My last month as your Vice President of Education has been a whirlwind of emotions. You never realise how much happens in 12 months till you have to start writing.

My year started off by attending the National Union of Students (NUS) organised Lead and Change conference was an interesting opportunity for me to meet with other Students’ Union Elected Officers and talk about our priorities for the year, discuss issues which are similar to our students and brainstorming ways which we can tackle issues discussed.

I then proceeded to meet with the Heads of School and Deputy Head of Student and Teaching for each school to formally introduce myself and my priorities for the year ahead, but also to discuss their priorities for the year and common issues which students within their school face and how we as the Students’ Union can support the students with said issues.

It was great to welcome new students to our UCLan student community and also welcome back returning students! Our first in person freshers since 2020 and I had much fun welcoming you all and introducing myself to you all!

Graduation was a very fun time for me as it I had never spoken in front of such a large audience before! Thankfully I didn’t trip on the stage! I’m honoured to have been part of the celebration of the achievements of our many students. Congratulations to our graduates!

As your VP Edu, it has been fun planning so many events this year. From the Course Rep Conference where we looked at what we mean by change and what change looks like for the student experience, the curriculum and the wider Higher Education sector. I was fortunate to have the NUS Vice President of Higher Education Hillary Gyebi join us and drop some gems!

The Golden Roses is definitely a highlight of my year as an officer! It was great to get teaching staff, heads of school and executive deans all together to celebrate the amazing work which staff at UCLan are doing. It was also really great that we were able to have this event at our partner colleges and all campus – including a first ever Westalkes Golden Roses! Congratulations to all our winners!

And how can I forget our Union Awards ceremony? The Students’ Union will not be functional without its amazing volunteers which work effortlessly to improve the student experience. It was my pleasure to celebrate with you all and present awards to our well-deserved winners!

I’m also very proud of the campaigns which I was able to run this year – with the support of my amazing officers and Students’ Union staff members. The Value for Money campaign which aimed to hear from students on their academic experience and value for money received a total of 144 responses. Responses are currently being analysed and recommendations will be made for staff members.

The Decolonise the Curriculum campaign also proved to be a success with many students finding more about what it means to Decolonise the Curriculum and how they can help with being proactive in this. I also developed a toolkit for students to provide feedback on their modules on relation to decolonising the curriculum. Feedback from students have been used to support training for staff in the School of Justice and hopefully for more schools going forward. I’ve also been able to contribute and support the Inclusive Curriculum working group in the University.

I would also like to give a well-deserved recognition for our amazing and wonderful School Presidents and Course Reps this year. The students in your course and school that you have represented have been very luck to have you represent them and ensure their voices are hears. You have made also my work as an officer easier by providing me with updates on what’s going on in your school and course. Thank you.

With my time at the Union now done, I’m very excited to hand over the work which I have done onto your incoming VP Education, Nikita Patel, and I’m sure that she will do an amazing representing you!

The role of a Sabbatical Officer is very unique. 52 weeks later and I’m forever grateful to the students for trusting me to represent them in this unique role.