March - new team!

This month was loooooooong. We had the elections, and I loved giving out tips and encouragement about running in the election. Saw some cool campaigns and it was nice seeing the winners' inspiring speeches. It wasn't all fun and games for everyone though and it was hard having to talk to students who felt let-down by the union. Nevertheless, I am very happy for all the winners and I am certain they will make an awesome team next year :)

I have organised the schedule for World Autism Awareness week and handed out hundreds of Autism Awareness guides specifically aimed at University staff and lecturers/tutors. I am very glad that I got the university talking about autism and the university experience of a student on the spectrum. This priority was a key promise I spoke to hundreds of students about during my elections campaign and i am so glad to be delivering on it. Feel free to join me at the events listed on the poster :)

Remember the timetable revolution i spoke about during the January post - how the university is re-looking at how they allocate timetables due to students (like myself) expressing our timetables are not always great? Well the university is taking this really seriously, they've rolled up their sleeves and working hard on delivering a solution. This has meant I am not included in a number of University meetings/committees with the word "timetable" in the title, and I've been referring to the result of the timetable survey and my conversations with you to represent the student voice during these meetings - such as 9am starts being a pain.

Speaking of committees, I've also had the great responsibility of informing University boards of the unfairness of capping module grades at a pass if students are retaking a module in a following year - and they are now looking to remove this cap. 

Thank you for reading :)
Zaina
Email me: z.hakim@herts.ac.uk

February - So Many Tories!

This month I got the opportunity to speak with 3 politicians/political influencers which are linked to our university in some way. The MP and Minister of State for Universities, Chris Skidmore, MP of Welwyn Hatfield, Grant Shapps, and the Chancellor of Uni of Hertfordshire Lord Salisbury. Had great conversations with all of them, I brought up issues around tackling student loneliness, I spoke out for the reintroduction of Maintenance grants and the benefits of students having access to a personalized learning experience. Despite my disagreements with the Conservative party I felt that these conversations were mutually useful and was glad to see that they all shared a passion for education and student experience. Pictures bellow 🙂 

I also co-led the College Lane “The Secret Life of a PhD” network event which was great! I am glad that those who attended enjoyed it and learnt a lot about the opportunity of doing a PhD.  

I got involved in discussions within the university around the idea of how the university can create an online platform which tracks your engagement/learning journey – they call it “Data For Learning”. We discussed what should be included – attendance, or library books borrowed, or assignment grades, or even as far as being in societies/sport teams. It reminded me of my manifesto point “3) Transparency! From the start of you course; know exactly how many lecturers/seminars you must attend to pass AND how your degree grade is classified (explained in simple terms)” - although the ideas do not directly mirror one another they do echo. I believe it is important that students have a clear way of understanding their learning progress and where they are in achieving their desired grade – so I am glad this type of information is being made accessible for students, and really pleased to be a part of that conversation 🙂  

And I turned 23! 😀  

Thank you for reading, feel free to email me on z.hakim@herts.ac.uk  

Zaina