By David Williams (he/him)
AUTSA has laid out its key priorities in a new five year strategy. SRC President Sara Youssef announced the new strategy at the annual general meeting at the end of last month, alongside vice presidents Macauley Cunningham and Zina Abu Ali.
It outlines five key priorities:
Student voice, engagement and awareness
Student wellness
Stakeholder engagement
Financial stability and sustainability
Leadership development and operational systems
Youssef says she is very happy with the results, as it’s been nearly six months in the making. “This is where my heart is. We have been working on it as a collective and I’m so proud of it.” An AUT staff member in attendance said they’ve been on a number of boards over the years and it is probably one of the best pieces of strategy they’ve seen. “The organisation is in a really good spot to charge forward in the future with great staff on board and great student leadership.” But Youssef stresses the organisation has needed a strategy for a long time. “Coming into AUTSA, there was never really a strategy,” she says. “We didn’t really have that sense of direction, we were doing things on the go.”
However, Youssef says that while the strategy is a good start, she wants to know the next steps. She says they are starting off with the what and the why, and then they’ll know the how. The strategy also outlines ways to measure its success. The key priority is targeting student voice, engagement and awareness, as these would have quantifiable ways to measure success. In the next five years, AUTSA wants to increase voter turnout in student elections to over 10 percent, ensure between 15 and 25 percent of AUT students engage with clubs and services, and create a competitive election environment. Youssef says AUTSA wants to make sure it is building a student association for all.
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