Friday 31-07-2020 - 09:12

The challenges we’ve faced only make our achievements shine brighter

David reflects on his final year as Postgraduate Academic Officer

I thought last year was going to be my peak of stress, with heated debate over the introduction of lecture capture, discussions of an overhaul of tuition fees and the near-collapse of the National Union of Students, but it hasn’t had a patch on this year. Strikes, general elections, attacks on the college system in the name of ‘efficiency,’ and debate about student representation in Durham descending into abuse and hate – and the small matter of a global pandemic – have rather dispelled those illusions. 

Approaching student representation with numbers

But the challenges we’ve faced only make our achievements shine brighter. I’m a weird guy in how I go about student representation, obsessing over numerical and financial detail and technical processes to build (admittedly often overcomplicated) cases. But I believe this has helped me speak the language of the University these past two years, and successfully manoeuvre within it. 

I don’t think it’s common for student leaders to deliberately take-up projects that require the University to do something as uncharacteristic as change its mind over how it spends its money, and reflect on the success of their work in hard monetary terms, but that’s what I wanted to do. I’ve contributed to securing payrises for postgrads who teach from next year, funded extensions and no-cost continuation for postgrad reasearch students (PGRs) affected by COVID-19, partial refunds for students who’ve faced an incredibly disrupted year, additional funds to support postgrads in hardship, free inter-library loans for postgrads, free PGR printing, and extended library opening with associated staffing implications. I reckon these and other projects that are shared across portfolios has meant I’ve gotten more than £1m back into students’ pockets, including a further £500k every year from now on. To those of you asking what value the SU provides to students – that’s my answer.

Beyond finances

And that’s to say nothing of the work we do that can’t be boiled down to hard cash. Durham was one of the first Universities to announce a ‘no detriment’ policy during COVID-19, and a rare case in that it committed to covering taught postgraduate students (PGTs) with it. We’ve shaped the University’s work on Access and Participation for underrepresented students and driven it to commit to being more ambitious. We’ve safeguarded students’ interests in a whirlwind of changes to how education is delivered, including in getting concrete student input into planned changes to next year’s timetable and putting Serious Adverse Circumstances forms online for the first time. We’ve put more study and social space at the heart of University estates developments. We’ve told the University it needs to do better on the accessibility for disabled students both in education and extra-curricular experience. 

We can do all this because we have strong officers, a strong staff team, and a strong relationship with the University. Some may think that the SU calling itself ‘the champion of all Durham students’ is just a cheesy tagline, but it is absolutely not. We’re not here for the glamour, we’re here because we want to make Durham better for students, and we’re glad we get the opportunity to do it. Even when it comes, at times, with personal cost. 

Thank and good luck!

Sam, we turned what could have been a clash of personalities into something that got the best out of both of us and complemented each others’ strengths. At a time when our work suddenly became all the more critical, and whilst we were under the cosh elsewhere, we pulled through and did it with quality. You’ve been amazing. You will continue to be amazing. 

Emma, I don’t know how you’ve juggled all the tasks Sam and I have chaotically generated for you, but what isn’t a mystery is that you’ve effectively and consistently delivered on them. You helped turn my vague assertion that ‘we need to know more about PGTs’ into something concrete and novel, and which I hope will be built on in coming years. I can’t thank you enough. 

Richard, it’s been a long time since we were co-chairs of MCR Presidents' Committee! I’m really going to miss having big nerdy chats about obscure HE sector developments with you. Your knowledge of the arcane structures of this University is unparalleled. I hope any future restructures don’t cause you to have to change your diagrams too much! 

Sarah, I know you have great ideas for how to engage with postgrads, and turn their voice into something the University will sit up and listen to. Congratulations on taking up post, and thank you for continuing the tradition of having an MCR President go on to being in this post. You’ll be superb. 

To my fellow officers and the staff team – you’ve been great, it’s been great, keep on being great. Leaving the world of SUs is a decision that’s not by choice, so please keep in touch – hopefully this is not so much a ‘goodbye’ as much as it is a ‘see you soon’.