The Postgraduate Officer is here to support and represent the 14,000 postgraduate students on campus. They ensure services, events and campaigns are relevant to postgraduate students – and working with the university to ensure postgraduates have the best experience possible.

The candidates running for the position this year are listed alphabetically by their surname.

Rebecca ‘Bex for the Future’ Cutler

MA Education student Rebecca Cutler told Redbrick that her aims were split into academic and social aspects of being a postgraduate.

She told Redbrick that she would review and standardise all induction processes so as to makes sure both local and international students have the best start to their time at the UoB.

This would be maintained by study skills workshops throughout the year, not just at the beginning of the year. She assured me that these would be supported by the library to ensure help with assignments.

This academic support would be running alongside ‘low cost low commitment’ sports groups and societies. As part of her aim to make them more accessible to postgraduates with especially hectic timetables she will introduce postgraduate specific sports and societies fairs. These will be held at the beginning of the first term and ‘maybe’ in January.

Cutler believes that this will facilitate a community feel to postgraduate life, whether one has been at Birmingham for three or more years already or has only just arrived from another institution.

Another university event which she will seek to adapt will be speak weeks. Rebecca would like to introduce a postgraduate specific version so they can raise issues especially important to them. She believes that undergraduate and postgraduate experiences can be differ, which means they may have different priorities to address. She told me that this will ensure that people know ‘we’re here and we are listening to postgraduate voices’.

When asked what she will do first if she was elected, she told Redbrick that she will ‘call [her] mom’ before organising events – such as the old reliable tea and cake days – for outgoing postgraduates during the writing of their dissertations.

Cutler outlined that achieving her aims will be facilitated by working with the PGMSA as she talks about ‘upscaling’ opportunities already provided by the university and establish activities especially for postgraduates.

This will include seeking to bring commuters and distance learners into the picture with a ‘postgraduate specific Celebration Day’ across all UoB sites including the Dubai campus

This will include seeking to bring commuters and distance learners into the picture with a ‘postgraduate specific celebration day’ across all UoB sites, including the Dubai campus.

She will aim to make these events appealing to all demographics, using mature students as an example. She would do this by asking them directly what they want.

She sees the language barrier as a potential inhibitor of this aim and has talked to international students regarding what would help them overcome this obstacle. She told me that she would promote the university’s ‘Global Welcome,’ asking local students to attend and integrate also to encourage ‘mingling.’

Finally, she would seek to ‘upscale’ – a key word during her interview – the University’s career development resources to also provide postgraduate specific services and ‘reach as many people as possible.’

She emphasised how her background would enable her to achieve her goals. Her varied perspective includes time as an undergraduate rep, friends undertaking masters and PhDs and time as an undergraduate chair of the rep forum.

Sunesh Jyani

Advanced Mechanical Engineering masters student Sunesh Jyani’s ‘first priority will be jobs.’ His campaign has been built on the foundations of a promises of a large post graduate jobs fair, a post graduate ‘hub’ at the Guild of Students and close collaboration between prominent industries and the university’s careers network.

He will ‘bring industry here’ and expanded by saying that ‘every big industry would be approached.’

Companies would also need to provide details of a ‘minimum salary package’ before attending his careers fair.

‘I will make sure make sure postgrads get a job when they move out. That will be my first priority.’

I will make sure make sure post grads get a job when they move out. That will be my first priority

He proposes a list of industries which will visit the university every year and a quota arrangement between companies and the University concerning how many past graduate students receive jobs after their studies.

Moreover, he suggests that he will seek to make sure that the University aims to provide positions for their own postgraduate students and he mentioned the education department as an example.

Despite an emphasis on the engineering sector throughout his promises, Jyani assured Redbrick that ‘not just engineering’ students will benefit from his drive for post graduate jobs but ‘every field’, even the music industry.

He will maintain a community feel to post graduate’s time studying at Birmingham by establishing a ‘pyramid’ styled social media rep network with reps interacting with students ‘so that post grads know each other and they have a network.’

This ‘proper rep network’ – Sunesh mentioned that he has already built a successful one during his time as a PG rep – would be ‘effective and efficient,’ making sure that ‘all voices will be heard’ by the University.

He feels that his undergraduate experience in a student’s union and post graduate work as a rep for the University of Birmingham’s School of Engineering will stand him in good stead. In addition, his time working in the engineering industry – with ‘big companies’ – means he has experience with regards to job details and interviews.

With regards to student support, Jyani suggested that one’s wellbeing effects one’s studying success. Therefore, both wellbeing and study support will be ‘prime priority’. This will ensure that students will be as well prepared as possible for their future careers.

Hailong Li

MSC Food Safety, Hygiene and Management student Hailong Li told Redbrick that he would make sure student voices are heard by gathering their feedback and delivering it directly to the university.

This communication will be reciprocal, as he makes sure that the university keeps postgraduate students informed regarding their policies. Hailong told Redbrick that this info will be easily accessible.

He says that this will ensure that postgraduate voices are considered when the University makes policy decisions.

This will ensure that postgraduate voices are considered when the University makes policy decisions

Hailong would also make sure that career training is readily available and will make sure postgraduates know about these events and take part so that they will feel part of a wider  community.

He explained that it can be tricky for post graduates to get involved in events on campus due to usually packed schedules, and so he will give plenty of notice for said events using social media. This will also apply to training and career preparation.

Hailong then highlighted the transparent nature of his potential tenure as postgraduate officer when stating that if a student had any concerns, they should feel free to reach out to him personally and he will convey their comments to the University.

This will be made easier for international students as Hailong told Redbrick that he would work closely with the international officer in order to gain more sway over the University when reporting wider student voices, especially concerning the feedback of international students. This will make sure they receive respect, ‘what they want and what they need.’

He believes that his recent experience as a postgraduate school rep for chemical engineering will help him in this endeavour. This includes past action regarding alteration to training methods due to student feedback after expressing their opinions to his school. Hailong believes that he can do this for all postgraduate students.

He finished by telling Redbrick that the University’s careers services are already impressive, but he would improve the way their events were communicated. This would include via the jobs fair and ensuring that students know how valuable these services are for their future development.

 

James Platt

MSC Environment Development and Politics student James Platt promises to ‘make postgraduate degrees at UoB great again.’

Redbrick asked him to elaborate on this and he replied by saying that one expects a lot from a postgraduate qualification, and he wants to make UoB the best place to undertake one.

‘If you’re not optimistic’ he says, ‘you’re depressed’. He wants UoB postgraduates to be ‘scoring for the fences.’

‘If you’re not optimistic’ he says, ‘you’re depressed’

He will attempt to make this a reality with his experience of being self employed and working with contractors, whom he says he will communicate with regarding the employment of postgraduate students. Platt also said that his first move as the postgraduate officer would be to conduct an online survey and assess data regarding postgraduate students.

Throughout, he had an emphasis on community and jobs and highlighted how his current experience as a commuter struggling with a masters loan ensures that he will understand the potential difficulties which a postgraduate student may encounter.

He then told Redbrick that this also taught him the value of societies and getting involved with the University community. He started enjoying his experience a lot more after making friends in the cheerleading team.

With regards to career development, he will make sure that postgraduate fairs are equally distributed with a wide range of attending industries, as he feels that they are currently too focused on the law and engineering sectors. He would contact industries more closely associated with postgraduates, maybe some unexpected sectors which students have not yet thought of entering.

Like other candidates, James also seeks to make sure commuter and mature students are part of campus life, including access to the benefits of wellbeing and academic mentor support. He emphasises that this is all the more imperative for international students or mature students who may be in a completely different place and/or country studying a completely different course.

James highlighted that his personal experience of attending a smaller university in North Wales as an undergraduate and experiencing a daunting move to the UoB. This ensures that he has some empathy for students in this position.

He proposed a culture exchange event to encourage integration and stated that he would seek to provide help for international students who may struggle to understand local English dialects and the frameworks of British universities.

Overall, he maintained a commitment to flexible events which were not too late in the day. This would make things easier for commuting and mature students who may need to book trains and/or babysitters.

He then waded into the debate surrounding the UCU lecturer strikes as part of their dispute with the university. He stated that students should join lecturers in ‘stand[ing] against the uni’ and proposed the formation of a student group to help make the University ‘buckle.’

James was against the disruption caused by these strikes, however, and suggested to me that the University should ‘at least put on extra lectures… putting statements out doesn’t do any good for us.’

Akanksha Wagh

Advanced Engineering Management masters student Akanksha Wagh would like to make studying easier for all postgraduate students, especially international students.

She feels that her time as a business schools rep and experiences with timetable issues will ensure that she will be able to make life ‘easier’ and ‘comfortable’ for international students unfamiliar with the University of Birmingham’s potentially different teaching and assessment methods.

She told Redbrick that she would make sure that postgraduate voices are heard by lecturers, as she has received a lot of complaints with regards to assessment feedback. This would be combated with ‘proper’ assessment guidelines. Moreover, term time ‘skill acquisition programs’ would be set up in order to facilitate assessment familiarity and overall success.

This would be consolidated by more office hours in which students can seek help from their lecturers, especially during dissertation months.

Wagh would also prioritise student safety and would establish a group of student volunteers whose role would be to assist and help students in potential danger whilst on nights out in the city – like Fab and Fresh – or on Selly Oak campus at night. They would be called via a helpline make sure people reach home safely.

The motivation for this idea comes from personal experience, as – on Halloween night – she saw ‘so many students… just lying on the road. They were so drunk and they were not able to even talk properly’. ‘We were… taking their phones and trying to find their friends.’

Her third aspiration is to improve the range and publicity of events organised at the guild for postgraduates. Undergraduate events outnumber those held for postgrads and she would utilise ‘every social media possible’ – not just Facebook – and her role as secretary of the guild’s PGMSA (The Postgraduate and Mature Students Association) to remedy this.

She would make sure to hold these new events in the evenings, not between lectures, as postgrads often have especially busy timetables.

She would make sure to hold these new events in the evenings, not between lectures, as postgrads often have especially busy timetables

These events would include multicultural get-togethers involving the preparation of foods from the many different cultures from which postgrad and mature students hail. She wants to promote knowledge of different heritages and make sure postgrads get to know each other.

Akanksha would also increase awareness of career events around campus as well as creating working relationships with companies who could provide internships for postgrads as they complete their dissertations. This would enable the use of work experience in their coursework.