Policy

More scope for linking up?

I saw an article on the This Is Exeter website, “University link makes waves in education“.  Students from Exmouth (University of Plymouth) and York have come together on a project for Education Studies.

I wonder why universities don’t collaborate more often.  It’s always felt like an exciting prospect to me.  So it was great to hear that students from different universities had joined forces, resulting in a book entitled “Making Waves in Education”.  It will be available to Plymouth and York university libraries, as well as online as an e-journal for students at other universities to read.

Your own university is probably a huge enough resource, without wanting to look to other unis for collaborative links.  But if you have a specific focus and you can’t find what (or who) you need within the walls of your own institution, it’s worth remembering that there are many thousands of students and academics across the country who may want to get together on a project.

Who knows, it could prove the beginning of a beautiful friendship…

Student Protests – Are they still on the map?

Do you, as students, take part in any kind of protest? Do you think it makes a difference? How do you see change occuring? What are the major issues that would cause you to get out of your seat and protest?

Passion (student protest) - photo by lewishamdreamer

Today on the Guardian’s Mortarboard Blog, the NUS president, Gemma Tumelty, discusses how students are more politically savvy than ever. While some people believe students are ignoring issues, Tumelty believes that political stands are now taken over “individual issues according to their conscience, rather than falling back on blind partisanship”. I agree that individual issues play a much higher part than concerns of the past, but I don’t think this is as positive as Tumelty does.

And it’s unfair to refer to ‘blind partisanship’, because it suggests an unimaginative coming together just for the sake of it. I think there are simply more causes thrown at us, resulting in a dilution of what matters and what we can cope with. There are only so many hours in the day…

It’s hard to publicise anything as the biggest deal now. People want to judge what’s important for themselves.

So with each year that goes by, a growing number of concerns compete for our attention. University has long been a place where anything is possible, but this overload of possibilities doesn’t allow large scale political protest to take place effectively.

Tumelty does end her piece by suggesting that students still protest in large numbers, but that the protests go beyond students and are attended/used/run by people from all walks of life.

To my mind, this further highlights the dilution within culture. With university taking on greater numbers of 18+ year olds, it’s no wonder that they are no longer the specific group of yesteryear, but a blending part of society that takes a place with all adults in the UK.

It wasn’t that many years ago when student protests over loans and fees were a big deal. Yet it didn’t make the difference hoped by many, and some commentators at the time said it was a huge blow to the effectiveness of student protest. Still, I must admit, such an important topic didn’t stir the emotions of as many people as it should have done. I was there and a lot of students treated it more as an annoyance than as something worthy of protest.  Luckily, there were still plenty who did want to be heard, especially after students felt the government had backtracked on promises that had been given.  Nevertheless, positive results were not particularly forthcoming.

Student Protest - photo by Mr. Babyman

When I was at uni, a large group of us living in halls were involved in a payment dispute that caused a deal of upset. I tried to get a protest going and was in discussion with staff as high up as the Pro-Vice-Chancellors. Despite the clear problem that needed addressing, everyone gave up on the problem after the initial effort was unsuccessful.  I ended up being the ONLY person who wanted to stand up to what was right.

If being upset and losing money are not enough to rile everyone into action, what on earth is!?

I singularly took things as far as getting an admission that things could have been dealt with better, as well as an apology for any upset caused. At this point, nothing had been offered to me, but I was in a good position to demand further action.  So did I?

No, I didn’t.

You see, I loved my uni and I felt that I’d made my point. They had respected me and taken me seriously, which was great.  You might think I was mad to get as far as that, just to draw a line under the whole thing at the last minute.  But it wasn’t of interest to the rest of the students any more.

I had got what I wanted and there was nobody else left with an active complaint.  If we’d all pulled together in protest, we would have felt a strong reason to carry on. But that didn’t happen.

So what exactly is student protest now? Is it protesting about something whilst happening to be a student? Can it involve a single student, a handful of them, or all the students in the land?  Does my experience belong to ‘student protest’?  Do the words ‘student protest’ matter any more if the issues regularly involve society as a whole?

Tumelty refers to the recent Facebook campaign that led to HSBC reversing its decision to charge graduates interest on their overdrafts. But becoming a member of a Facebook group isn’t difficult and doesn’t mean the members necessarily even had an account with HSBC. While I don’t believe the protest led to ‘blind partisanship’, I don’t think it’s sufficient comparison to a hard-hitting student protest of grand proportions. Yes, the students won in the end, which is great news. It also led to major news coverage. But I’m still left pondering over what ‘student protest’ is.

What would you define as ‘student protest‘?

student_protests_in_berlin (photo by holger)

Students’ Union – Education and Welfare

Continuing the Students’ Union feature, I wanted to find out a bit about what is being done to make sure you, the student, is looked after by your SU. In today’s interview, I find out about advice, politics, society, and what it’s like when you have a million-and-one things to do to at the same time. Speaking to me is Samuel Kasumu, Vice-President for Education and Welfare at Brunel University:

– You sound like a very busy man. VP for Education and Welfare, loads going on with the Afro-Caribbean Society (ACS)…you even said the first thing you’d do if elected to VP was have a big party. How do you cope with so many things going on?

“To be honest with you a lot of the times I am like a headless chicken. My memory is also not the best in the world, but one thing I do have is a big imagination. I believe nothing is impossible and that’s how a random guy like me can get so much done.”

– How do students go about promoting a good work/life balance? Do you have any tips from personal experience?

“Personally I am yet to fully strike the balance. Its still work in progress, however I think that organisation is the key. One thing I make sure I do now, is take weekends completely off in order to keep me sane. It is very easy to forget that you’re not a robot if you’re doing something that you enjoy and have passion for.”

– Your election video states that you’re looking for equal representation for all students, especially as things were sometimes getting a bit too cliquey. Is this a general product of university life in the UK that you feel needs addressing, or a bi-product of something more specific?

“I believe that cliques are a deeper issue that plagues our society. If you look at modern day politics it is no coincidence that a lot of the MP’s are from the Oxbridge ‘clique’. In universities it is the same thing, and the underlining reason for both is that politics to many people feels like something unattainable, and at times not too relevant. As a collective there is a need to show everyone that they can count. I won the election without ever really engaging with the student union before hand, and against some tough competition. It just goes to show that you can make a difference if you try hard enough.”

– Both Education and Welfare are wide ranging and hugely important topics. What will you deal with most on a day-to-day basis? How will you go about communicating things to so many students?

“As a student first, it is my intention to show students just how much politics effects who they are and how they function. I intend on developing a range of campaigns, from enterprise campaigns to sexual health awareness. The most important thing for me is that when I leave the work does not stop. Education and Welfare are important issues, and I guess no matter how much I end up doing, I would probably feel that I could have done more. As long as someone somewhere is helped or inspired, I’ll be happy.” [Martin’s Note: Samuel’s last sentence reflects exactly how I feel about this blog too. Passion is a great thing!]

– If a student is scared at first to seek advice or counselling, what processes are or will be in place to get help through to them?

“Here at Brunel we have the Advice and Representation Centre, which is independent from the university. This ensures unbiased advice is delivered. My office is also available for those who just want to pop in, as I was elected to serve. Hopefully I will have sufficient training to deal with the diverse issues that arise.”

– What gave you the passion to focus on Brunel’s Students’ Union? How intense was it to be part of an election campaign, especially one where you received 1000 votes?

“After running Brunel’s ACS, it was clear to me that the union offered a natural progression for me. I was also really upset about my treatment as a volunteer, and generally I get involved with things that have managed to tick me off. In my eyes to say that the student union was a clique, was very much an understatement. I may not have had the most knowledge in relation to the role, but I was confident that I had the character to handle any pressure. I hate to admit it, but the election was my political side at its best. I knew that even if I never ran in an election that my circle of influence had become so big on campus that I could sway any election. I ran with no fear, and thought that if I never won then something better would be waiting for me. My opponents were very strong and included the then Equality & Diversity officer. The election was a big challenge, but I thank God for the opportunity that he has given.”

For more information on Brunel’s SU, check out their newly updated site at http://brunelstudents.com/

Samuel Kasumu also runs Elevation Networks (Raising Expectations In Unity). For more info, check out the site and its MySpace page.