By Beds SU
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
The academic year started in September and we set about speaking to as many students as possible during our Welcome Week events, on campus visits and throughout all of our social opportunities programme of events this year. Thanks to student participation we collected 1,303 pieces of feedback, and increase of 21.7% on previous year.
A massive thank you to everyone who engaged with us so we could take action and make a difference to the student experience.
Societies and Student Networks
We have actively looked to support students across our societies and networks. In October 2025 we had 876 members in Academic societies and by April this had risen to an impressive 972.
We are delighted to have Student Champions in place in our LGBTQ+ and Student With Disabilities communities and both have seen a significant uptake in membership and frequency of events over the last nine months. These active groups hold weekly meetings for their members.
The Students With Disabilities Community were also recognised for their commitment and proactiveness at this year's Beds SU Awards, where they scooped the Society of the Year Award.
Events and having fun!
We continue to evolve our events programme to meet the needs of our students. These include regular favourites such as Games Night, Wellness Wednesday and Film Night alongside popular Bhangra Afternoons, Halloween Night, Christmas Parties, Children's Easter and Christmas events and themed events for Black History Month, Pride Month and Mental Health Awareness week.
New to this year - Our End of Term Parties - in Luton and Bedford proved to be the most popular events of the year with the Luton event held at new night spot - Mason’s -welcomed over 300 students!
Since last September we’ve held an amazing 376 events with over 8,200 attendees.
Student Elections
This year's Student Elections caused great excitement as our students voted across six ‘roles’. There were 24 candidates and our Campuses were awash with campaigning students trying their best to get votes.
In total there were over 11,300 votes cast and voter turn out was a near record 21%! The new elected candidates will take up their positions in July and September 2026 and we are looking forward to welcoming them all.
Student support
Our dedicated team of Advisors continue to offer online triage sessions throughout each term and delivered 227 hours of support. Their kind and compassionate approach also led to them supporting students through 429 advice cases.
We will shortly be relaunching our Knowledge Hub in a new format with over 120 articles available including: 'Where to park in and around our campuses', 'Support and safety information for students experiencing domestic abuse', 'What things to consider before choosing accommodation' and 'Finding part-time work as a student.'
The cost-of-living crisis continues to impact individuals and here at Beds SU we are grateful for the ongoing work of our staff team who are putting in their time and effort to ensure the pantry is available for students when they need it.
This year we welcome 30 visits to our Luton and Bedford run panties, with the Bedford offer being supported by the wonderful Treehouse team. We are so grateful for the ongoing donations from external providers to ensure we can supply essentials to students who need it.
Watch our highlights video
Have a look at our fantastic short video with just some of our favourite moments!
