As a new member of SAP's Community Network, I have enjoyed reading the endless supply of information. Today I ran across the Student Union section on the University Alliances site and noticed the comment about what we would like to see out of the Student Union section. This sparked my interest and I have some ideas of my own.
This past year at Grand Valley State University, we have started our own student organization dedicated to promoting enterprise systems, specifically SAP. Despite the excitement of growth within our organization through its first official year, the growth within the community is a much greater accomplishment. The growth in the community has been made possible by hosting local speakers to come and talk about their companies and their experience using SAP. As a group, we thought another way we could grow in our community was through company tours. This has been proven beneficial to both our students in the group and the companies we have been to with multiple internships and job offers. (You can read more about our student organization at: Grand Valley State University: New SAP related student organization)
Although we are excited about the opportunities that have helped us grow, we are encouraged to continue the expansion of our organization especially through similar student organizations. We would love the chance to grow further and connect with other student organizations. Below, I have proposed a few ideas how student organizations could connect and grow together.
Ideas for the UAC Student Union
- 1. Provide an area for student organizations to collaborate. This could be similar to the "Faculty Club", which is the place to go for faculty discussions within an interactive forum environment. With a forum dedicated to students, I believe it would promote a laid back discussion on how to start student organizations and how to connect with other organizations with similar interests.
- 2. Create a global student organization sponsored by the UAC. If a global student organization was created, it could be offered to any school who is a member of the UAC. This would provide another incentive for schools to become members and help develop their SAP programs.
- 3. Competition!! Is there any better way to get students involved by offering scholarships or simply recognition? Last year at Grand Valley, our student organization created our own competition to see who could come up with the best way to improve our curriculum using SAP. (More information on the competition at: SAP Scholarship Competition at Grand Valley State University) This competition could follow a similar format, or even better, develop a case where students need to solve an issue using SAP.
I would like to hear people's opinions about my ideas and any other ideas for the UAC Student Union. Professors don't be shy; you are just as important in helping the UAC create a great resource for student organizations.
