assist)
159,857
154,320
Membership Services
562,146
490,285
Student Discounts
495,762
158,531
Student Publications
131,763
129,033
Clubs & Recreation
156,082
175,323
Second Hand Bookshop
678,002
687,282
Other Student Support Costs
595,365
781,404
3,095,148
2,865,494
9,259,133
8,081,051
52,828
132,798
595,365
781,404
9,907,325
8,995,253
Sub-total Student Services
Trading Costs & Overheads Trading services Student Council & NUS Guild Administration Sub-total Student Services
Total Expenditure
13,002,473
11,860,746
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Student Services Expenses Other Student Support Costs - $595,365 (19%) These include the cost of providing finance, administration, information technology & communication support services to the above areas as well as other infrastructure costs such as public liability and other insurance.
Student Support $159,857 (5%) Costs for delivering welfare and grievance appeal support.
Second Hand Bookshop $678,002 (22%) This represents the money paid back to students who have sold their books through the shop, as well as the costs of running this service (this cost is matched by income from the sales).
Student Discounts $495,762 (16%) The value of discounts claimed by students at Guild outlets.
Membership Services $562,146 (18%) Student Publications $131,763 (4%) Costs of producing student publications such as Grok & Paragon magazine.
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Expenses in this category include Student Accident Insurance, costs associated with running Guild membership stalls, Student diary, Membership Pack (carry bag, pen, pencil, pacer, stapler and highlighter).
Revenue Breakdown
Representation & Advocacy $316,171 (10%) Costs directly associated with the running of the departments dealing with issues relating to disadvantaged and special interest equity groups (CUPSA, International Students Committee, Women, Indigenous, Gender & Sexuality) and includes funding provided to regional Centres and covers the cost of projects such as the ‘Excellence in Teaching Award’s, ‘Alternative Handbook’ and student surveys.
Recreation - $156,082 (5%) Expenses include the costs from O Day and other orientation week activities and events, grants and sponsorship provided to clubs and societies, as well as costs associated with our Guild Recreation courses.
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2009 Guild Staff Listing Guild Representatives President Chee Lai Education Vice-President Jessica Short Activities Vice-President Matthew Grant General Secretary Arun Ramdin Business Faculty Representative Emma Grant Health Sciences Faculty Representative Bethany Doherty Humanities Faculty Representative Owen Altham Science & Engineering Faculty Representative Manish B. Jhowry Project Research Officer Chris Hassen
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Councillors Hannah Henderson Dave Ramdin Sherrene Tan Ritwik Roy Cathrine Skibeli Rachel Murray Reema Gudhka
Department Officers ISC Convenor Tommy Lim CUPSA President Diego Gomes Women’s Officer Francisca Quintanilla Gender & Sexuality Officer Sarah Rani Ryan Cauilan Indigenous Officer Elizabeth Brown Environment Officer David Staples
Finance & Administration Managing Director Cliff Paget Finance & Admin Manager Sylvia Hahn Management Accountant Karen Rennie Finance & Admin Officer Jo Alvey Accounts Clerk Hanna James
Member Benefits Member Benefits Manager Matthew Kenworthy Events & Marketing Coordinator Luke Healey Graphic Designer Rozanna Johnson Membership Officer Corinne McGrade
Receptionist Claudine Gueho
Tavern & Bistro Manager Tanya Della-Santina
Grok Editor Jake Dennis
Tavern Assistant Manager Rory Sheridan
Senior Student Assist Officer Mandy Middle
Main Cafe Supervisor Kay Ireland
Student Assist Officer Simon Roy
Concept Cafe Supervisor Jaye Yates
Student Assist Officer Juliana Desker-Lim
Cafe Angazi Supervisor Heike Kaehler-Oshea
Food & Beverage
Bookmark Cafe Supervisor Caroline Southall
Food & Beverage Manager Francois Leuenberger Assistant Manager Kelli Knight Functions Coordinator Ann Maree Foran
Vege Patch Supervisor Bernie Bergmans Basement Cafe Supervisor Pamela Drewery
Retail
Administrative Assistant Jade Hamilton
Retail Operations Manager Brent Penberthy
Executive Chef Christophe Jerome
Copy & Design Centre Manager John Hew
Copy & Design Assistant Manager Justin Manson The Spot Supervisor Diane Anderson Curtin Concept Supervisor Rod Howson Secondhand Bookshop Helen Bartlett Maree Reed IT Manager Shayne Steenholdt IT Assistant Susantha Jayawardana
Curtin Student Guild is a not-for-profit organisation.
Our Vision is to be an independant organisation which is highly valued by all of the University community, especially our members, through the active provision of services and benefits, encompassing all aspects of student life.
All profits made from our catering, retail, events & membership services divisions are put back into student programs, student experiences and capital investments into your campus. We’ve got some big plans for 2010 including improvements to the Tavern to allow for betetr events, cheap and efficient self service printing services and providing better student service areas.
www.guild.curtin.edu.au