Published: 19th February, 2019
Elections for students’ union officers are now open – closing on Friday afternoon – and also for a ‘Pro-Chancellor (Students)’. Many PhD students at University of Leicester are members of both UCU and the students’ union – and hence able to vote in these elections. Yesterday afternoon we sent the following questions (suggested by PhD students) to the candidates for President and Education Officer. We’ve received responses from three of the seven candidates for President and one of the three candidates for Education officer. These responses are all here (unedited by us). We will upload others if and when we receive them.
1. What are the central issues that you wish to address as president / education officer?
2. What are the main challenges facing students at University of Leicester? (Are these local issues or national?)
3. What links between students and staff (including security, cleaners, porters, cashiers, etc.) do you intend to create/strengthen? How? And how might these solidarities to be used to change the university?
4. What are your reflections on the UCU pensions strike last year?
5. How do you view the University of Leicester’s leadership?
1. What are the central issues that you wish to address as president / education officer?
2. What are the main challenges facing students at University of Leicester? (Are these local issues or national?)
3. What links between students and staff (including security, cleaners, porters, cashiers, etc.) do you intend to create/strengthen? How? And how might these solidarities to be used to change the university?
4. What are your reflections on the UCU pensions strike last year?
5. How do you view the University of Leicester’s leadership?
1. What are the central issues that you wish to address as president / education officer?
Equality and Liberation remains at the heart of all I do. Ensuring minority and marginalised students have a voice on campus is really important to me. A student’s identity is unique to them and all students should see themselves within the SU, regardless of age, gender, race, religious beliefs and any other classification that may lead them to being discriminated against or excluded.
Engagement with ALL students is something I have been trying to do as Wellbeing Officer. I have attempted to find creative ways to do this through our destress campaign – by hosting a barbershop on campus that saw a few of our men students coming onto campus, to doing a social media giveaway for distance learner or commuter students that do not have a physical presence on campus. I want our SU to be able to cater to all students and engage with the disengaged.
We should not always wait for students to come to the SU, but bring the SU to students. Remain adaptable and flexible to cater to the needs of all.
2. What are the main challenges facing students at University of Leicester? (Are these local issues or national?)
– community and a sense of belonging. Everyone wants to feel like they are a part of some sort of community, this is integral to our growth and happiness. This is something all humans go through, being a part of something makes you feel good. For PGR students this may be identifying their place on campus, and whether they associate more with staff or whether they see themselves as students and what community best caters to them. For freshers that are school leavers this could be integration into Leicester City, especially if they have moved away from home. For BAME students this could be finding their place navigating a predominantly white space and how to go about this.
– pressure. There is a huge pressure on students to perform well and to excel in their degree. To gain work experience, while also staying on top of essays, while also dealing with their finances, while also managing a social life. Being a student is tiring and a huge strain. This is largely to do with the marketisation of higher education and how we views students as commodities as opposed of human beings. Students are dedicating their entire lives and sacrificing so much just to put themselves through university. The pressure on students to do well and go above and beyond to be high achievers stems from the market value placed on a degree. Education is a right and not a commodity and I believe it is important to advocate for this. The financial pressure is unreal, with students seeing themselves working part time, some even full time jobs to support themselves.
– mental health. the lack of community plus the added pressure leaves students with deteriorating health. I understand this is a national issue, but as President I want us to tackle this at a local level. A review needs to be done into our Counselling service. The service needs to be culturally competent, able to support students that may be transitioning, students part of the LGBT+ community, BAME students that are facing issues due to their race. Our personal tutoring system is inherently flawed and does not support many students, the way the system needs to. If the system is designed to support students academically then sure, this does the job. However, students need pastoral care. A first point of contact this is not just the security team because they are already under pressure. A person with signposting knowledge that can direct students to the relevant support service if needed.
3. What links between students and staff (including security, cleaners, porters, cashiers, etc.) do you intend to create/strengthen? How? And how might these solidarities to be used to change the university?
As Wellbeing Officer I was working with security to advise on my Student Safety campaign and how I can best support students in that way. When bringing this to the attention of the university I made it clear that an integral part of my campaign was supporting the security team and building staff morale back up. A happy security team = increased safety for our students, and I made this clear to Laurence Perkins, Head of Security. I have been working with academic staff to deliver support workshops for students and going to the Educational Excellence meetings with those staff members has been a good way to build relations and bounce ideas off of each other.
Working with staff the way I have been so far will be strengthened in my role as if elected, the SU will continue to stand in solidarity with staff on campus. Change comes from the bottom up and we have the power to influence the system if we create these strong ties. One project I will look into is BME staff experience and why this drops at alarming rates. This would feed into work on the BME attainment gap, exploring student experience on campus. Educators are responsible for student success and should be well supported and looked after and this in turn leads to students being well supported and looked a
4. What are your reflections on the UCU pensions strike last year?
The strikes last year were during my election week as Wellbeing Officer and that is definitely one of the times that I felt extremely proud to be part of something so big. I joined in and sat outside on the VC’s lawn, listening to the different speakers, all the staff members that were brave and spoke up. I do believe it strengthened ties between students and staff, and that was beautiful to see.
I am very happy that the SU supported this and if I am elected then I will ensure the SU continues to back causes that affect our staff. The same staff that dedicate themselves to advancing the lives of students, all Students’ Unions should support such causes on their campuses.
5. How do you view the University of Leicester’s leadership?
From what I have observed in my role as Wellbeing Officer, I believe the University’s leadership is predominantly motivated by reputation and the TEF. This includes securing a higher place on league tables, being reputable for research and outstanding facilities. While I understand and respect that all of these things are important, I do think it is notable that we have significantly decreased in relation to student experience.
I started my degree in 2014 and since then, the university has continued to spiral down in relation to student satisfaction. This is in no doubt due to their prioritisation of the university’s reputation as opposed to putting noticeable funds into Student Counselling. Putting on events on campus during the National Student Survey as a way to create a buzz is problematic and does not address the root of the issue.
When BAME students tell you they feel excluded on campus, putting on a cultural event for one day will not tackle this. When students tell you they are under pressure and their mental health is under threat, hosting one free yoga session and mindfulness workshop will not cure depression. I have called the university up on this and will continue to as an officer.
They get paid too much for nothing.
1. What are the central issues that you wish to address as president / education officer?
As president I would hope to fight against the marketisation of our university experience. I strongly believe that the student union should be used to fight for change in our university and nationally. There is a growing feeling of unease among students and staff, that I think needs to be harnessed and utilised in a productive way.
2. What are the main challenges facing students at University of Leicester? (Are these local issues or national?)
For me a lot of issues are linked to the central issue of marketisation, but within this I think the mental health crisis is one of the most prominent issues. Between being fed a story of failure at university = failure at life, and a self worth based on grades that are achieved, not to mention the growing inaffordability of education, it is near impossible to be in good mental health as a student. I would like to reinforce the idea that we are more than our grades and academic achievements, and within this promote education for educations sake. I also think there needs to be serious enquiry into the under funding of mental health provisions by our university, which can often be masked by things such as ‘mindfulness’ sessions, or a prescription of exercise. Bristol ran a good campaign called mindful of mindfulness which I would like to look at hosting something similar.
3. What links between students and staff (including security, cleaners, porters, cashiers, etc.) do you intend to create/strengthen? How? And how might these solidarities to be used to change the university?
Solidarity between all staff and students at the university is essential for fighting marketisation. I would raise awareness of the truth behind the phrase, ‘staff’s working conditions are our learning conditions’ as many students aren’t aware of the system that staff are often trying to resist or be exploited by. I also will campaign for living wage, and a true living wage, to be paid across the campus, I think it’s scandalous that we can continue to pay poverty wages whilst paying our dear Vice-Chancellor £313,000 last year alone. An end to outsourcing is key to starting to hold our university accountable, and ensure the best working conditions, and therefore learning conditions, at our university. I would like to look at doing a similar campaign as the University of London, where they ended outsourcing.
4. What are your reflections on the UCU pensions strike last year?
My involvement with the strikes last year taught me more than my actual course. I have always been politically involved, but until the pickets last year I didn’t truly understand solidarity and the importance of fighting together. The people I met and the knowledge I gained has been invaluable over the past year. It gave me a platform where I had negotiations with university seniormanagement, and that gave me a unique insight into how out of touch they are, and how dangerous that is. It also gave me a view into the dangerous world of marketisation, and how that has shaped every single aspect of my educational career, and how abnormal that is. I think a lot of students don’t understand the impact that marketisation has had on our education, simply because we don’t know any better. I know think this is not normal, and can see a lot of the real motivations behind the senior management decisions. The occupation of Paul Boyle’s corridor gave me a sense of ownership of my university and my education. Which has been powerful in my realisation that I can have an impact, and that I can shape mine, and others, experiences of higher education.
5. How do you view the University of Leicester’s leadership?
I view the university’s leadership as out of touch and very money driven. Something that stuck with my, was last year when I attended Paul Boyle’s breakfast, and realised that it was basically a business meeting, going through all the profits that the university had made and was expected to make over the next year, that was one of the points when it really drove home how little it feels like they care about our education. The people that make our education are the staff that the management are trying to get rid of the increase profit margins. We need to fight alongside each other to save our education. The university management need students that are willing ot be complicit or ignorant of their projects, but students are no longer willing to accept this. We need accountability for the declining quality of our education, which must come from the university management.
1 – What are the central issues that you wish to address as president / education officer?
A more professional behaviour by the University about on and off-campus students. Some distance students can’t afford to study on campus, thus the Year in Industry scheme would be appreciated for them.
Brexit is a problem to manage, not to solve. It is a political matter that inevitably involve the whole world. UK government needs to be more flexible about financial issues affecting this University. International conflicts are frequent for students. If UK academic tradition is expected to be honest, international students, grant holders, research fellows and university staff should be treated equally.
University must be a student driven institution, not based only on academic standards within an economic upheaval in turbulent times.What are the main challenges facing students at University of Leicester? (Are these local issues or national?)
2. What are the main challenges facing students at University of Leicester? (Are these local issues or national?)
Students are not satisfied with personal tutor system, and they experience financial difficulties in a public context, whether local or national. I guess this is worldwide. Academic competition is very high.
3 What links between students and staff (including security, cleaners, porters, cashiers, etc.) do you intend to create/strengthen? How? And how might these solidarities to be used to change the university?
Individual relationships are subjective matters. If one reason is more believable than another, organisational goals are reachable. Where clashes arise, mentoring is essential in strenghtening a relationship. University has been founded to be an integral part of the UK academic system. University can’t change if the system is not modified.
4 What are your reflections on the UCU pensions strike last year?
Strikes on March 2019 have been fully justified, but unworthy for a Dip HE in HRM student directly admitted to the second year. I was not an employee, did not earn any wages to begin an academic course abroad that way.
5. How do you view the University of Leicester’s leadership?
ULT is an integrated group of individuals with leadership qualities.
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