By Youssef Bashir

During Candidate Development Week, which is the week prior to Voting Week, candidates are briefed on the rules of the elections and campaigning. In that same period this year, willing candidates were interviewed on their policies, reasons for running for their according role, and what change they would hope to bring about to the university should they be elected. 

When it comes to the role of Education Officer, one that focuses on defending and improving upon the quality of students’ academic experience at Middlesex, if you can imagine it affecting your learning, or taking place in a lecture, then it would falls under the winning candidate’s territory. 

Two of the current candidates for Education Officer who were interviewed are Krish Kirupananthan and Temi Osinubi. Krish is a third-year studying Interior Architecture, while Temi is a second-year studying Computer Science. When asked what motivated them to run this year, this is what they had to say.

“I’m running because I want to make a change, an impact on the university, and help improve the experience of students — especially because I’ve been a student myself, so I know the struggles,” shared Krish, drawing on his own experience at Middlesex.

Temi, in a strikingly similar vein, expanded on those very struggles when sharing his reason for running: “From my background, I’ve noticed a lot of students who don’t get the right resources that they need. I’ve seen a lot of students who’ve struggled with exams due to, for example, dyslexia and I’ve realised there are ways we can improve that.”

As the interviews went on, the topic naturally shifted, in each case, to their policies. What is it they each hope to implement, or even change?

“The first thing is to improve the state of 24/7 study spaces, because, recently, the library reduced their opening hours. The second thing is to bring back SLAs (Student Learning Assistants), and the third thing is to make collaboration between courses more effortless,” said Krish, speaking to a list of recent changes made by the university he hopes to reverse.

“I feel like there’s more the university can do, in terms of exposing students. I believe in some courses they only go to one exhibition, one outreach, one excursion, but I feel like university students require that exposure as much as college and high school students do,” noted Temi, bringing to light how he hopes to focus on academic enrichment through getting students to step outside the comfort zone of the university more often.

To round off the interviews, both candidates were asked to share why they think students should vote for them.

Krish took it back to the basics, emphasising: “The most important thing about university is your education. That’s why I came here and that’s why most people attend university — it’s the best thing I can improve,”

Temi kept it short and simple: “Students need to get their voices across to people who would actually do something — who are able to do something,”

Overall, whether you’re planning to vote for Krish, Temi, or any of the other candidates for Education Officer (comprising of: Abishan Pirasinthan Pirasinthan, Bhuwan Bhadauria, and Nabanita Nath), make sure to get your votes in before the new deadline on 8pm on Wednesday, the 11^th of March.