5 months later since my last blog update to you as your Vice President of Education and A LOT has happened since then!
From working with the WISER team to spotlight the service on the Student Hub, to launching a Decolonise My Module Feedback Kit to contribute to the Inclusive curriculum Working Group, to improving the PGR student experience and more, it has been a rewarding experience. This semester we have 3 main things coming up: Course Rep Conference, Value for Money campaign and School President elections!
Evidently, we are in an era of change. With the whole world changing as well as ourselves, I felt it was very important that we looked at how that change is affecting our students. At the Students’ Union, we have an annual conference for Course Reps, aptly named Course Rep Conference, which is an opportunity for all our Course Representatives to network, learn, and develop their skills. This year, the conference will be on the 25th of February and the theme is CHANGE. Change in our curriculum, change in our learning, and change in the higher education sector. We have an interesting range of talks, workshops, and panel discussions. Also, we would be joined by the NUS Vice President of Higher Education Hillary Gyebi-Ababio. All the more reasons to come! You can book your ticket here.
When running last year, I included in my manifesto that I want to ensure that while students are at UCLan, they are getting value for their money. In my time as VP Education, I’ve been actively doing that by resolving issues and sitting in meetings to ensure that we’re acting in the best interest of students but most importantly, I have a specific campaign coming up around Value for Money! The main focus is on your academic experience while at UCLan. Do you feel like you are getting your money's worth? Stay tuned for more details!
Elections. Elections. Elections! I always say that School Presidents do more for society than national leaders such as Prime Ministers and Presidents. School Presidents chair meetings, represent your views in Faculty level meetings as well as raise any concerns that you might be experiencing, with the hopes to resolve them as soon as possible. It’s no wonder why I class them higher than National Leaders. This year being the first year where we’ve had 2 School Presidents per school, I felt it was very important to hone that experience for our upcoming School Presidents. We’re currently having 1-2-1s with each School President to find out how their experience is like and how we can improve the role. There’s still time to nominate yourself to be a School President in the upcoming Students' Union Elections - as nominations close on the 25th of February at 3pm. Nominate online here!
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any questions at SUEducation@uclan.ac.uk.