Plymouth Gazette are working with UPSU during this student election cycle to bring the candidates to you in their own words, unedited and unabridged to represent their true personalities and passion. These are Charlie Atkinson’s answers to our questions. Charlie is running for VP Education.
Why are you running for your role?
Since starting my Masters in Archival Practice, I have been heavily involved within the Student’s Union. Starting as a Course Rep, and recently being co-opted as the School Rep of Humanities and Performing Arts, I have been much more active in trying to make a change for students. As such, the next step for me to make an even larger positive impact on students and their studies would be to run for the role of VP Education.
Specifically, I am running for the role of VP Education specifically because I feel that it is the area of the Students Union in which my skills and experiences are most suited. Education is the one aspect which affects all students through their time at university, and because of that, it offers me a chance to help as many people as I possibly can. My main focuses in my manifesto echo this, as well as wanting to improve the experiences of postgraduate students within the SU, something which I have found lacking this year.
What makes you different to the other candidates running?
Having graduated last year from my BA in History and Politics and returning this year for postgraduate study, I feel that I have experienced two very different aspects of the Student’s Union and the University as a whole. Thanks to this, I feel like I have a good grasp of some of the issues that students face during undergraduate study, as well as facing the issues of a postgraduate student during a pandemic head on this year. I feel like this could help me to relate to as wide a group of students as possible. Similarly, I have also worked for the University as a Writing Mentor in the Writing Café last year before it had to move online due to the pandemic. To this end, I have gained as wide an experience as I could in regard to the educational side of university life, and I hope to use these insights, alongside the issues raised by students, to create change for students.
In what way will you improve the influence of the student voice on the way that the university and SU operates?
The student voice is the most important aspect of the Student Union to me, and without it, I would not have the opportunity to represent you. I want to make myself as available to personally hearing what students are wanting, as well as ensuring that the relevant part-time officers are kept informed and are as actively engaged with student issues as possible. The model we have in place has the potential to give every student a voice within the Student’s Union, but I know we could do better.
One real focus for me in the role is to help to raise the voice of postgraduate students. From my personal experience, as both a postgraduate student as well as a postgraduate Course Rep, I have found it difficult to have mine and others voice raised. This is one of the main reasons why I became the School Rep for Humanities and Performing Arts. I think that it is all too easy to have this group of students lose their voice within the SU.
If you could only pass through one of your policies this year, what would it be and why?
If I could only pass one policy of mine this year, it would definitely be to work with the Student’s Union to raise the awareness of work opportunities that the university makes available to students, beyond the more common placement years and studying abroad. These are amazing opportunities, but for many students, me included, they just are not affordable or realistic.
However, the university does have a wide range of opportunities available for students on a variety of courses, of which I have been able to take advantage of during this year. Through these placements through the iMayflower scheme, which are both related to my Masters, has allowed me to develop my skills and hopefully aid my employability in the long run. I want other students to feel the same way.
This is why I want this to be main policy of mine to pass. I truly think that this would have the most long term impact on students and would make the biggest difference in helping students beyond their time at university.
What approach are you going to take this year regarding working virtually and in person during your time in office?
I think like almost everybody, I would love to be able to work with people in person, because I think like everyone else through this last year, I have really missed connecting to people in the real world! I feel that sometimes there is really no better alternative to meeting someone face to face and having a good conversation about things, getting it sorted and being able to shake their hand. It could be a long time until this is considered safe though!
Beyond the simple fact that it is currently safer to conduct meetings and talks over Zoom, I think there are other benefits which would make it very worthwhile to keep using Zoom in the future. Virtual meetings offer up opportunities for students to engage with the Students Union where they may not have previously, be it that students may feel more comfortable using Zoom from home, or that there is a sizeable group of students who do not reside in Plymouth, which could find using Zoom as their only opportunity to raise issues and have their voices heard. I think that Zoom could be here to stay as a key tool for me working in the role.
Do you think there should be more emphasis placed onto students to either get their work and research published in academic journals or to compete representing the university in their sports clubs/societies? Why?
The opportunity for students to get their work published, or to represent the university in either their chosen sport or their society is a great opportunity for anyone who is chosen to do this. For a student, either of these chances are incredible, as I cannot think of many other places than university to get these chances. Similarly, for the university, having a student be
published in an academic journal or compete at a high level in their sport or society will never be a bad thing.
However, it is important to remember that not every single student is coming to the university to play a sport at a high level or are aiming to become a highly published academic. In reality, students come to university for a myriad of reasons, be it to become qualified to work their dream job, for the social aspect of finding people with common interests, to play sport at a social level or to simply learn something new. The only way that I could personally agree that there should be an emphasis on published work and representing the university in sports is that other students do not get overlooked as well.
How will you improve the university services digitally and in person?
Digitally, the university has the potential to communicate with the student body, and there are elements which offer the start of engaging communications. One such element I really like are the weekly newsletters emailed out from the Student’s Union. It shows that information can be given in short, sweet burst. One way this could be expanded could be to offer a similar newsletter within schools, with relevant information to their students. On a smaller scale, regular course updates from lecturers help students to understand the upcoming week of study. This is something the course leader offers on Archival Practice, and I am extremely grateful for it.
Improving university services in person is a different issue. Personally, I want to make myself as available as possible to hear issues from students in person, face to face. I believe that this would make students feel much more like their issues are being heard. If this could be adopted across the university, an opportunity to meet someone and have their voice heard, in a timely manner, would go a long way to improving services within the university.
Students can vote from the 26/02 – 05/03 on the UPSU website