Our Vision: All Brookes students will achieve their full potential on campus and beyond, driving positive change and having a valuable impact on society.
Our Mission: We work with students to create spaces and opportunities to build strong communities around common interests and identities. We support students in their personal and academic growth by providing resources, funding and expertise and equipping them with the confidence and skills to effectively represent themselves and others. We want our members to have fun, and enjoy themselves whilst at Oxford Brookes University.
Our values: We are tenacious, fair, responsive, trustworthy, inclusive
Our Theory of Change
Our theory of change starts with a belief that the overall purpose of Higher Education is to encourage positive societal change through the development of individuals. Students’ Unions play an important role in that purpose, and Brookes Union is proud to contribute to this purpose in partnership with Oxford Brookes University.
We believe that graduates who have engaged fully in their university life go on to be happier, more satisfied, doing the jobs they want to do and thriving. We also believe that they go on to have higher engagement in civic life and play a bigger role in their local communities; we believe that this in turn contributes to a fairer and more equal society. All of the work that we do aims to improve five key outcomes in students whilst they are at university: a wellbeing measure, student satisfaction (NSS), attainment (getting good grades), retention (completing their courses) and employability.
It’s why our mission is to work with students to create spaces and opportunities to build strong communities around common interests and identities. We aim to build a strong, mentally-healthy student community on campus, where students feel supported and able to support each other. We want students to build long-lasting friendships and networks, but most importantly for our members to have fun, and enjoy themselves whilst at Oxford Brookes University.
It’s why we provide resources, funding and expertise to support students in their personal and academic growth so that students feel confident in themselves and their skills. We want our members to feel a sense of agency over their time with us, co-creating their learning environment through representing themselves and others. By providing a safe space for our members to engage in democratic processes and campaigning, we build an active community of the future.
Unlike some charities, our membership changes constantly and as such our work will never be complete. This means that we have to deliver high-impact activity which produces long-term and transformational outcomes in a short period of time. Whilst our theory of change will endure, the short length of this strategy reflects the speed at which we will need to review our plans and tactics in response to our changing membership and their needs.
