A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
YUSU Services and Finance Officer Matt Burton put forward the review in a recent Council meeting.
In an email sent out to the Council members, Burton stated the key areas that were to be reviewed:
The feedback from the council members will be used to consider recommendations for the future of the Ents Technical department.
According to EntsTech manager Rob Hyams, an EntsTech review occurs every three years, and has cited "the current climate of the events at the university meaning that they [the university] are looking at ways of cutting costs".
Hyams added: "As technical equipment is a large part of any events budget, we are the obvious area for them to look at when seeking these savings."
EntsTech have kept their prices very similar over the last four years or so, and in some cases have lowered them. At the last price match, they were around 30-40% cheaper than hiring similar equipment from a local external company.
The EntsTech have had very good relations with all of the college chairs, and this was obviously a very serious matter for all the colleges, as Vanbrugh Chair Dani Fill commented: "EntsTech are great, the service they provide is most definitely friendlier than any outside company."
Fill did, however, express concern about the cost of EntsTech, saying: "The cost of EntsTech for a Vanbrugh Event puts us at a great risk...It can cost on average about £900 if not more. I know from research that they are reasonably costed, although we did find a person who could do the majority of the equipment (minus the stage) who were about half the price."
Fill added: "I do feel that if we own this equipment, why do we still have to pay so much? I have had this argument with Matt Burton many a time, and it's due to maintenance. But surely maintenance cannot cost as much as we are paying, if you look at the costing of the equipment and how frequently it is used."
When asked what he hoped the outcome of the review to be, Hyams stated that he "would wish that a move is made to benefit the student body as a whole, with disregard for that may mean for EntsTech."
He added: "At the current time, I continue to see EntsTech playing a large part in the technical side of campus events, however as the events change more to meet students current wants and needs, so shall the service we offer."
If the review is able to put the cost of EntsTech down then it would greatly benefit all societies, colleges and individuals who currently take a massive risk every time they run an event. Good luck to them!
I love Entstech
I ♥ Jonny Bartlett
For a small, reoccuring event such as a comedy night or acoustic night, it's a lot cheaper to BUY kit than it is to hire it in twice or more a year (providing there's storage available).
Various lighting companies will do demo days for people to get to know the equipment and get some training, so colleges or socs could always have a lighting and sound engineer as a volunteer committee member, rather than pay entstech to do (for small events at least) a very simple job.
Not sure what the deal is with insurance though.
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