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Manifesto Theme Two

Amplify student voices & demand transparency

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Through my activism and work this year, I have seen just how much difference a student can make when they decide to speak up about issues that matter to them. In fact, all year I have been encouraging other students to speak up too to support the work I was doing at S4AM. However, to be able to foster change, students need to be listened to by those who have the power to make these differences. As your VP Education, I promise to use my voice for your progress and do everything in my power to amplify the voices of the students themselves. I will use my experience this year and my position next year in high level meetings to make the changes that you want to see.

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These policies ensure transparency; students understand of who makes decisions, how & why they are made, & who is representing them at every level of the institution. This will encourage more trust in the institution & in the people in the meetings by proving that every student will be represented up to the highest level. Students’ own voices will have renewed & increased opportunities to be heard on issues they themselves are experiencing, with feedback systems streamlined.​

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  • Familiarise Guild & Clarify Leadership Structures:

    • Explain decision making processes to encourage trust in the people who represent students in meetings. Introducing the faces behind the Guild & clarifying leadership structures throughout the university will make sure students know when to turn to about any issue. Subject reps, College Officers & Sabbs needs to be clarified with specific functions & responsibilities explained.

    • Improvements to Guild website, eg. Clear page with dates/times/topics of meetings, updated with minutes & attendees. This all moves towards a more transparent Guild that is accessible and acts on behalf of all students.

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  • Student Representation & Feedback Systems:

  • Ensure students understand – and use – feedback options available; add a ‘Feedback’ tile to iExeter, including Subject Rep & College Officer information for easier & faster feedback. Consider ‘Unitu’ system which is a new but highly popular feedback system, allowing anonymous or open feedback – both positive and negative!! This is really important – we need to keep the dialogue open at both ends of the spectrum. This will help staff know what to do more of and help other staff implement similar methods. The system also allows for feedback to only be sent to reps/Guild without staff seeing, or can also be public to staff too. I think this streamlined system of positive/negative feedback would mean increased student engagement because more students know how to get their voices heard.

  • Student reps present whenever possible, including high-level meetings such as with APAC (the exam board). This goes for all reps; undergrad, PGR, PGT etc. I want everybody to be as involved as much as possible – this is your university!

  • Post-graduate representation at Guild Council. Guild Council is currently made up of undergrad reps and Sabbs – the PG rep roles should be filled (they were not this year) & these reps should sit on GC. If they remain un-filled, then current PG/PGR students can volunteer to be present at every meeting (we could rotate between a small group who are willing to share responsibilities to limit the time demands of a full-time role). College officers can also appoint PG reps as their ‘deputies’ if a student is willing to take on this role. This would mean a College Officers would enter meetings informed on all PG issues so that even if PG reps cannot attend their concerns are represented.

  • ‘Office-hour’ system in run up to major meetings to ensure all topics will be covered if relevant reps cannot attend, alternating between Streatham & St Luke's. This gives yet another opportunity to students from all-over the university to get involved and air their concerns, while also familiarising the Guild. I am especially interested in holding these at St Luke’s to make sure those students know me too!

  • Credit given when reps suggest ideas/help develop new policies. By giving credit to student reps and contributors, it will encourage participation and show the students how much their voices really matter and that they can make a difference just by speaking up.

  • Student reps involved in fulfilling college commitments to Climate Emergency White Paper. Each college should have a sustainability working group to help draw up comprehensive action plans for the colleges to follow. While some colleges have begun implementing this, we need this to be consistent across the board to see a real positive impact.

 

 

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