Xiaohongshu
Election post
I represent every word of this role’s title. I was a mature, part-time student, working, with caring responsibilities, and student rep for a cohort of 200+. I’m now a mature student, working and caring again, not letting life decide where my academic ambition stops, but still doing an 8:30am school run before rushing to a 9am class I know I’ll always be late for. In my research, I study where systems assume everyone has the same context. So in this role, I’ll bring lived experience, rep experience, and a habit of following up until things change, because I personally care.
Mature, part-time and carer students are spread across UCL, so I'd make sure they have a common hub first. Then I'd push for:
- a drop-in creche alongside the day nursery, for exams, evening sessions and reading weeks that miss school half-terms;
- extra support at exam time, when deadlines pile on top of caring and work;
- letting caring evidence count against compulsory attendance, including for international students on visa monitoring;
- one UCL timetable you can sync with your caring and work calendars;
- peer support that catches burnout before it forces students to interrupt their studies.
I’ve lived all three parts of this role: mature, part-time and carer. I know what it costs when study, work and caring collide, because it cost me burnout, a break in my studies and many sacrifices to pursue higher education. We may be a smaller share of UCL students, but as a student rep I represented a cohort of 200+ who were all part-time, 94% mature and 73% carers. So I know how to turn feedback from this group into action. I’ll be honest about what’s possible, keep you updated, and keep pushing until UCL works for students whose lives don’t fit a standard timetable.