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► VPAA Justin Young

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 Justin Young
Manifesto  

VP Academic Affairs 

 

What does it mean to be Vice President of Academic Affairs?

The Vice President of Academic Affairs is the person on the Student Union who is responsible for representing your views on one of the most important aspects of University life, the quality of your educational experience.  
 

So what influence do they have and why is it important to get the right person for the job?  
 

Working in tangent with course and faculty representatives it falls to this person to collaborate the opinions, ideas and preferences of all the subjects; to compile and put forward in a concise, accurate and persuasive manner to the Universities’ senior management to ensure the best possibility that talk will be put into action. The role of communicating this message requires a high degree of organisation and enthusiasm to ensure the highest rate of return. This is why I believe I am a strong candidate for this position, my commitment and interest in such a topic is portrayed in the way I deliver my message and has been proven to be a successful approach for implementing change as seen in my previous roles as course representative and my current position of MIS faculty representative. 

What I will do.                 

·         Increase the employability of Brighton students. Arranging workshops, using local business’s and the Brighton Alumni to provide insight to what employers really look for in addition to a degree. According to NUS reports, 52% of students worry if they will get a job they desire. Through these mediums (pipelines of information) we can work with tutors to look to improve course content and module selection.

·       Build a stronger line of contact between course representatives, school reps and heads of school to encourage more regular feedback. 

·         Equipment library with more resources and materials across the university campuses and Partner Colleges.  

·       Create a column in the pebble, in which representatives from various departments have a few bullet points to outline their plans for the year, as well as what they have already done.

·       Have the opportunity to apply knowledge from degree course by volunteering in local community to earn awards and certificates to put with degrees to increase the Brighton University experience and employability of the students.

·         Organise a book-exchange day between years, whereby students in the same course, in different years can exchange or sell cheaply their old academic books. After all, we all want to save money!

·         Engage with postgraduate students, wand push for increased supervision and clearer guidelines.

·       Having a forum (online or organised event) where students and lectures can make suggestions to the development of courses at least twice a year.

So why choose me?

I wish to implement changes that would make students feel more involved with the way academic experience is set out and encourage them to speak up and take thought into how they believe the academia of University Of Brighton could be better run, so they too feel they can make a difference.

The hierarchical structure of communication in place is very efficient as long as students believe their message is getting passed on, engage and get involved with suggesting methods they believe will make changes for their course for the better, as Vice President of Academic Affairs this is the message I wish to deliver.  

I want to heighten the level of communication between course and faculty representatives and make them feel comfortable enough to have no inhibitions of vocalising the opinions to ensure we give an overall good quality picture and make sure all views are represented, prioritised and accurately presented to the council. 

I am currently in my third consecutive year of representing my course and have recently been elected as MIS faculty representative, confidently progressing each year to deliver opinions and recommendations from students that have then been put into action. I know how the new system works and was a part of the SU council that passed it this year. 

Some of my achievements over the last 3 years as a representative include: 

·       Faster and higher powered computers in labs for examination and computer lab sessions. 

·       More literature available to the students online.

·       More handouts and ‘work through’ questions in both lectures & seminars.

·       Change scheduling, module planning to make it less stressful and cluttered with deadlines on top of examinations for students.

·       I pushed for statistics and mathematics catch up sessions once a week, which are now running. 

Why do I believe I have the skills to carry this out?  

·       I am enthusiastic, reliable and committed 

·       I am approachable and will try to resolve any issues brought to my attention

·       I get involved in University activities.  

I enjoy getting involved and enjoy getting others involved also. I have loved my time at the University and like to believe that part of it was down to others who did a good job, to provide what is available to us now. I would like to become part of that history to ensure the best student lifestyle both academically and socially is available to the future students. 

University for many is an exciting and life changing opportunity and it is important that a good atmosphere is created and the most relevant and efficient study pattern is in place. With a good source of communication between what the students want and who has the power to change these aspects, Brighton University will continue to provide a brilliant time and opportunity to many. With the higher education cuts coming in, many are worried about the University continuing to provide the same level of academic quality going forward. 

I promise that if elected your Vice President Academic Affairs I will hold the university to account for the education that they provide. You guys will be paying the same fees and so you deserve the same opportunities or better. 

 

For a new direction Vote Justin Young VP Academic affairs