Hi everyone,

As many of you will be aware by now, the University of Exeter recently undertook a restructure involving voluntary academic redundancies. Since September, I’ve been sharing with Exeter students the work that I’ve been doing to limit the impact of these staff changes on the student experience here in Cornwall and protect our campus.

Part of this work involved setting out a practical plan for how the University could maintain fundamental elements of your experience and ensure that we continue to have a strong campus community for all our students.

In addition to the £4,000 Welcome Community Fund, which has now all been used, I secured £1,000 specifically for Academic Societies to help build academic community outside of departments and enable groups to run additional extra-curricular and employability related activities. Alongside this, I’ve secured new contacts with Exeter Alumni and Careers teams to support you in running these activities, such as arranging guest speakers, networking events or academic trips.

An Academic Societies Fund of £1,000 will shortly be available, from which all registered Academic Societies can apply for funding to support additional academic or employability activities. This will sit alongside an additional £1,000 apiece for Exeter and Falmouth Academic Societies from the SU. Each group can submit one application and will need to outline the specific costs involved.

If you want to register your group as an Academic Society, please complete this form by the 6th November 2026: SU Academic societies registration – Fill in form.

Once registered, your group will then receive an email setting out how to apply for the funding and access the contacts to Exeter Careers and Alumni.

Hope you have a good rest of the term and I'm looking forward to reviewing your plans for this funding.