Farewell Note from Zuleikha Chikh
Students' Union President 2020 - 2022

I’ve officially completed my 2 year term as President of UCLan Students’ Union! It is an emotional time but I am also feeling accomplished as I’ve achieved what I set out to achieve and more. I’m grateful to have been backed by students and staff along the way. What a journey it has been leading the Students' Union during and post pandemic and representing 28,000 students across multiple campuses. I thoroughly enjoyed working closely with my two Officer teams. You taught me a lot and it was a pleasure to see you all flourish. I am proud of what you achieved individually and what we achieved together driving forward our Union priorities to help enhance the academic and student experience. Before I started this role I had no idea what a Board was, how to influence, negotiate, persuade or campaign effectively to make changes that students wanted to see. I learned a great deal about where my power lied as a leader, how and where I could effect change and the art of being a critical friend with the University. I want to also recognise the staff team at the Students’ Union who have helped me build my confidence so that I could articulate the student voice in rooms with senior University leaders. At times it felt scary, and I could feel my heart thumping out of my chest when I raised key issues on behalf of students and other times I was in my element when I spoke in front of 1000s of students and guests at the graduation ceremonies. A few nerves have to be a good thing right? I want to thank staff and trustees at UCLan Students’ Union and governors and staff at UCLan who have shared this journey with me. Your support meant everything to me.

We’ve been able to initiate and make some positive changes to help make life better for students, so here a few of my highlights over the past two years:

• By conducting research through surveys and focus groups, I presented a case to University management to provide more support for International students. As a result, the University have set up an International Student Support Taskforce with a focus on addressing issues around finance, accommodation, academic misconduct and English language ability.
• Recruited a new Chief Executive with the Deputy Chair and Bill Yuksel from Peridot Partners.
• Recruited multiple diverse external and student trustees for the Students’ Union Board.
• Delivered a talk on UCLan Students’ Governance Review for SU 21 Digital.
• Lobbied for additional hardship funds including an Overseas Hardship Fund through COVID and secured £400k for both home and international students.
• Secured £200 travel bursaries for the MBBS cohort during COVID by working closely with the School of Medicine President and MBBS Course Rep.
• Provided Christmas meals and iftar meals for students fasting during the month of Ramadan and invited University management to experience the events.
• Pushed for an inclusive catering review to diversify the canteen offering on campus. This is currently underway with Estates which is great news.
• Encouraged students to have their say through a survey on how they would like to graduate during the pandemic and 75% of students voted for an in-person graduation in Summer 2021. UCLan became one of the first Universities to provide an in-person graduation during the pandemic putting in place COVID-safe measures.
• Joined a panel of judges to select one home and one international winner for the Alumni Achievement Awards to be recognised at July 2022 graduation ceremonies.
• Connected students together passionate about tackling climate change which led to the creation of UCLan SU Environmental Society. The society have had some great wins so far!
• Led a 12-month pilot Diversity e-Mentoring Programme with UCLan Careers and 3 School Employability Leads and paired 15 ethnically diverse students with industry professionals.
• Presented at the Wonkhe Secret Life of Students Conference 2022 on what students want to see from careers support in the next decade, featured on The Wonkhe Show podcast talking all things Access and Participation, Employability and Finance.
• Took part in a roundtable with MBA students as part of AGCAS, Wonkhe, ISE and Handshake research to reimagine the future of career services.
• Joined a panel of judges for Handshake’s Careers 2030 design thinking bootcamp for emerging leaders to define the future of graduate recruitment.

Wishing my successor Raham Odjebga, Nikita Patel, Nitam Mehta and Katie Sandison all the very best. I highly recommend getting involved in the Students’ Union in any way you can it certainly helped me find my sense of purpose. And if you are passionate about making a difference, why not run in next year’s elections!