Recap: Third Student Leaders Conference January 2017
The third Student Leaders Conference of 16/17 took place in MDX House on Thursday 26th January.
Over a hundred students from across the university - including Student Voice Leaders and student group committees - came together to discuss their ideas to improve Middlesex and help direct the policy of the Students' Union.
The Conference opened with networking within Schools and a welcome from your MDXSU President, Simba, followed by an accountability session with your full-time elected Student Officers - the MDXSU President and Vice Presidents, Simba, Orla, Joe and Katie.
They spoke about what they've been working on over the past few month, followed by a Q&A session. You can watch their reports below!
Conference then split into break-out groups. These sessions included reviewing feedback channels within the university and how these could be improved; a student groups session discussing issues students had encountered at MDX and possible solutions for these; and Student Voice Conference, where our Student Voice Leaders debated and voted on five academic-based motions which had been submitted prior to the conference.
Student Voice Leaders could vote in favour or against each motion, or choose to abstain. If a motion receives 50% of votes in favour, the motion passes and becomes MDXSU policy for your Exec Team to work on. You can view all motions in details here, or read on for an overview.
Motion 1: Interactive and Practical Learning, presented by Ben Brickley
- No speeches against
- Motion passes
Motion 2: No More Hidden Course Costs, presented by Poppy Heap
- No speeches against
- Motion passes
Motion 3: Assessment Deadlines and Feedback, presented by Ben Brickley
- No speeches against
- Motion passes
Motion 4: Create Students Deserve Better, presented by Lauren Harris
- Speech against - students suggest amendment to make motion clear. Follow-up speech clarifies some points.
- Motion passes
Motion 5: Don't Have more than one assessment deadline in a week
- Speech against: may not be feasible for the value of deadlines in building time-management and organisational skills
- Speeches for: clashing exams and deadlines is stressful and difficult to manage, especially for studentswith other commitments or jobs
- Motion passes
Very close vote for Motion 5... it receives just over 50% of votes in favour and passes! #mdxsuleaders pic.twitter.com/2F37RkeIcu
— MDXSU (@MiddlesexSU) January 26, 2017
Students then came together again to review recent ideas for changes which have been submitted on our website and received over 50 votes in favour. The only idea fitting this criteria for this conference was 'There should be more vegan vegetarian and halal options and food should be clearly labelled', which was submitted by Patrycja Jurgo. Discussion was overwhelming in favour of this idea being implemented, with students talking about MDX's pride in it's diversity, and how this should be considered in food provision for students on campus.
Conference ended with an overview of the upcoming MDXSU Elections, where students will be able to stand to be and/or vote for their elected Students' Union representatives next year - including the President and Vice Presidents. Students will be able to nominate themselves for a full-time or part-time role from Monday 13th February until Friday 3rd March, with voting taking place between Monday 13th and Friday 17th March. Find out more at www.mdxsu.com/elections, or email studentvoice@mdx.ac.uk
Minutes from the Student Leaders Conference will be circulated with student leaders and uploaded at www.mdxsu.com/student-leaders-conference once available.
Check out our Twitter account or the #mdxsuleaders hashtag for live tweets from the night, or head over to our Facebook page for the photos!
The final Student Leaders Conference of 2016/17 will take place later this team - watch this space...
