Candidate Question Time

Candidate Question Time

 

This week we put questions to candidates for our officer elections - watch the recording below!

 

 

EMAIL ANSWERS

 

Some candidates were not able to make the event, so we sent questions to them via email to reply to - their answers are below!

NUS DELEGATE CANDIDATES

Candidates for this role were asked: "What do you think the biggest issue/s are facing students nationally that the National Union of Students should be working on?"

 

Gabor Bajnoczi

 

Thanks for the question.

A stronger union, faster and much more straight and strategical decision making process for to the students common wealth and rights. 

A much more interactive and creative process with the student representation. 

More creative connected workshops, where students can open and use their interests/creative energy on a much more higher level / quality. 

 

Awung Nkeze Elvis

 

The intensive implementation of COVID-19 measures due to the increase of infected new cases in Suffolk. 

Understanding the root cause of students issues and providing a sustainable smart solutions.

Thank you Elvis

 

Katie Pickard

 

I believe there a number of issues that should be addressed and worked on by the National Union of Students, these include making higher education more accessible to students from low income and working class backgrounds, making sure students are still receiving a high standard of teaching and support despite the challenges caused by covid, and making sure students feels safe and protected whilst being able to enjoy the social side of their University experience.

Students from low income families have a number of barriers preventing them from accessing, attending and succeeding at University. These include the worry of financial difficulties due to fees, accommodation and the ever increasing price of living and travelling whilst at University. For a number of potential students this is enough to put them off even looking and applying to University. There have been calls for the government to reduce University student tuition fees from £9250 to £3000 and petitions raised on this subject gained over 581,287 signatures. However the government responded with ‘Tuition fee levels must represent value for money and ensure that universities are properly funded. The Government is not considering a reduction in maximum fee levels to £3,000.’ More research needs to be created and presented to government regarding the barriers lower income students face and how we can over come this and encourage more diversity in higher education. I believe this is vitally important in improving the educational system as a whole and promoting a better more accessible university experience for future generations.

Coronavirus has impacted nearly every aspect of life and one of the main areas of this being education. My self and many others believe the government hugely neglected the needs of university students across the UK and left a lot of students in difficult and vulnerable positions. This opinion led to the creation of the #StudentsDeserveBetter movement. This has helped provide students with financial and mental support. However many students are still struggling due to the hardships caused by covid. More needs to be done to ensure all students in higher and further education who are struggling, have access to apply for universal covid financial relief, have help to claim rent rebates from private landlords and student accommodation providers and have help to ensure that no student is unfairly disadvantaged as a result of the pandemic.

Another major and very current issue that university students are facing is around feeling safe and protected on nights out. With the recent rise in spiking cases all across the UK there is no doubt that some students may be anxious or stressed whilst on a night out. Socialisation and relaxing is a huge part of university life and students should feel safe to attend student nights and other events without the worry of being spiked or drugged. Universities need to work closely with any venues that are offering students nights and make sure they have the appropriate training and awareness. The Good Night Out Campaign is an example of training venues could access via the university that could help promote a safer nightlife. It is important governments, universities and independent venues work closely together to help improve the safety of students.

 

PRINCE YEBOAH

 

Thank you all for the question, research has made clear that, from 2020 to 2021 students grades has dropped drastically due to the pandemic,

most of our universities are having their class online( zoom, teams etc), and we all know the advantages and disadvantages of studying online,

however, I am more concerned about the disadvantages, therefore, if I am elected, I would suggest and help to create a study website/app called

(STUDY PLUS) where students will be able to ask questions and get information on the topics/modules, so they can perform well in their assignments.

Thank you.

 

Megan Hayes

 

I think the main issues that are affecting students are the quality of the teaching and the safety of students. 

Covid has affected education massively and throughout the lockdown a lot of online measures were put in place to ensure the education can continue which was extremely beneficial at the time however now that the covid restrictions have been relaxed I believe it’s important that students get more time in the classroom. Myself and the students I have spoken to have all said that they prefer lectures that are in person opposed to online lectures. A lot of students travel into university so when there’s only a couple hours of lectures a day a lot of students don’t make the journey as it’s not enough time to make it worth making the journey so by increasing the hours within the classroom I believe that the participation rates will go up. 

In regards to the safety of the students it is important to make sure that they always feel safe and know they have somewhere to go if they need any help. The rise of spikings recently has made it especially important to ensure they have a safe place to go to and that measures have been put in place to try to best prevent this from happening. This will ensure that the students have a good quality safe social experience during their time at university. 

 

ABISOLA MUSAH

 

The biggest issue facing students nationally is the lack of adequate support from advisors and the national body which leads to a loss of motivation. It is important to partner with major stakeholders to provide good support for students and make the experience an easy one.

POSTGRADUATE OFFICER CANDIDATES

Candidates for this role were asked:

  1. What do you think is the biggest issues facing postgraduate students?
  1. There are lots of postgraduate students across many different campuses and different countries at the University of Suffolk. If elected, how would you make sure you are representing all postgraduate students at these different campuses?

 

Lateef Olalekan Akano

 

1.      The biggest issue facing postgraduate students is how to get relevant study materials for their program modules without spending a dime because the school online library cannot offer all necessary textbooks, journal articles, online publications, conference papers and other relevant materials for their studies. This took me a while to find out and this is one of the reasons I plan to have a dedicated day for postgraduate students called “A Day in the life of Postgraduate Students” where information on websites to get free textbooks, journal articles, publications, conference papers and other materials will be shared. Another issue that will be discussed on this special day for postgraduate students is how to achieve a good score on module summative assignments.

 

2.      According to Helen Keller – “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”. This is my mantra because I believe in teamwork. My first assignment if elected will be to have a database of all the postgraduate students across the many different campuses and different countries at the University of Suffolk. This database will capture students personal and school email addresses, phone numbers, country of residence, gender, age, social media handles, field of study at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I will create a google form that will be sent out via email to all postgraduate email addresses to capture all the fields required for the database. A Telegram group will be created for all the postgraduate students to share information. Also, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts will also be created for information dissemination and at least 3 volunteers will be assigned as Administrators for each social media handle. All writeups will be vetted before they are posted on all these platforms. 

 

Stephany Osei

 

1. What do you think is the biggest issues facing postgraduate students?

The biggest issues facing post graduates include time management and communication with professors. Especially with distant students who work as well as study, time management is an issue and during my term in office I will take contributing ideas and work towards helping students work towards their time management. 

2. There are lots of postgraduate students across many different campuses and different countries at the University of Suffolk. If elected, how would you make sure you are representing all postgraduate students at these different campuses?

3. I’m doing this, I don’t stand alone but work as a team with the other leaders in other positions. With brainstorming and the involvement of the alumni, we will find ways to generate means of instituting stations in respective campuses and countries as the first point of contacts with issues faced by students and will be passed on to me to be worked towards. 

 

On my own, I can’t do this alone but with the help of us all, we can be the change we want. Thank you all. 

 

ABISOLA MUSAH

 

1. The biggest issue facing postgraduate students is communication between students and tutors. This poses a great problem most especially when students have to carry out specific assignments or tasks. I have come to realize that most times, the students can successfully carry out assignments, the only problem is it has not been communicated right. The implementation of group virtual meetings between tutors and students is one of several ways to make heads way with this problem.

2. If elected, I will make sure I am representing all postgraduate students at the different campuses by creating small teams where information can be easily passed which allows for problems to be solved as they come. Team work they say makes the dream work. 

 

Misho Ndleve

 

  1. What do you think is the biggest issues facing postgraduate students?

Postgraduate students do not feel connected to the institution like students that are on campus and as a result we do not feel part of the institution entirely. We also have to juggle working and studying at the same time which makes it very stressful.

  1. There are lots of postgraduate students across many different campuses and different countries at the University of Suffolk. If elected, how would you make sure you are representing all postgraduate students at these different campuses?

I would represent the students by starting forums where we can share positive and negative aspects of our experience with the university and how we can improve the journey and time spent by postgraduate students. I would also elect a postgraduate student from each campus each month to discuss their happiest and worst moment with the institution in this monthly forum to see how we can improve things.

 

Maxine Haffner

 

  1. What do you think is the biggest issues facing postgraduate students?

Most of the postgraduate students faced are numerous, yet at most, not knowing the right route of communication is the first approach.

  1. There are lots of postgraduate students across many different campuses and different countries at the University of Suffolk. If elected, how would you make sure you are representing all postgraduate students at these different campuses?

As mentioned on my manifesto “Increase the networking scope for all enrolled students (part-time and campus) during and after their education period for job opportunities”. Additionally, conduct surveys to get hands on information from students.

Thanks for your support in advance as I hope this was helpful and finds you well.