Thursday 14-05-2026 - 11:30

It's nearly June, which means my time as your Education Officer is almost done and honestly, I have so many feelings about it I don't even know where to start.

Let's skip the formal intro. You know how it goes: "it has been a privilege and an honour" yeah, yeah. Instead let me just tell you what actually happened over the last two years, because a lot went on and I want you to know about it.

I know what it feels like to be a student, not just in theory, but in the "I'm stressed, I'm broke, I'm tired, and somehow I still have a 4,000-word essay due Friday" kind of way.

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🌟 Things that shaped my two years:

• Let's talk money. Because we must.

  The cost of living hasn't been kind to anyone, but students are absorbing a specific kind of pressure that doesn't always get named. Textbooks. Software licences. Field trips. It adds up fast, and for a lot of students, it's the difference between keeping up and falling behind; not academically, but financially.

  The Money Matters campaign was about making that visible. We collected student experiences, built the evidence, and took it to the university with a clear message: you need to be transparent about what studying here actually costs, and you need to do something about it.

  It's not a solved problem, but we moved the needle, and the conversation is firmly on the table now in a way it wasn't before.

• The meetings. So many meetings.

  Part of being Education Officer is showing up to a lot of institutional meetings: Board of Governors, Academic Board, Education Committee, and many others. I've sat at more long tables with more agenda papers than I ever expected to in my life.

  And here's the thing, it's actually worth it, even when the room is full of people with decades of experience and job titles longer than your arm. The key is that you're not there to impress anyone. You're there because students aren't, and every single one of those meetings is a room where decisions get made that affect students.

• RepConnect: my personal favourite thing we built

  Course reps are one of the most underrated assets in the university. These are students who voluntarily give their time to represent you in meetings, collect feedback, and raise issues on your behalf. We built something that actually connects reps to each other, across departments and faculties, so they can share what's working, support each other, and show up to meetings knowing they're not alone. The difference it made to rep confidence and impact is real.

• Taking it beyond uni

  One of the things I didn't fully expect was how much of this role exists at a national level. It doesn't stop at the university's front door. Through the UUK Student Network Group, I've been working alongside student reps from universities across the country, feeding into national higher education conversations around postgraduate uncertainty and layer of complexity that people rarely see: visa anxiety, financial pressure multiplied by exchange rates and the specific loneliness of building a life somewhere new while also trying to get a degree.

  Working with the National Union of Students (NUS) to abolish guarantors, I was part of a group that lobbied Members of Parliament, sharing the real struggles students face. And seeing the amendments made in the Renters' Rights Bill as an outcome, which is now making a real difference in people's lives, I'm proud of being a part of that.

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  💭 So what's next for me?

  After two years of being an Officer, sitting in rooms I never expected to be in, advocating for people I may never have met, and learning more about how universities actually work than any module could teach me. I feel genuinely more confident and certain that student voice matters and that one person, in the right room, at the right time, can shift things.

  I'm returning to my studies to complete my Masters in Management. I will be a student again and I mean that in the fullest sense. I will sit in lectures, meet deadlines, and navigate the same systems I spent two years working to improve, experiencing the university from the other side of the table. I will still be a student voice. That part doesn't switch off.

  Two years is not a long time. But in student terms, where every cohort brings new people and new possibilities, it is enough time to plant things that grow. Working alongside you, for you, and because of you has been a pleasure I won't forget.

  Thank you for electing me and trusting me with your voice for the past two years. The best student unions are not the loudest ones. They are the ones that make students feel, unambiguously, that someone is in their corner. I believe that spirit has reflected throughout the past couple of years and I know it will continue in the years ahead.

  See you around,

  Forum