The first month of Semester 2 has well and truly flown by! There’s been a lot going on at your Union in February, and we’ve definitely started Semester 2 as we mean to go on.

We’ve delivered lots of opportunities and new events for you to make the start of Semester 2 the best it possibly can be. From our annual Surrey Decides elections, to Refreshers Week, a whole host of Belonging Events, Union Trips and nights out in Rubix, we’ve had you covered!

Another huge congratulations to all our Surrey Decides candidates for taking part in the elections this year and making it one of the most successful elections to date!

Let’s recap on everything else we have been up to throughout February:

Community:

• Ran several incredibly successful nightlife events throughout Refreshers Week with 2,447 tickets sold across all three Rubix nights. Fan favourites like Fetish Night also returned in February!
• New nights and events in Rubix have landed this February too – we completely sold out of BuzzBallz during our takeover night, and Varsity 2026 tickets have also gone on sale! Plus, we launched a new weekly Quiz Night during Refreshers which now takes place every Tuesday at Hari’s bar.
• Launched a brand-new weekly schedule of events and refreshed food & drinks deals at Manor Park Social in time for Refreshers Week – check out our Instagram or What’s On page for all upcoming events.
• Organised and ran 18 Belonging Events throughout February, and launched Union Creates at Manor Park Social, which takes place every Monday. This new event has sold-out every single week!

Voice:

• Organised a Course Rep social with 60 of you there – 15 Course Reps also submitted their wins throughout the month of February with three winners overall. Read more about our winners here!
• The Student Equality Network hosted their first ever stall at Refreshers Fair, with 92 of you signing up to join since! The Network has also hosted several events and supported awareness campaigns across the University.
• Held our second Student Voice Forum of the year with 125 attendees and over 52 questions asked on a range of different topics including AI, assessment and feedback, campus life, and inclusivity.

Support:

• Supported over 280 students across February with a wide range of different concerns – this included academic misconduct cases following the January assessment period, housing advice and exam results advice.
• Launched new weekly support outreach at Manor Park Social, where students can drop in and ask for any from one of our advisors. We also launched an online Quick Queries session every week, both taking place on Tuesdays!
• Ran our last Nightline training session for the academic year, adding more amazing listening volunteers to help you when you need it.

Activity:

• Ran a total of four Union Trips across February, with 34 of you coming to Playzone, 53 on the Cambridge and Bath trip and a fun takeover evening at Ninja Warrior in Guildford.
• Organised and hosted another incredibly successful Refreshers Fair with support from the Community Zone and wider Union team. In total, we had 130 Clubs and Societies attend Refreshers Fair.
• Since the start of February, we have seen 1,016 of you purchase a new Club or Society membership. It’s amazing to see you find your new passions as we kick off Semester 2!

Your Union:

• We ran our annual Union Officer elections, Surrey Decides 2026, electing your new Sabbatical Officer team and our eight new paid Part-Time Officer roles following our restructure. 134 students nominated themselves, our highest number since 2016!
• In this year’s Surrey Decides, 3,524 voters took part, casting a total of 19,802 ballots across all the contests. This marks our highest turnout in three years! We even gave out 392 cupcakes to all of you during voting as a thanks for getting involved!
• Your Sabbatical Officers attended the formal installation ceremony of Professor Stephen Jarvis as Surrey’s sixth Vice-Chancellor, alongside other staff and students from across the University community. Your Union President, Matt was among the group of speakers at the ceremony.
• Prepared to launch our brand-new Destination Success Programme starting next Wednesday 11 March! The free workshops encourage you to build and enhance your employability skills. More information can be found on our Destination Success page.

We hope that you have all enjoyed February and all that was on offer for you at your Union. We have a lot more planned for you as we head into warmer months, so make sure to check our What’s On page regularly for new events and activities!

Make sure to also check out our Instagram and Tik Tok accounts for regular updates from your Union!