Election post

Status
Elected
What will you bring to this role (e.g. experience, skills or qualities)?

I am a part-time mature student studying for an MA in Comparative Literature, juggling studying with parenting and other caring roles. Before deciding to return to college, I was a journalist, foreign correspondent and editor working in several different countries across Europe and Asia.

Since starting at UCL in September, I have been keen to improve the provision for mature and part-time students throughout the university and want to help the Students' Union target more support to this large but isolated and mostly overlooked minority.

What do you hope to achieve in the role if you are elected?

Mature and part-time students need far more support across the whole of UCL and the Students' Union. 

I would like to focus on three main areas:

* Social - Establish and run an active Mature & Part-Time Students' Society with social events and gatherings plus a physical space for us to meet

* Information and contact points for part-time students, on how courses, modules and examinations differ from those for full-time students. We need changes to Moodle and the Students' Handbook to help part-time students

* Support - Advice and counselling tailored to mature and part-time students

Please summarise why students should vote for you.

Since October, I have been working with the current Mature & Part-time Students' Officer, Tope Oyelade, to improve support for mature and part-time students, a diverse group with widely differing needs. I have proposed an action plan to improve support in a range of areas.

We now have a Mature/Part-Time UCL WhatsApp group with more than 60 members and have been organising social events, including weekly Huntley Mondays (1pm @The Huntley) and monthly social gatherings. 

But there's so much more to do.

Please help me ensure mature and part-time students feel included - not isolated - at UCL.