Falmouth and Exeter Students’ Union (FXU) has been awarded for its work over the past year, receiving national recognition at the National Union of Students’ (NUS) awards ceremony for the second consecutive year.

The awards showcased outstanding achievement in students’ unions across the country with over 144 nominations from across Britain.

In the absence of a permanent CEO, the FXU presidents were faced with a challenging year and pulled together to keep the student experience at the heart of all decisions. The judges were impressed with how students and staff at FXU have delivered some impressive successes to improve the student experience.

“FXU has had a hell of a year - the challenges they have faced have been enormous; they worked incredibly hard, pulling together as a team to meet the needs of the students at FXU," said the judges. "The range and variety of the objectives they set and delivered together is impressive and the panel were hugely impressed by their drive and their achievements under difficult circumstances. They were honest about the challenges they faced throughout and painted a very authentic picture. Their achievements were tangible and data led showing real impact. A transformative year.”

Key FXU achievements this year include establishing a liberation and faith committee, lobbying for improved university and FXU communications both to students and the local community, securing an institutional wellbeing review, increasing the representation of student voice at higher levels within two universities, securing Halal and Kosher food on campuses for the first time and working in partnership with both universities to increase the financial transparency provided to students regarding tuition fees breakdowns. The full 2016/17 impact report can be found at fxu.org.uk/impactreport.

Chris Slesser, FXU president Falmouth, said: “FXU has worked really hard to enhance the academic experience of Falmouth students, developing our structures for academic representation to ensure we are relevant to every student’s journey.”

Alexa Webster, FXU president community and welfare, added: “This award is for Team of the Year and this year that is what we all were. It has been a pleasure to work with the town councils for Falmouth and Penryn as well as residents. We wouldn’t have achieved this success without the great relationships we have with them.”