Andy Love
Student President, University of Abertay Dundee Student’s Association
- How did you become Student President?
- What does your job involve?
- What actually is the Student’s Union?
- What other jobs do people hold within the Union?
- What can the Union offer me as a student?
- What advice would you give to a pupil thinking about going to College or University?
- What would you say are the three best things about going to college or university?
- Finally, as Student President, do you get free pens? Can LIFT OFF have one?
1. How did you become Student President?
To become Student President you have to stand for election. To do that you need to put your name forward along with a manifesto – a list of things you’d like to improve and changes you’d like to make for the better – then you have to spend a week campaigning, going out and speaking to students, trying to convince them to vote for you. Students then cast their votes, and I was lucky enough that students liked my manifesto and enough of them voted for me to win the election. It was very, very close though, only 9 votes in it!
2. What does your job involve?
As President, there are plenty of jobs for me to do; these can range from sitting on University Committees, providing a student view on how the University should be run, to speaking to the newspapers and radio about important student issues. You also have to try and do the things you said you’d do before you got elected! As well as this, you are available to offer advice and support to students and do as best you can to act as a link between the University and the students.
3. What actually is the Student’s Union?
The Student’s Union, or Student’s Association, is a body that is run by students, for students, and every student at the University is a member. By law, when every student goes to University they become a member of the Association, which means that you can go there for help and advice. Although we work alongside the University, we are a separate organisation that works specifically for students. We are made up of an Executive Committee that contains 2 full-time staff members called sabbaticals. Sabbaticals are staff who are taking a break from their studies. At Abertay we have a President and Vice-President, but it can vary from University to University. We work with 6 part-time members to complete our Executive Committee. Our bosses are basically all of the students, and they decide how we spend our time and whether we are doing a good job or not!
4. What other jobs do people hold within the Union?
The Vice-President and I try to cover as much as possible, and we are given help by the rest of the Executive Committee, but because they are part-time, they still have to manage their studies, so we don’t ask them to take on too much. The Student Association is based in the Student Centre, which also houses our restaurant and a nightclub, and we work alongside all the staff in the Centre to make sure that we provide plenty of entertainment for the students. As well as our Executive Committee and the Student Centre staff, we work with our Student Representative Council (SRC), which is made up of one student representative from each class from each year in the University. We meet once a month to discuss key issues and address any problems. Also, every student has a job in the Union, just by being a student, which helps the union become stronger - without students, we would have no-one to work for.
5. What can the Union offer me as a student?
Well, the Association is a great place to meet your friends and have a night out. We also offer you the opportunity to come along and meet plenty of new people by joining one of our many societies. They range from the Dance Society to the Environmental Society and from the Chess Society to the Law Society. We try to cover as many tastes as possible, and offer students the opportunity to start up their own society if we don’t already have one they want to join. On top of this, we also offer plenty of advice and support on anything they feel they want to discuss.
6. What advice would you give to a pupil thinking about going to College or University?
I would definitely recommend college or university to anyone thinking of going. As well as giving you the opportunity to further your education and gain more qualifications that can lead on to a dream job, it also gives you the opportunity to meet some fantastic people, friends that you will keep with you for the rest of your life. There’s also loads to get involved with: sports teams, societies, and maybe even the Student Executive. Some of the experiences you can have will stay with you forever and I’m sure you’ll remember them fondly. As long as you enter into student life prepared to balance the hard work with the social life, you’ll cope just fine and have a great time.
7. What would you say are the three best things about going to college or university?
For me, three of the best things about being a student are:
- The different kinds of people you can meet, not just from all over the country, but sometimes from all over the world. You have the opportunity to make so many great friends, who you would probably have never otherwise met!
- The learning curve you go through as a student, not just in terms of going to classes and gaining your qualification, but how the whole experience can help you to mature and prepare for going out in to the ‘real world’. Being a student really does equip you with plenty of life-skills that you will use to help you make your way in the world.
- The opportunities you have to get involved with sports teams and societies. I’ve met some of my best friends through the University football team and have shared some great times with them, not just on the pitch, but off it also.
8. Finally, as Student President, do you get free pens? Can LIFT OFF have one?
I’m afraid free stationary isn’t one of the perks of the job, but if they ever let me have free pens, LIFT OFF will be the first to get one!!
