Cambridge SU is the representative body for all students at the University of Cambridge and its constituent Colleges; it is a registered charity within the Cambridge community that exists to represent, campaign for, and support students at the University. When you enrol on a course here, you are automatically made a member of Cambridge SU - welcome!

We exist to fight for, advocate and represent the interests and needs of all students at Cambridge University. Cambridge SU provides high-quality tools, skills, strategies, knowledge, and development opportunities for students to shape their education and experiences. We are proactive in building student communities and developing effective relationships.

We’re led by elected student officers (Sabbs) who are part of our growing team to deliver positive change for current and future generations of Cambridge students. As a student-led organisation, we're focused on matters that affect your student experience and encourage all members to input into our work through Student Council, Forums or the Annual General Meeting (AGM) to name a few examples.

We recognise the positive value of diversity, promoting equality and fairness, and challenging discrimination. We aim to go beyond the narrow scope of legislative compliance and follow best practice, making equality, fairness and diversity a fundamental part of all our activities.

strategic direction

The Cambridge SU strategy provides a clear, shared focus for our organisation on representing all students at Cambridge. It underpins every aspect of our work and has been informed through student consultation to ensure it genuinely reflects the needs and priorities of those we represent.

The strategy sets out how Cambridge SU will make Cambridge students feel effectively represented and supported by a thriving Students’ Union and collective of wider student organisations. It includes clear timelines for implementing operational changes and measuring progress, alongside a commitment to producing an annual impact report that tracks and reflects on this progress.

Our Strategic Ambitions focus on The voice of students, Helping Students in Need, Building Inclusive Communities and Campaigning for Social Justice. These ambitions are supported by 5 Strategic Enablers; Our People, Governance, Effective Communication, IT & Digital Technologies and Suitable Space which provide the foundations needed to deliver meaningful and lasting impact.

The Voice of Students

Cambridge’s demanding academic environment and 31 diverse colleges make representation challenging. Our role is to collaborate with and support student representatives at Cambridge to create a powerful student voice.

 

Key Projects

• Develop our use of data and insight to inform representative work, drawing on market research, social policy reporting and feedback from committees.
• Review which University committees we are represented on, ensuring we are in the right places to represent students.
• Develop the Academic Rep system, improving support for reps and working with them to agree annual priorities for postgraduate and undergraduate students.
• Collaborate with other collegiate university and Russell Group students’ unions, providing an opportunity to learn from others and engage in wider campaigns.
• Work with JCRs and MCRs to co-ordinate student representative work, offering practical support and continuing to deliver the College Engagement Plan.

 

Asks of the University

• Provide institutional backing for our elections, working with us to promote elections and encourage students to participate.
• Support us in developing our Academic Rep system and raising awareness amongst students of who their representative is.
• Help us be as effective as possible in our role as representatives on University committees, with enhanced support, guidance and training.

Help Students Thrive

Many students struggle with financial hardship, mental health, academic or institutional issues, and wider life challenges. Our role is to support students, help them progress through their studies and have the best time at university.

 

Key Projects

• Complete a review of our Advice Service and its position within the wider University and College provision of advice, welfare and guidance.
• Review the Shadowing Scheme and consider how we fit in the University access ecosystem, and support participation from under-represented cohorts of students.
• Consolidate SUpermarket and develop a package of support for students struggling with the cost of living.
• Continue our Exam Support programme, broadening the scheme to cover exam de-stress and practical support to help students thrive during exams.
• Consider opportunities to collaborate with student welfare and guidance groups, such as Cambridge Nightline and Cambridge University Student Minds.

 

Asks of the University

• Promote access to our Advice Service for students involved in any formal University process, ensuring all staff, particularly in Colleges, refer into the service.
• Work collaboratively with us to tackle disparities between the Colleges and the experience of students.
• Collaborate with our Sabbatical Officers to make Cambridge more inclusive and to improve mental health and wellbeing support.

Build Inclusive Communities

We play a key role in supporting student societies and will strengthen our support for societies, JCRs, and MCRs to enable them to facilitate inclusive student communities and experiences.

 

Key Projects

• Deliver a world-class Freshers’ Fair as a central part of Freshers’ Week and widen our programme of Freshers’ events to build inclusive communities of students.
• Consider opportunities to extend events and activities past Freshers’ Week to help new students settle into university life and integrate into student communities.
• Work with the University on the Societies Project and play a more central role to societies, supporting them to run activities safely, legally and inclusively.
• Research options to set up a Societies’ Varsity and encourage greater society collaboration with other universities.
• Provide a programme of practical support, resources and training for JCRs and MCRs to support them to build student communities in colleges.

 

Asks of the University

• Provide institutional backing for our more central role in running student groups at Cambridge.
• rovide practical help to facilitate student engagement in activities and support our campaign to introduce compulsory lecture capture.
• Provide practical pre-arrival support to introduce new students the SU.

Campaign for Social Justice

Students’ unions and student movements have long driven awareness of climate change, discrimination, and other social justice issues. Students expect their SU to take meaningful action on these urgent challenges We will continue our work to promote equity, diversity and inclusion, working with the University.

 

Key Projects

• Create and facilitate activists, providing practical support for those wanting to campaign on issues they are passionate about.
• Continue our work to promote equity, diversity and inclusion, launching and implementing our new EDI Strategy.
• Run an annual programme of cultural awareness events in collaboration with student groups, celebrating diversity and promoting inclusion.
• Continue our campaigning work around environmental sustainability and ethical practice, including lobbying the University to commit to an ethical finance policy.
• Engage with the community to demonstrate the value students bring to the area and encourage students to participate in local representation and democracy.

 

Asks of the University

• Work with us to improve the ethical credentials of the University.
• Work collaboratively with us to deliver our new EDI Strategy and create a truly diverse and inclusive culture at the University.

By sharing our strategy with our members, we hope that you will feel confident in our aims and how our work will affect your experience of Cambridge. Read our full strategic plan here for more information regarding our methodology and do reach out to us if you have any questions.

 

our story

Cambridge SU was established in 2020 to serve Cambridge University students and provide a central support network across the collegiate structure. It is founded in the combined efforts of two central Students’ Unions of the University of Cambridge, Cambridge University Students’ Union and the University of Cambridge Graduate Union, following an all student referendum was held in Michaelmas term of 2019, asking students:

Referendum: Do you approve of the dissolution of CUSU and the GU and the creation of a new single students' union in the form of Cambridge SU?

The referendum was PASSED (and the voter turnout threshold of 10% was reached).

Yes	2272 votes	70.58%
No	737 votes	22.9%
Blank ballot	210 votes	6.52%

 

The proposal to form a new, single Students' Union came at a time when Undergraduate and Postgraduate student numbers equalised within the University. We felt passionately that a new organisation should represent both groups of students, and those that fall in the grey area between them, sufficiently and equally. Our founding principles and the values carried throughout our strategic plan are integral to our daily operations and how we plan to deliver transformative change within Cambridge.

Cambridge SU is currently affiliated to the below organisations. Affiliations for Cambridge SU are approved annually at the SU Council. For more information about these affiliations or if you would like us to affiliate with your organisation, please contact president@cambridgesu.co.uk

The National Union of Students of the United Kingdom (NUS) is a confederation of students' unions in the United Kingdom.

The Living Wage Foundation celebrate and recognise the leadership of responsible employers who choose to go further and pay a real Living Wage based on the cost of living, not just the government minimum.

UKCISA is a charity and membership organisation supporting international students and all who work with them.

CCVS is an independent registered charity, set up by local organisations in the 1970's, to provide a central source of expert help and advice for local groups.