Choose the education that suits you. Choose the opportunities that suit you. Vote for me and I will do my best to ensure that your choices will be your future.
Hi guys! I’m Mia and I’m running for Academic VP at the University of Wolverhampton next year! I’m approachable, hard-working, and proactive; currently doing a Masters Degree in Pharmacy. I have hopes to become a Clinical Pharmacist after my pre-registration year. Like you, I also have academic goals and dreams.
As the former President of PharmSoc, former Chair of the Transport for West Midlands Youth Forum and current Secretary of PharmSoc, I would bring a lot of experience in a leadership setting to this role. I know first-hand the importance of listening to the opinions of fellow students in order to provide a better learning and social environment for them.
During the past two years, it has been hard for me, as well as many fellow students to feel sufficiently supported in my course due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. I am sure many of you feel the same. In the next academic year, I am aiming to create a 24/7 mental health support line for students as well as staff in order to ensure we all get the support we require during these unprecedented times. The University of Wolverhampton and its students pride themselves on their diversity. Many of my classmates and friends have other jobs, caring responsibilities, parenting responsibilities, families abroad and/or medical conditions that make managing academic life significantly more challenging. It is without a doubt a crucial time to provide the necessary support to those who need it.
If you choose to have me as your Academic VP, I will ensure that all of your concerns are heard consistently. Not just when you have periodic reviews during class about the course content. Not just when you are asked. But every time you voice your opinion.
I will also take it upon myself to ensure live lectures are recorded more consistently to enable us to revise from them as many students have stated that these lectures are useful. I will also organise one-to-one mentoring sessions and plagiarism-awareness workshops, where volunteer third- or fourth-years in your course will provide revision support and referencing advice to lower years who need it to enable them to get the best out of their degree.
Alongside the support system that I wish to create, I would also like to bring forth a no detriment policy for students – sparing you from the anxiety and stress of being given a grade that is lower than your average performance before your campus closes due to unforeseen circumstances like our current global pandemic.
These times are very unpredictable, and as students, we are at the brunt of it; being set face-to-face assessments which are having to be delayed by two weeks due to government policies, or modified within one week into an online exam, where we cannot go back to previous questions, unlike a normal paper exam. This constant disorganisation in the assessment structure of multiple courses within the university can cause many hardworking students to miss out on vital grades that they require to achieve the very dreams that were the reasons for applying to university in the first place. My aim is to restrict the level of disruption to student schedules and if disruptions cannot be avoided, then students should have a fair amount of time and support to adapt to assessment changes and should not be expected to adapt their revision for an exam to coursework within one week; as my fellow classmates and I have experienced.
The support I am offering you does not end here. Even when you leave the University, the support I am offering you will go with you. We go to university to provide food for our brains as well as our stomachs. We appreciate the knowledge, but at the end of the day - we all want good jobs. So, in my year as the Academic VP, I will work with SU and course staff to provide extensive employability support for students in each individual faculty to arm them with the information and placement opportunities that they require to get a foot in the door of their dream jobs. This includes CV workshops, practice interviews, application support and job advice appointments.
But remember, dreams don’t work unless you do.
So, if you like what you have read, don’t pass up this opportunity to choose something for yourself. Choose the education you want. Choose the opportunities you want. Vote for me and I will do my best to ensure that your choices will be your future.