What the campaign set out to achieve 

In December 2014, it was reported that 23,500 people had fallen off the electoral register in Cardiff Central compared to the 2010 General Election.

Cardiff University’s main campus is based in Cardiff Central with a total of 24,251 students living in the constituency. A further 8,268 students live in Cardiff North, the constituency where our satellite campus is based. It was also reported that Cardiff University is the second most politically powerful institution in the UK, given its makeup and previous result.

With changes to the way in which we register to vote and the fact that students were somewhat let down during the last General Election, the campaign set out to get students interested in the General Election, ensure those that could register to vote were registered, help students make an informed decision about who to vote for and encourage them to turn out and vote on 7th May.

This was not only seen as a priority for us this year because of the General Election but, with Assembly Elections taking place in Wales next year, we felt it important to get students involved in party politics from the offset ready for the next election.

How was the campaign delivered and who was involved?

The campaign had three strands; getting students registered to vote, informing students about political parties and the importance of voting, and finally, ensuring students actually turned out to vote.

We developed a distinctive brand incorporating the powerful strapline ’24,000 students, 1 constituency, you do that maths.’ This was used across campus and in the city centre. It was even projected on to the University’s iconic Main Building with support from the Vice Chancellor’s Office.

The registration drive began in September with a link to registration on the University’s enrolment page. Student staff encouraged registration using paper forms while students queued to collect their University cards ensuring we captured students from the offset.

In collaboration with the Electoral Office, we integrated a registration form into our website, giving us access to data so we could target our promotion accordingly. We were also able to arrange for around 6,000 students in University residences to be automatically registered.

At our AGM, NUS Wales President, Beth Button, spoke to 700 students about the importance of the election.

On NVRD, we branded a London bus to transport students around campus free of charge in exchange for a registration, getting coverage on BBC News.

We distributed 3,000 ice creams from ice cream vans encouraging registration, getting coverage on local media. We had games at the sites, educating participants on party policies making students think about who they’d want to vote for.

The second strand of the campaign featured a series of events including political round tables and lectures with politicians in conjunction with the Welsh Governance Centre. A Vote Match system was also embedded into our website.

In April, we held our largest event; The Big Debate. Covered by local media, over 600 students went head to head with high profile politicians from seven parties. The event was chaired by TV Presenter, Catrin Haf Jones.On the evening #GenerationVote was the third highest trending Twitter topic.

We helped our Student Media outlets run a debate between local candidates. Cardiff Central Decides featured a live audience in the Students’ Union and was broadcast on Xpress Radio, 87.7FM and CUTV via our online channel.

Our final focus was ’getting out the vote’. Volunteers in branded t-shirts ran walking trains to polling stations and we ran a competition asking students to tweet a selfie with their polling card for the chance to win a food voucher.

What did the campaign achieve and what change has been made to students and the community as a result of the campaign?

The campaign achieved everything we wanted it to and more.

Excitingly at the close of polls, there was an 8% increase in the Cardiff Central constituency. With a 67.3% turnout, we were also 1.3% above the national average. This follows a lot of hard work from the Students’ Union and real political enthusiasm from our members, and can in no small part be attributed to the General Election campaign that we ran. 19,700 people registered in 4 months in Cardiff Central. To have 600 students show up to a debate and engage with it in a meaningful way is unprecedented for this sort of event. We tackled the young voter apathy that everyone across the UK is talking about. This was evident to the wider world during our numerous features in local and national media. Not only did we know our students weren’t apathetic, but the public did too.

Pretty impressive stuff, don't you think?

We got students interested in party politics, the General Election and politicians themselves. More importantly, we got politicians interested in students. Candidates were engaging with our student body because they realised they were a force to be reckoned with.

We were pleasantly surprised that this continuous activity placed students at the heart of General Election coverage in Wales. They are seen as powerful group that with a stake in decisions made following 7th May. Officers were continuously invited to have a say on General Election issues by BBC, ITV and S4C because these media outlets realised how important the student voice was going to be in this election.

As a Welsh institution this all it forms a fantastic foundation for a similar campaign next year when the Assembly Elections arrive. By engaging students in this election, we will be able to harness that interest and build on it ahead of 2016.

This work has enhanced links with key bodies in the community. Our partnership with Cardiff City Council is stronger than it’s ever been as they now see directly how our work can support them in the community. We have built relationships with local candidates that will become extremely valuable when running similar campaigns and activity in the future.

More generally, Cardiff University Students’ Union has been placed on the map for being more than just a nightclub or a group of rowdy sports teams. We are seen as a powerful campaigning organisation which makes a difference to both our students and the community.