Hannah Walton-Hughes and Katie Sullivan
A group of Impact Magazine writers have looked over the candidate manifestos for this year’s Student Union Elections. Harry Chapman, Katie Sullivan, Emma Burnett, Oli Harris, and Hannah Walton-Hughes summarised and discussed each candidate’s main manifesto points, and gave their views on the manifesto overall. Voting closes on 15th March 2024 at 2pm.
Jake Ferris Woolley:
“Together, let’s shape a University that truly supports your academic journey.”
Main manifesto points:
- Continue lobbying the University to improve the Extenuating Circumstances Policy
- Improve the Course Representative system to truly harness its potential as a lobbying body
- Use the Curriculum Nottingham Programme to ensure that your curriculum gives you the best possible chance in your career
In regards to the first manifesto point, Jake pledges to be heavily involved in discussions around the review of the controversial changes made to the EC policy, to “ensure that the policy works for us, not against us”. He also wants to push for the removal of the “mandatory resit”- “we should not be put in a position where we must decide whether taking the chance at a resit would improve our grade”.
The importance of making students heard when departments are designing their curriculums
Jake wants to create a “centralised system for academic feedback”, having it built into mainstream platforms such as Moodle, to increase feedback received and encourage easy access. He also believes in the importance of making students heard when departments are designing their curriculums, and will lobby them to consider the skills that employers will be looking for when doing this. He even wants to include industry experts in the development of the curriculum so that “you can be sure that your education guarantees you a solid, next step into the world of work.”
Nominated for the role of Student Trustee, which he has served as since December 2022
In terms of experience, Jake engaged with the Fix EC Campaign, lobbying the university to look again at the policy. He was also Head of Technology at University Radio Nottingham, which led to him being nominated for the role of Student Trustee, which he has served as since December 2022, giving him an insight into “SU operations, strengths, and areas needing improvement”, as well as being able to scrutinise CEO objectives, accounts, and staff development plans.
This is a very thorough and well-thought-through manifesto, which covers a range of achievable changes. I particularly commend the suggestion of including industry experts when developing department’s curriculums; it is important that students are as prepared as they can possibly be far an ever more competitive job market. In addition, a more centralised feedback system would certainly encourage students to take part in an easier process.
Practically however, I’m not whether Jake would be able to convince industry experts to give up their time to help design department’s curriculum. More practical steps should be laid out as to how this is achievable.
Scarlett Zhang:
“I would like to build a communication bridge between School staff and students to level up our teaching quality and to enhance and colourise students’ academic experience here at UON.”
Scarlett is a Postgraduate student in the Faculty of Education.
Main manifesto points:
- Get acknowledgement of students’ academic experience in class by means of questionnaires and random street interviews.
- Set up a specialised group to guide course reps to better perform their roles.
- Study both UON and other U.K. Universities’ practices, and learn from the Chinese Higher Education System when necessary, to make up for deficiencies.
- Launch education-related themed month campaigns with cooperation with the SU, holding monthly workshops and a series of lectures (both from professionals and prior graduates), and inform students about the latest information around academic issues, using University email to communicate this.
- Increase funding by seeking out new sponsorship opportunities. This could be done through publishing a “monthly work summary brochure”, clearly showing “our working results” to sponsorships and other social organisations.
By using surveys, Scarlett hopes to increase the extent to which students have the power to change curriculum settings, timetable arrangements etc.
The use of bi-monthly guidance meetings with course reps will ensure they are aware of their rights and how best to carry out their obligations, Scarlett hopes.
“Bring out students” critical thinking and wisdom” [Scarlett]
Scarlett believes that by being both a education majoring and international student, she can observe how different teaching systems “could bring out students’ critical thinking and wisdom, guiding them to independent and efficient learning and self-exploration”, as well as preparing them for the future. She plans to use social media platforms to keep up with other institutions’ “academic information and changes”.
“Achieving goals by effective negotiations” [Scarlett]
Scarlett also outlined what experience makes her suitable for the role; she had a year’s experience in teaching and managing her own training school, which enhanced her “organising and management ability, getting along well with colleagues and achieving goals by effective negotiations”. She also took on the role of President of the International Communication Association back at her university in China. At Nottingham, she has worked in teaching refugees English.
Scarlett clearly has a wealth of experience in the world of education, making her a strong candidate for this role. I particularly like her ideas of education-related-themed month campaigns.
Whilst diversity of thought is a hugely positive thing, Scarlett may run into obstacles when trying to suggest processes that differ from the U.K. education system.
Cass Carson:
Main Manifesto Points:
- Very focused on the wellbeing of students
- Addressing the curriculum
- Modernising the university
In their manifesto, Cass identifies with the needs of the student body, having experienced the shortcomings of the educational system first-hand. Their manifesto places an emphasis on the personal wellbeing of students, and acknowledges how this can have a significant effect on their education, paying particular attention to the EC policy, and ensuring every student’s voice is heard and is treated fairly with regards to support plan policies.
Improving communication between module conveners
Cass’s manifesto addresses the needs of STEM students directly, by highlighting their intense continuous workloads and limited ability to tailor it to their best interests, with a lack of opportunities to select optional modules. Their statement to look into allowing modules to clash by supplementing missed attendance through recordings is bold but ambitious. They aim to improve this situation by improving communication between module conveners to better organise healthier deadlines.
Their aims to tackle the curriculums taught align with their aspirations to decolonise the university, by addressing issues of a more inclusive and equitable educational system that accurately represents diverse experiences. I took interest in their acknowledgement of how the university needs to attempt to advance parallelly with society such as with AI, providing clear policies and adapting the assessment process to reflect real-world experiences. Further to this, they believe that a step towards decolonisation can be achieved through broadening the range of voices, authors and perspectives represented in the curriculum, and amplifying marginalised voices.
Experience of addressing the concerns of a diverse group of students
Cass would look forward to having a broader and more significant impact on the education of students at the university. Cass’s role as President of the Lego society gave them the experience of addressing the concerns of a diverse group of students, while being responsible for their welfare and inclusivity. They believe that their experiences have given them the confidence to cope with the complexities of the role of Education Officer.
Cass’s well-being-focused manifesto is ambitious and certainly student-centred however I think questions remain surrounding exactly how they plan to achieve some of the ideas set out, and their ability to negotiate to an appropriate compromise.
Full officer manifestos can be read on the UoNSU website.
Hannah Walton-Hughes and Katie Sullivan
Featured image courtesy of Korng Sok via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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