Thursday 23-11-2023 - 11:28

Hey, I am back with the next instalments of the monthly updates, this time for July. Hope your exams have gone well! Here is a summary of the month:

Saying Goodbye to Emma Barlow
I had to say goodbye to our previous Co-President, Emma Barlow, as her term has finished. She accomplished so much during the year from reforming the SSLC (Student-Staff Liaison Committee) structure to her Mental Health Day event to the Food Pantry trial on the Leeds and Birmingham Campuses. We will all miss her dearly! 

Saying Hello to Huma Hasan
Please welcome Huma as your new Co-President (Academic Affairs), her manifesto is about expanding the training for class reps, providing more support for mental health and ensuring feedback from student and staff meetings are actioned. I am super excited to be working with her in this new academic year! 

All Parliamentary Party Group Meeting (APPG) - Renters Reform
During this month, I had the honour to attend my first APPG meeting in Westminster! These meetings bring students and sabbatical officers from all over the UK to discuss pressing student issues with MPs (Politicians). This meeting was about the Renters’ Reform Bill and the housing situation. Students are having difficulty finding appropriate accommodation and find themselves competing with other students for unreasonably priced houses. I had a lot of feedback from students about being exploited by landlords so I wanted to speak to MPs about these concerns. The meeting went well and it was concerning hearing from other students talking about the horrible situations that they had to go through such as being homeless or having to pay for multiple accommodations that they were not living in because of the harsh fixed-term tenancy agreements (which the reform bill seeks to change).

Interview with Journalist about the Housing Crisis
The housing crisis is a serious concern for many of our students. Huma and I wanted to raise awareness about some of the experiences our fellow students are facing as well as the unfortunate experiences Huma and I have faced during our undergraduate and postgraduate years with unsupportive universities and exploitative landlords. We got the chance this month to share our stories with a journalist who will publish them in the coming weeks. We aim to speak with more journalists about the abhorrent housing crisis in the UK and its impact on student experience in the coming month so please keep on the lookout for them!

Filming Video for Pre-Arrival of new students
I had the privilege to take part in a video that would be sent to new students preparing and encouraging them on the road ahead. It's so great to be able to play a part in welcoming students from the earliest stages till their graduation. It is crucial for sabbatical officers to be present on these important occasions and come along with students in their academic journey.

All Parliamentary Party Group Meeting (APPG) - Youth Affairs
Shortly after the first APPG, I was able to attend another event discussing youth affairs. Among the audience were members of the UK Youth Parliament as well as MPs. This event was about the launch of the APPG report on empowering the youth for the future of work. Among the seven recommendations, there was mention of supporting mental health services and the statutory duty to ensure all young people are given work experience during secondary education and further education colleges.

International Student Experience Group Meeting (ISEG)
This month held the second ISEG group meeting which brought staff members from the different university departments as well as our International representative and myself to talk about the concerns and feedback from fellow international students at the university. 

Students’ Union Governing Board Meeting
This governing board of the Students’ Union ensures that we are heading towards the right direction as an SU provides scrutiny and investigates key decision-making and performance. I have been and am the Vice-Chair for these board meetings and am grateful to take part in these discussions.

Interview of Communications & Marketing Coordinator Candidates
I took part in the shortlisting and interviewing of candidates for this coordinator role this month. This role is crucial in any SU because of the importance for every SU to be able to clearly and effectively communicate with its students. It was a rewarding experience to help decide which candidate is the most suitable and can significantly improve our Students’ Union marketing and communication.

Team Planning Days
The Students Union team came together for two days to discuss the plans for the upcoming months. These meetups are crucial for morale and provide every staff with a clear schedule of the events and initiatives that the SU is planning to do and we divide the tasks such as which staff is travelling to which campus on each day. It was great seeing all the staff members in person!

International Students Voice Committee Meeting (ISVC)
Alongside the ISEG meetings with staff (mentioned above), we have started to host ISVC meetings in which we bring students and representatives who are international to talk about their experiences, feedback and concerns. The International rep as well as I, report back to the ISEG meeting the feedback we got from students. International student voices deserve to be heard so we need to do everything in our power to make sure their issues are addressed by the University.

Student-Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC) for MSC Psychology 
It is of paramount importance that your sabbatical officers know about the issues that you are facing, no matter, your course, campus or mode of study. With this goal in mind, I want to attend different SSLC meetings throughout the year. We have more than 300+ SSLC meetings happening throughout the year which includes class reps and tutors. Huma and I wanted to hop into a few of them to see what the topic of conversation is about and what issues are the students facing. Are there any issues that are universal? Are there any patterns of issues that we need to address? These are some of the questions we seek to answer. This month I attended a part-time online psychology masters SSLC meeting and heard about their experiences. Psychology students form only a small part of the University of Law, this is why it is crucial for the SU to try harder to gauge how the experiences of those students are going.

Catch-up with PVC and CEO
An initiative that I set up last academic year was monthly meetings with the members of the executive board. Now we have monthly meetings with Patrick, our Pro Vice-Chancellor as well as Andrea, our CEO and Vice-Chancellor. I am glad that our relationship with the University is as strong as ever and that we can freely talk about the issues facing students and our manifesto goals with senior university executive team members. These meetings are a clear indication that the University cares about the voices of students and their Students’ Union.

National Union of Students (NUS) Lead and Change - Leeds
Every year, NUS organises training sessions for the sabbatical officers from Students’ Unions all over the country. These training sessions allow us to network with members of different Students’ Unions, and brainstorm together campaigns that we can do in our cities to combat, for example, the cost of living crisis and transportation costs. It was an incredible few days in Leeds and this session equipped Huma and me with the knowledge necessary to do our jobs well and the network to take our campaigns nationwide!

Thank you for tuning in to my monthly update for July. As always, if you want to contact me, send an email to Pedram.Bani-asadi@law.ac.uk.

Your Voice, Your Concerns, Your Issues,
Pedram