Issue 1453 Monday 4th March 2024
Free
Est. 1948 thecourieronline.co.uk
Battle of the Robinsons: Which library reigns supreme?
On ‘Third Spaces’ and the epidemic of loneliness
Campus Comment | page 6
Lifestyle | page 13
Park View switch on the Lights
Music | page 22
Make your mark in the NUSU elections! Missed the candidate manifestios? Find them on pages 17-20 Voting open Mon 4th - Wed 6th March 2024
Under the spotlight: prospective
officers questioned on student issues
The Courier attended each of the Candidate Spotlights, providing insight on every night’s events. Charlotte Lee - Blind Date Co-Ordinatior
L
ast week, student media hosted candidate spotlights for this year’s student officer elections. Candidates were offered the chance to discuss their manifestos, answer submitted questions, and partake in a debate topic. The Courier attended each night of the spotlights to cover all the information you’ll need for the upcoming elections.
O
Education Officer
n Monday evening, the candidates for Education Officer kicked off the first of the Candidate Spotlights. The first question asked the candidates to expand upon their views regarding inconsistencies within assessment feedback. Jonathan Lee started the discussion off by reiterating one of his key manifesto points: the standardisation of feedback; Lee told the audience that to tackle these inconsistencies, he would standardise how feedback is delivered to all students. Jasmine Banks expanded further on this point by reiterating why it is also necessary to streamline how assessments are conducted to encourage better progress - this point was picked up on by Jonathan Lee later in the debate where Banks clarified that
this standardisation would be within schools and degree programmes. During the debate part of the evening candidates were asked “How would you promote students to get involved with the Student Voice and School Rep system within the Union”. Devika Bhave affirmed that she would like to reassure course reps that by taking up a position of responsibility you will not receive negative attention from lecturers. Candidate Alina Ghazal conclusively agreed with her point. She stated that: “speaking to students in person gets a lot more visibility from what they want and they open up to you rather than surveys”. Overall, the spotlight was a proactive evening where all candidates equally challenged each other’s manifestos and strongly put forward their own.
the needs of postgraduate research students. Sky reflected upon his experience within the business and reiterated that “there needs to be more resources for both research and teaching students” and the experience they need to get jobs after their degrees. Similarly, Saier expressed how she believes that in the second year of a PGR student, we should be encouraging them to publish some more essays and do some more experiments as well as hold activities to improve their mental health.
“The debate covered how candidates understand the needs of research students.”
Poppy Bedford - Music Sub-Editor Student Media Officer
T
uesday night’s debates started strong with the candidates for Student Media Officer taking the stage, with candidate Harshvardhan Rathore absent. In a congenial and friendly manner, the debate travelled through manifestos, editorial integrity and the ‘Courier Centric’ narrative of student media. Sam Norman, Lucy Bower and Jess McKeown took to the debate sofas with the main topic of conversation being the digitalisation of print media and the expanding of the student media community, all neatly wrapped into a
cool 45 minutes. Noticeable moments for each candidate included Sam Norman’s manifesto pledge of ‘cyclical media’ in order to “share skills around all branches of student media” in an attempt at digital expansion and putting Student Media in line with other professional media businesses. Lucy Bower’s joint pledges to expand the society spotlight into other branches (NSR, NUTV) to complete her “open door opportunity” pledge was also a topic of the debate. Jess McKeown discussed her pledge looking to expand volunteers “skills development with social media editing/ digital workshops” in another attempt to address the digitisation of print media. Continued on Page 3
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Postgraduate Officer
he evening then promptly shifted towards the candidates for the Postgraduate Officer where only two out of five candidates took their spots: Akash ‘Sky’ Bandal and Saier Huang. One of the most relevant questions of the evening asked what ideas each candidate had to improve the employability of postgraduate students. Saier Huang explored how she would like to liaise with the careers services to create a graduate careers program where workshops can be held to relay professional industry advice. Sky Bandal then detailed a similar approach, stating that he would like to bring students together to help form connections later in their careers, particularly within the UK business industry. Notably, the debate part of the evening, covered how the candidates would accommodate and understand
Image Credit: Gabbi de Boer