For student organisations, gathering student feedback isn’t just about ticking a box – it’s about forging meaningful connections and building a stronger, more engaged student community. Feedback helps unions understand what students value most, where there’s room for improvement, and how to take action that enhances the overall student experience.
Transitioning to online voting systems can be transformative for student organisations. Taking elections online offers greater convenience, inclusivity, and transparency. However, they often face significant challenges when implementing an online voting system. Read on to discover 5 common challenges when implementing an online voting system and practical tips on how to avoid them.
Running a sports club or society is about more than just organising events—it’s about building a strong, connected community where members feel they belong. Engaging your current members while attracting new ones can be challenging, especially when you're trying to build a sense of community and boost event turnout with limited feedback. However, with a few key strategies, you can turn your club into a place everyone wants to be part of. Here are 5 tips to help boost engagement...
Digital accessibility isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s an essential part of a student organisations digital presence. Student organisation’s website, apps, and digital content should be accessible for everyone, including students with disabilities. Making small changes can make a huge difference in creating a welcoming and inclusive online space.
Join us as we explore how the MSL platform can take your campus event planning to the next level.
In today's fast-paced and competitive academic environment, Student Unions are under increasing pressure to deliver a high-quality experience and measurable value. The key to success lies in understanding student needs, providing the proper support, and making data-driven decisions that boost both engagement and outcomes. Data analysis is crucial in achieving these goals. However, despite the potential of data to drive meaningful change, many organisations struggle to fully leverage its power.
Choosing the right membership management system is a crucial decision for any student organisation. It can shape how efficiently you manage members, streamline operations, and ultimately enhance student engagement. But with so many options available, what should you prioritise? This article breaks down five key things to consider when selecting a system, helping you choose the best system for your student organisation.
Giving a platform to student to share their opinions, suggestions, positive thoughts and concerns and general opinions is crucial for student organisations in empowering the student voice. Surveys are a great way to do this, and are the go-to method, for many student organisations in gathering this data. We offer Surveys as a functionality within the MSL System® to make sending and analysing them a simple and easy process. With that said, surveys are not perfect.
Every student deserves the opportunity to enjoy their time at university. However, like all of us, students face challenges. It's important during these times that there is a system in place so they can feel supported and guided toward a positive solution. Not having a process or system in place can not only impact the well-being of your students but can also have an impact on retention.
University student organisations are challenged to ensure a positive and continually improving student experience. Choosing the right Membership Management solution for your Student’s Union can make all the difference. With that said, selecting the best one can be daunting, especially when you have so many other things going on.
Empowering Student Engagement With Robust Cybersecurity Measures
Join us as we discuss the importance of building a strong student community and how the MSL platform can help. Read our blog.
Learn how to streamline your admin processes and improve student engagement strategies in our latest blog.
Read more to find out how to streamline your volunteering processes and tailor opportunities for your members.
MSL is looking for a dynamic, creative, and driven marketing manager. We are a committed team whose impact is disproportionate to our size. This is a player-manager role so you will be as comfortable with setting the strategy as getting tactical and executing hands on.
Our tradition of bringing the MSL community* together started again on the 8th June - we heard from great speakers, shared ideas, and took part in inspiring discussions led by you! Look out for more sessions to be announced in the coming months.
We spoke with Hannah, the communications and marketing manager at UCLan SU to find out what the future holds for the SU - along with some Top Tips to better support each and every student.
Boo! 🎃 Here is your Autumn news round up, it's all about events and top tips...
With our growing community of Canadian students' union, associations and councils, the MSL team has jumped at the chance to join the AMICCUS-C conference in Whistler, BC!
MSL is pleased to announce a new partnership with native to bring more options for events technology to students’ organisations using the MSL System. A free, optional plug-in for MSL clients provides a range of new features such as digital wristbands, ticket scanning and features to build a following. Used either in conjunction with MSL’s popular events tools or as the sole events platform, the native partnership gives MSL clients more choice and flexibility to promote and deliver great even
Making a digital impact through their website, clubs and societies resources, events and ticketing, student voice and integrated elections and volunteering/employability hub.
"MSL...allows us to use the same platform for everything we need from advice cases to emails and website and that will help us achieve our strategy in the long term."
"We were immediately impressed by the functionality of MSL websites and how everything is set up to maximize student engagement and amplify their voices."
Dundee University Students' Assocation has turned to MSL to help form the big-picture understanding of their members' needs, wants, expectations and behaviours.
June 2021 - "MSL has provided MSA a platform to engage and interact with students whilst developing the student Office Bearers skills. At current stage, we have more than 20,000 memberships and the list continues to grow as we continue to deliver and improve our services in this challenging time." - Sylvia Francisca, Finance Director, Monash Student Association
April 2021 - Harper Adams Students’ Union has taken advantage of the MSL System® for the past three years, broadening its service provision and digitising many of its processes to keep pace with the changing demands of members. The MSL System has helped the Union deliver impactful Student Voice campaigns, hugely popular digital engagement programmes and utilise the data it now has at its fingertips to shape the next five-year’s ambitious development strategy.
March 2021 - The Australian National University Students’ Association first chose the MSL System to underpin its burgeoning digital engagement requirements. The digital transformation had started back in 2016 when MSL Elections was used to run online voting for the first time - a move which resulted in the highest number of votes placed and posts filled for five years. Encouraged by their members’ enthusiasm for participating online, the decision was made to implement the core MSL System.
March 2021 - In 2020, the Heriot-Watt University Dubai Student Council chose to launch their brand new digital presence with MSL, the largest provider of digital student engagement solutions in the UK, Australia and Ireland. “The new website and our digital resources puts us at the forefront of student engagement across the UAE and reinforces the importance of ensuring students have a positive student experience alongside the studies.” - Soehl Abraham, Student President
From our SU22 session - we looked at making it easy for your new members to engage with your organisation, great employability features in the MSL System, running fantastic events, elections and advice services plus student group features.
September 2021 - Arts Students’ Union is the focal point of support and activities for students at the six constituent colleges of University of the Arts London (UAL). The Union provides participation opportunities through sports clubs, societies, the Arts Programme and representation through the elected officers, council and course reps. So when the Union looked at ways to encourage greater participation in activities, elections was the first area reviewed - with the support of the team at MS
Check out our top tips highlighting fantastic features built into your Volunteering & Employability module you might want to implement! Some time-honoured favourites, some brand new, all designed to encourage engagement with your volunteering scheme.
April 2021 - UCLan Students’ Union has always tried to offer lots of different ways to engage with their students as a union providing services and support to members on separate campuses in Preston and Burnley in Lancashire. Whilst digital engagement has been an integral part of the overall communications strategy, it wasn’t until the Union embarked upon user experience research in 2020 that they understood exactly what their students were looking for from the union’s website.
Looking for ideas, inspiration, collaboration and a preview of some of the great things we're working on to help you do even more to support your students? Then pack your sandwiches and a flask and head over to our first two summer Big Days Out on the 14th & 15th June 2022. We're welcoming great speakers from the MSL Community as well as giving you the chance to ask questions and pick the MSL's team brain...
With your Welcome and Orientation Weeks just around the corner, whatever it might look like this year, we've created some top tips to help you prepare.
The democratic process at University College Cork Student's Union has always been at the heart of the Union's activities; traditions have grown up around officer elections from nominations, on campus campaigning, voting and the all-important count. So when the Covid pandemic halted life as normal on campus, a planned future move to online elections became an urgent priority for the March 2021 elections.
January 2021 - We're delighted to have welcomed so many new members to our MSL Community in the last few months. Look out for some great news stories and case studies of how these organisations are making digital engagement really work for them.
October 2021 - The next two sessions in our series of product tours have been scheduled for November and we'd love you to join us! If you want to find out more about running engaging Online Elections, or are looking for ways to boost participation in your Volunteering & Skills programmes then book your FREE web tour spaces today.
June 2019 - Not that we want to worry anyone but you have started to plan for Freshers, haven't you? Your student members might be tripping off soon to enjoy a long summer break but we know that you'll just be getting started on plans for the busiest time of year. So we're pleased to bring you details of summer training sessions timed to get your team ready with a skills refresh and top tips to make the next few months go smoothly.
September 2021 - MSL's Chief Executive, Gary Bryant, relishes seeing the return of in-person Freshers Fayres and Welcome Weeks for our UK clients after what has been a tough year for the student experience.
May 2021 - The MSL Big Day Out brought together awesome speakers, shared ideas and inspiring discussions all about student engagement and the student experience in this ever-changing environment.
Need more ideas to help manage your Student Groups? After the popularity of our last "top tips" post, here are some more ideas to help you manage your Student Groups, and make your members' experiences with joining your Sports Clubs and Societies easier!
With Welcome Week just around the corner, to accompany our "Getting ready for Welcome Week" online training sessions taking place w/c 16th August, we've created some top tips to help you prepare.
Ahead of a hopeful return to more normal campus life, here are six ways you could improve your purchase process for your members - for both face-to-face and online sales to make buying from you a little easier.
Harper Adams Students’ Union has taken advantage of the MSL System® for the past three years, broadening its service provision and digitising many of its processes to keep pace with the changing demands of members. The MSL System has helped the Union deliver impactful Student Voice campaigns, hugely popular digital engagement programmes and utilise the data it now has at its fingertips to shape the next five-year’s ambitious development strategy.
In 2020, the Heriot-Watt University Dubai Student Council chose to launch their brand new digital presence with MSL, the largest provider of digital student engagement solutions in the UK, Australia and Ireland.
31st March 2020 - The University of Buckingham has chosen the MSL System to support the Students’ Union services it delivers for its 3000+ students. The University will use the core MSL System™ which includes events and ticket sales, clubs and societies, feedback resources, and the StudentLink™ app to increase engagement with students both on and off campus and in work placements.
Sending our best wishes to the fabulous MSL Community...
3rd June 2019 - The Royal College of Art Students’ Union has chosen to work with Membership Solutions Ltd on a brand new website incorporating a student voice platform, club and society resources, online elections and StudentLink® app. The new membership management solution will help bring together students from the College’s three campuses in London.
October 2020 - Cambridge Students’ Union has implemented the core MSL System together with online Elections and Referenda and Student Group Finances to provide a range of digital engagement services to members. The newly merged under- and post-graduate organisations will offer access to clubs and societies resources, ticketing, feedback and online community tools and online voting through its new website
Autumn 2020 release round-up: Our hard working development team was especially busy over the summer so we are pleased to bring you details of some of the newer features and improvements released over the last few months which you may have missed. Many of our developments are driven by the MSL community and so we're always excited to release new features that have been requested by our clients and their teams.
August 2019: Harper Adams Students’ Union is set to reinvent itself by taking advantage of the MSL System® to broaden its service provision, digitise its manual processes and develop staff resources to keep pace with the changing demands of members.
August 2020 - The MSL 2020: You've Got This! series of briefings, training, knowledge exchange and community events has been shaped by the MSL community. We were delighted to welcome colleagues from the wider SU community to join in the discussion with three fantastic guest speakers in August. Digital transformation, student societies and representation at this time of unprecedented challenges and uncertainty were all on the agenda and each session is now available to view.
June 2020 - The student engagement and participation challenges we're facing are unprecedented. Plans change almost on a daily basis and we know that everyone in the SU community is looking to each other for ideas and support as we approach the start of a new academic year that will be like no other.
23rd October 2019 - MSL was delighted to see so many of our Australian clients and new contacts recently on a whistle-stop tour of Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane. Here we share a few images of the great campuses we visited.
November 2019 - We are very excited to bring you news of the MSL Big Day Out which will see us touring the UK and Ireland from January to April, bringing the MSL community together in regional user groups. We are in the planning stages now but more details of dates and locations are in this edition of the newsletter.
Instant access to everything at any time – that’s the mantra your users live by. Whether it’s travel information, fast food, gig tickets, or current affairs, they expect quick, seamless experiences across the board. Your website is no exception. It’s a hub of information, events, and opportunities that many rely on to support their daily and social lives. So, why shouldn’t they expect the same speed and usability from your site as they get from ASOS or Amazon?
8th April 2019 - Leeds Trinity Students’ Union has selected the MSL System® to underpin its plans for increasing student engagement through activities, representation and clubs and societies. The MSL System will provide a new website, student groups resources, events and ticketing, ecommerce, integrated online elections and the StudentLink® app.
March 2019 - Did you notice anything different about us? No, we didn't get a new hair do - but we did just launch our new branding! We'd love to hear what you think about the logo, colour scheme and the new website. Thank you to everyone who gave us feedback before the launch - we value your input.
18th June 2019 - The University of Cumbria Students’ Union will use MSL's Student Group Finances system to improve the support services provided to its clubs and societies. With a growing number of student-led groups the Union has recognised the need to streamline their finance processes for committees and so encourage more activities and participation. Student Group Finances will support this initiative by enabling finance requests to be quickly and easily carried out online.
24th July 2019 - Campus is buzzing with smartly dressed parents, friends and family and the ocassional roar can be heard from the graduation ceremonies taking place this week. So we know that it's only a matter of weeks before we're in the middle of your Freshers preparations and the excitement that surrounds Results Day. The MSL team is on hand to provide guidance and help with all those annual tasks that will be coming around again soon and Knowledge Base support is just a click away!
18th September 2019 - New MSL Chief Executive, Gary Bryant, introduces this issue of our news update which includes: an insight into the digital transformation of long-standing MSL member, Harper Adams SU; the first in our new blog development blog series; and topical training and support ideas to see you and your team into the next academic year!
2nd July 2019 - This month, we welcome Gary Bryant to the MSL team - he joins as our new Chief Executive and will be meeting many of you over the coming weeks and months. If you plan to be at this week's NUS Trade Show, you can meet Gary then as he will be in attendance on our stand B76.
March 2017 - Sam Medhurst, Web Developer & Digital Platform Coordinator at University of Brighton Students' Union shares a student engagement project which made use of core MSL functionality to great effect. After the whirlwind that is Freshers was over, the Brighton Students' Union Marketing and Communications department huddled together to decide on the content we wanted to create to maintain digital engagement over the Christmas period.
November 2018 - Whilst Freshers 2018 was the usual fun and occasionally frantic ride we have all come to expect, the MSL team continued with developments and updates and we're pleased to announce that the newest version of StudentLink has been released to the stores. This version will offer users an even more streamlined mobile experience for buying tickets, placing votes and generally interacting with you.
March 2019 - We know a few of you are still in the midst of nominations, campaigning and voting but the frenzy of activity that comes at this time of year is gradually reducing. We hear snippets of great stories about fantastic engagement from nominees, innovative campaigning from candidates and best ever voter turnouts; please send us your highlights so we can share them with the community!
May 2019 - Edinburgh University Sports’ Union (EUSU) joined the MSL community in 2016, following a search for the digital resources needed to support the diverse requirements of their clubs, members and recreational sport participants. Read how the MSL System® has helped EUSU grow club memberships, promote events, sell tickets and increase participation in non-BUCS sports by 90%.
Edinburgh University Sports’ Union (EUSU) joined the MSL community in 2016, following a search for the digital resources needed to support the diverse requirements of their clubs, members and recreational sport participants. Read how the MSL System® has helped EUSU grow club memberships, promote events, sell tickets and increase participation in non-BUCS sports by 90%.
The University of Dundee and Dundee University Students’ Association (DUSA) have selected Membership Solutions Ltd’s online elections system to support their staff and Students’ Association elections. The new digital solution will ensure all staff and students at the university can stay informed about and take part in key elections.
MONSU Peninsula – the students’ union for the Peninsula campus of Monash University – will use the MSL System® to support its primary objective of enhancing the university experience of their student members through events, services and support. The Students’ Union new membership management system will include a website, the StudentLink® app, volunteering and employability resources, online elections and venue management.
MSL is seeking a technical customer services coordinator to join the team. The successful candidate will have excellent written written and verbal communication skills as well as good all-round IT knowledge for supporting our existing customers in using and exploiting the MSL System's functionality.
December 2018 - We can't believe this is our final news round-up for 2018: we've welcomed new clients from the UK, Ireland and Australia; you have embraced our new developments and improvements to your MSL System; and your year-round endeavours in supporting members and engaging with the hardest to reach students are awe-inspiring. We are proud to play a part in what you have achieved this year.
UCLan Students' Union launches a new digital user experience with the MSL System
June 2018 - As exam fever begins to abate and ball tickets go on sale, it can only mean one thing - Freshers is just around the corner! No, we can't believe it either but we're looking forward to a summer of helping you get ready for arguably the most exciting time of year for your teams and your brand new student members.
July 2017 - " Our aim is to keep the student community connected and up-to-date with what is happening in and around their campus and the new website affords us the opportunity to do this on a channel we are sure students will embrace." Calvin Hepburn, President, University of Strathclyde Students’ Association
April 2017 - "The integration, professionalism and advice from the MSL team has been outstanding and we’re looking forward to providing a great experience for our students.” Jon May, Communications Manager, University of Westminster Students’ Union
MSL's new dashboards help you track and celebrate your student groups' contribution to membership engagement - and they are free of charge to add to your current MSL System set up....
23rd March 2018 - With the dust starting to settle from elections excitement, we've been delighted to hear that so many of you experienced your best voter turnouts, making use of real-time stats and voting on the App to keep engagement up and encourage members to get involved. Well done to everyone who works so hard at this time of year and congratulations to your new officer teams!
July 2017 - With so much exciting/important/engaging stuff going on this summer, we've filled another newsletter with goodies - and many of the following items need your input! We're gearing up to attend Comms By The Coast on the 3rd and 4th August, hosted by the lovely people at Sussex Students' Union. We will see you at the MSL User Group on the 4th, won't we?
June 2017 - MSL Towers has been enjoying the summer weather and, whilst the call of a refreshing drink at the Dirty Duck is strong, the MSL team is staying put not least because we've had such a busy spring and early summer. We're working on a number of new client implementations (watch out for news on who else has joined our happy band of MSLers), the modernisation programme continues to gather pace and Student Group Finances has proven to be very popular.
Sept 2016 - "Looking towards the future, we are excited to see how we can leverage MSL to enhance our engagement with the student body, not only for elections but throughout the entire year.” Benjamin Gill, President, ANU Students’ Association
The University of Chester’s volunteering service has chosen MSL’s Volunteering and Employability System to support its drive to encourage more students to develop their career skills, improve their CV and to give something back to their community through volunteering.
April 2017 - British Summer Time has arrived and that can only mean one thing.... you're planning for results day and all the things you need to have ready to showcase what a great student experience looks like. We have tips and offers to get your website looking its best and another of our popular web briefings lined up to get your team raring to go.
23rd September 2016 - “Our digital capacity is a crucial component of our overall transformation strategy - we just can't realize our ambitions for education or students without it. So when we reviewed this area last year we set out to find a partner that could inspire confidence - faster moving, more straightforward to do business with and more understanding of what goes on in SUs than our previous provider. MSL fits that bill.” Jim Dickinson, Chief Executive, UEA Students’ Union
July 2017 - “Adopting MSL for our student intranet has been pain free... bespoke elements have been delivered on time. Although the directory search and user profiles are bespoke to us I am sure they would be of use to many other membership based organisations." Caroline Persaud, Registrar, Goodenough College
July 2016 - In September 2015, North East Scotland College Students’ Association (NESColSA) chose to implement a new membership management platform. The move to digital engagement was planned not only to help the Association better support their students, elections, clubs and societies activity but also to drive the organisation’s development over the coming years.
21st June 2016 - Coventry University Students’ Union has chosen Membership Solutions Ltd to supply their new membership management system together with Elections and Volunteering modules to enhance their student engagement activities.
10th August 2015 - Aston Students’ Union has selected Membership Solutions Ltd (MSL) to design and implement its new website and complete membership management system, further strengthening their relationship established in 2014 with the Union’s use of the MSL online elections platform
KeeleSU Volunteering aims to provide diverse volunteering experiences to students during their time at Keele University, supporting their volunteers as they make a difference both on and off campus. But with more and more students registering to volunteer each year, their old system had become unsustainable. The Volunteering team chose to implement MSL Volunteering & Employability primarily to cut down on the amount of admin they had to carry out and, in doing so, now have a solution which has h
20th February 2017 - “The MSL System will allow us to maintain the strong working partnership we have developed with the clubs over the past 12 months.” Richard McGloin, Director of Commercial Services , Sheffield Hallam University
13th January 2017 - The Australian National University Students’ Association and the Postgraduate and Research Students' Association have selected the MSL System to support their growing digital membership management requirements. The new system will provide new websites, clubs and societies tools, messaging, e-commerce and community resources for both associations as well as a shared online elections platform.
In August 2016, the Australian National University Students’ Association ran their Student Representative Council and National Union of Students’ Delegates elections completely online for the first time. The Association utilised Membership Solutions Ltd’s elections module which enabled the elections process to be managed through the Association’s own elections website. The move to digital resulted in the highest number of votes placed and posts filled for some five years.
September 2016 - OK, so we know summer is officially over but the promise of a mini-heatwave this week means we're clinging onto the flip-flops and shorts for as long as possible. We've had so much good stuff to share with you over the summer months, we're pleased to bring you a final round-up of our news and want to ask you to share some of your successes from the last year.
16th February 2017 - Looking for some fresh ideas to promote your MSL App? Still considering the benefits (there are so many!) of giving your students an App full of engagement opportunities? The MSL Top 10 countdown of promotional ideas for your MSL App will help you reach more of your members on the move.
November 2016 - It's never too early to be prepared.... Our winter missive has lots to help you prepare including details of December's Refreshers web briefing and January's Elections training, featuring not one, but two ways to get your team up-to-speed on all things voting related. We also want you to share your knowledge and expertise via the hardware forum on MyMSL and we'd like to welcome UEA Students' Union who are already doing amazing things with their new MSL System.
December 2016 - As 2016 draws to a close, the team at MSL is still a busy bunch which is why we've squeezed in one last round-up of our news before everyone in the MSL community goes off for their well-deserved breaks. We bring you details of more developments to the MSL System, a heads-up for a hotly anticipated new feature on the App and a warm welcome to another new client to MSL.
August 2016 - Summer may mean holidays to anyone who doesn't work in students' unions but to the MSL team and all of you out there getting ready for the new term and Freshers, we know the summer months are a time to put new ideas in place, refresh websites and get excited about bigger and better participation projects.
KeeleSU Volunteering aims to provide diverse volunteering experiences to students during their time at Keele University, supporting their volunteers as they make a difference both on and off campus. But with more and more students registering to volunteer each year, their old system had become unsustainable.
October 2015 - Wishing everyone a successful Freshers' Week! We know Freshers' is keeping everyone busy but we also know how keen you are to stay up to date with our news and developments so we've squeezed in this short but sweet late summer newsletter for you to enjoy before the new year starts.
May 2016 - We're guessing there's one big thing on everyone's mind right now - Freshers. The opportunities this presents for engagement, doing business and of course celebrating achievements at the start of the student journey are huge so we hope that the following news, solutions and support activities will help your preparations.
You're all busy with elections which can mean only one thing - summer term is nearly upon us. It's been great to see the real-time elections stats in use and initial feedback is that many of you have seen your best turnout in years. You're obviously doing a great job engaging your students!
3rd June 1015 - MSL has been chosen to provide the elections platform for Central Students’ Union (Central SU) which represents students at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, part of the University of London.
December 2015 - The end of Autumn term has crept up on us and we're looking forward to finishing off all those last minute jobs so we can enjoy the forthcoming festivities. With that in mind, we bring you our final round-up of news and events for 2015 along with our best wishes for an enjoyable festive break.
June 2015 - We're pleased to bring you the first installment of our early Summer 2015 newsletter; look out for the next one in a couple of weeks when we have even more news to bring you.
24th April 2015 - Membership Solutions Ltd (MSL) is delighted to see many of its students’ union clients and universities appearing in the top 10 of the this year’s Whatuni Student Choice Awards, where Loughborough Students’ Union was rated as the best students’ union overall.
June 2015 - As promised, we're pleased to present the second edition of our Summer 2015 newsletter....
This article explains how to run your election in line with this guidance using your MSL system
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