INTERVIEW: VP Education Candidates

As part of our Elections 2013 coverage, The Tab has been catching up with all the sabbatical candidates and hitting them with our own brand of questioning. This instalment features Dessie Nedyalkova and David Mendoza-Wolfson (as well as RON) who are contesting VP Education.

ST: Exams can be a particularly stressful time for students, how do you plan to support students during these times?

Dessie: One of my manifesto policies pushes for providing support for student during exams. The ‘Petting Zoo’ alongside other stress-busting activities, was very successful last academic year. I plan on implementing a stress-relieving week during each exam period, including January to help students with the laborious task of revising and the stressful experience of sitting exams.

David: I believe that my policies will help students deal with their stress because they will allow them to work when they want to, rather than being prescribed specific times to work. It’s great to have revision breaks, and I will ensure that students will be able to relax when they want to relax and work when they want to work.

ST: Year on year, manifestos talk about ‘feedback’, what do you feel needs improving and how will you achieve this?

David: Feedback is far too general but regardless of the means delivered to you, written feedback will always be somewhat similar. That’s why I believe that every student should have feedback meetings for all their assessed work, explaining to them why they got what they got and how they can improve.

Dessie: I feel the guidelines and minimal standards on what students accept as appropriate feedback need to be re-set. Using feedback from student representatives, I plan on working towards creating faculty-specific handbooks directing how feedback should be given, what should be included and the time scale in which it should be returned. Each faculty will have the freedom to tailor these to its students.

ST: Which point on your opponent’s manifesto do you think is unrealistic and unachievable?

Dessie: If I had to pick JUST one, it’d be ‘more seating and workspace in the library’. Hartley is already optimised in terms of study spaces, and adding exam chairs to free floor space will simply lead to overcrowding and an extremely uncomfortable and distracting working environment- which is the complete opposite to what students go to the library for in the first place…

David: I don’t see any of Dessie’s manifesto as unrealistic or unachievable, I just don’t think that it’s ambitious. It doesn’t push the University to really do anything to give back to students, something that I really strive for in mine.

ST: Southampton gets low scores on some areas of the NSS, what are these areas and how do you plan to boost these figures?

David: My policies will ensure that students get more for their money. More resources, more academic support and fewer hidden course costs. These policies will improve the student experience at the University of Southampton, making students more satisfied and boosting our scores.

Dessie: Assessment and Feedback is the major one! The ideas I have on faculty-specific handbooks for feedback as well as pushing everything online, are my policies which attempt to tackle the low NSS scores in this area. I also believe that improving the effectiveness of the student representation system will help the university gain invaluable insight into why this area scores so low.

ST: What experience of academic representation at Southampton do you have?

Dessie: I’ve been an active part of SUSU student representation system from the beginning. I’ve acted as a Course Representative for 2 years in a row, and this year I am the Academic President of Management. I’ve also held positions on the Management Society Committee for the past two years, and I was treasurer for Chamberlain JCR too.

David: None, but I do have many course rep & academic president friends who have spoken with me in detail about what they do and discuss. On top of that I don’t believe that the experience is necessary for the role. I have worked for a project that hopes to replace fees however, am chairman of a society and a keen listener. Ultimately, I feel that it’s more important to show yourself to listen than to have help a position of academic representation.

ST: There is a possibility of the VP Education having departmental/academic societies under their remit. What support could you provide for these societies?

David: I’d ensure that they were properly funded in order to take continue to take part in the sports events they take part in at the moment. I’d also hope to start a Southampton University Challenge, pitting different faculty societies against one another. As with everything else, I will represent the societies and listen to them in order to know how best to provide for them.

Dessie: Having sat on the committee for Management Society for two years, I know academic societies mostly need help with establishing credibility, advertising and funding. I plan to work with committee presidents and provide training on how they can improve in these fields, and push for larger budgets to be allocated to departmental societies.

ST: What are your views on video-recorded lectures?

Dessie: I think they’re a great idea- they increase flexibility for students as they can be watched any time, and referring back to them whenever you’re studying or need a recap, which solves the problem of missing notes on important points a lecturer may have gone though in a lecture.

David: I am strongly in favour of video-recorded lectures. As a student with a learning difficulty I have found that recording lectures are far more helpful to revise from than my notes. Students should be able to revise how they revise best and not simply from the notes they make in a lecture.

ST: What do you think are the current strengths and weaknesses of the representation system?

David: I think that the structure of the current representations system is strong but hasn’t been fully utilised. I will ensure that I talk with Faculty Officers and Academic Presidents before going into a relevant committee to ensure that all students are properly represented. The current structure is good, but implementation is sometimes not all it could be.

Dessie: The infrastructure is effective and there’s a great base for an effective feedback system, however student representation still suffers in terms of students engaging with their representatives and discussing academic shortfalls. Most students aren’t even aware of who their reps are, how to contact them or what they’re up to.

ST: It’s currently dissertation season and lots of students are feeling the strain. Some students think the support could be better, how can you help these students?

Dessie: By re-training dissertation supervisors, removing the cap on hours they can spend helping students, as well as remodelling the guidelines they follow when understanding the level of support they can offer, so that students don’t get caught out with limited help, which is often incompetent and lacking detail.

David: I’d remove the outrageous cap on dissertation supervisions so that students can be more supported by the person who best understands their particular project. I also hope that my improvements to the tutor/academic advisor system will mean that you will have the support from the academic who best knows you.

ST: NUS: Yes or No?

David: No. It doesn’t represent students, why waste money on a politicised organisation?

Dessie: I’m walking in the middle, but in the end I voted No.

ST: If you could only live in one place, where in the world would it be?

Dessie: In a hut house made of natural materials somewhere in Bali.

David: London. I love it. It has culture, history and beautiful architecture

ST: Was Southampton Uni your first choice?

David: It was

Dessie: Absolutely!

ST: Which current Sabb would say you’re most similar to and why?

Dessie: I don’t think I’m like any particular one- I’d say I’m responsible like Sam, dedicated like Sasha and smiley like David!

David: Gilani, because I want to go out and talk to people, and I’d say that he does that more than any of the other Sabbs. Honestly I wouldn’t say I’m particularly similar to any of the Sabbs however and will be an officer working for you, to represent you and who you can trust.

ST: Finally, Jesters or Sobar?

David: Sobar

Dessie: Jesters on Mondays, Sobar on Tuesdays