Hi Everyone!
My name is Calum Brown and I am a final year Sports Studies student. I have really enjoyed my 4 years at University, gaining some of the most amazing experiences and challenges along the way! I have also thoroughly enjoyed my time in my Module Representative and Sports Faculty Officer roles, both giving me an insight of how our education is managed, with its positives and negatives. It is these negatives that I would really like to focus on resolving, especially when Covid-19 has affected our education so much.
I would love to be able to help tackle these challenges by becoming your VP Education, whilst involving you in these discussions more than you have ever previously been. I have 3 main areas that I would like to target to recover students out of the first full Covid-19 impacted academic year:
Covid Recovery:
- Education to Employment or Further Education: As a result of Covid-19, the job market has been the most fragile it has ever been since the Global Financial Crisis in 2009. With another generation about to potentially venture out into this unstable world, I want to help increase employability fairs and further education information sessions within faculties, to be able to support you as much as we can.
- Supporting New Students: We potentially have a generation of student’s enrolling to the University, for 2021-2022, who have never sat an official exam before, due to the pandemic. It is my ambition to help the University and staff ease this transition, supporting students and staff where applicable.
- Student Union Review of Covid-19 and Education: If feasible, I would like to help lead a review into how the pandemic has influenced education at the University, to discover what went well and any mistakes we can learn from.
- No Detriment: Put this issue to rest and help the University develop a final action plan, should we ever go into lockdown again, that clearly states their plans and academic support available.
Student - University Relationship:
- Student Union and University Partnership: Recently, the relationship between the University and Student Union has not been as efficient as it should be in regards to Education, so I want to make sure that this is reviewed and a reset on the relationship is established, in order for your Student Voice to be heard.
- Student Consultation and Involvement with Policy: Currently, there are many policies that seem to not clearly involve students (or at least consult them first) before they are passed. For those that explicitly have an influence on students’ education, I would like to end this and ensure that no policy for education can be passed without consultation with students or VP Education at least.
Our Education:
- Module Representatives: Consult with staff and students to help make the programme more efficient for praise and criticism.
- Professional Placements: Work with the relevant faculties to help improve degrees that require professional placements, especially with the difficulty inflicted by Covid-19.
