SU21 - Our Questions to Postgraduate Candidates

Questions to Elena Byrne, Megan Stith, Courtney Girvin and Tasha Montgomery from The Scoop.

Elena

Megan

Courtney

Tasha

What’s your number one priority?

Elena: Honestly, accessible postgraduate funding for the benefit of all postgraduate students. I view it as a very possible future achievement given the success that the student voice had this year, especially if continued effort is the driving force behind sustaining the campaign and students are at the heart of the movement.

Megan: Postgrads suffer from a lack of financial support, which is why I want to prioritise expanding scholarships opportunities and introducing PhD loans. I want to fight rising tuition fees and to lobby the Executive to extend COVID payments to international and part-time students. Finances shouldn’t be a barrier to education.

Courtney: My number one priority is accessible education for all. This includes securing more funding for vulnerable students, increased information in relation to postgraduate and undergraduate transitions to higher education. I will also modernise the campus to ensure it is fit for purpose and reflects the diverse needs of postgraduate students.

Tasha: COVID-19 response because even when we’re back on campus and “normality” has returned, COVID-19 has ultimately changed our community’s needs. Hence, I’m prioritising exceptional circumstances, funding and educational experience of PGTs, extensions for PGRs and effectively developing resources that tackle the wider student mental health crisis at an institutional level.

What active steps will you take to change Postgraduate funding?

Elena: Based on my answer above, I intend to continue the fantastic Fund our Postgrads campaign such as gathering testimonials and personal experiences from students to raise awareness of its importance. We have seen the power of this recently and I believe that it is time to encourage Queen’s further to support this campaign, as well as involving as many politicians as possible. At the end of the day, the university will also benefit from an increased uptake of students who can finally afford to undertake a postgraduate degree whilst, most importantly, also ensuring that students are not financially disadvantaged.

Megan: Firstly, I will continue to support and platform the Students Deserve Better Campaign, which is fighting for financial support for all students. I will also set up meetings with the International Office and the Finance Office to make clear realities faced by many postgraduate students. I plan to meet with all the faculties and schools to discuss expanding studentship and scholarship opportunities in order to fund more postgrad research positions. I think it would also be worthwhile to reach out to the QUB Alumni Network to create small scholarships for students who are following in their footsteps.

Courtney: I want to revitalise the Fund Our Postgrad campaign so that it is a grassroots student-led movement encompassing students from all walks of life and across the political spectrum, working with Ulster University to achieve a common good for the entire student body. My first step would be to ensure that Fund Our Postgrads is a key QUBSU campaign, linking it with the Students Deserve Better campaign and working in conjunction with other officers. My first tangible step will be to internally lobby QUB to ensure they can not charge more in tuition fees than the maximum student loan.

Tasha: Firstly, I actively prevented fees raising significantly for 21/22 but couldn’t prevent standard inflation increases. The central problem is essentially that the loan is fixed and has never increased with inflation. To actually ensure no barriers to education, the national FundOurPostgrads campaign plans to share student experiences and set-up a phone-bank event to directly pressure politicians to listen and act. My end goal is to feed into DfE discussions, demanding two key actions: 1) Implementing a maintenance loan for ALL postgraduates 2) Increasing the loan to fully cover the cost of courses; ensuring it increases with inflation, like at undergraduate.

Postgraduate experiences are extremely diverse. How can you represent all of them at the same time?

Elena: The best way to represent as many students as possible is to give students the platform to share their voice, for example, by continuing resources such as general postgraduate forums and drop-ins. I would intend to also create specific forums (such as disabilities, part-time, carers, intl. etc.) to ensure specific points of contact for as many types of students as possible. Creating open, honest and accommodating environments for student is of paramount importance in encouraging students to speak out and to support them. Working with students for students is how to shape the student experience for the better.

Megan: Being representative is all about constantly engaging with your cohort and providing a dedicated channel that is responsive and active. There are numerous societies, group chats, and forums for the different demographics of postgrads, and I would expand that further through the use of Teams, Canvas, and the Graduate School. I want to set up an exclusive Postgrad Officer channel that would contain all of the important information, contacts, and events for postgrads, as well as link up with the fantastic Part Time Officers to collaborate on specific issues facing Postgraduate students.

Courtney: For me strength comes from collaboratively working with other student officers, relevant Part-time officers, and the course representative system. As a white working-class woman I cannot be representative of the entire student body of postgraduates, nor would I try to be. Therefore, for me it is about listening to postgraduate students and acting as a mechanism to lobby and make the changes they want and deserve. I will increase a visible presence on campus when it is safe to do so by hosting drop-in sessions and finding a viable online alternative as long as COVID-19 remains an issue.

Tasha: Honestly, you can’t represent everyone at once, but a big part of the role is to listen and champion all voices of the postgraduate community to ensure they are fairly treated and supported. I’ll ensure our community continues to be inclusive and welcoming by developing new ways of engaging students from all backgrounds, including working with clubs and societies to encourage more incentivised postgraduate engagement and setting up an official Postgraduate Discord for further community building in the online space. I also hope to get multilingual signage throughout the Graduate School to help welcome and assist our diverse international students.

6 months after starting in this role, what real differences will Postgraduate students see in their university experience?

Elena: I would hope that there will be further clarification and clear progress in relation to the increase in tuition fees from where we are today, with more decisive communication and action from the executive. An established support system for students who are affiliated with certain groups or have specific needs, one where they feel that they are well-connected and supported and can raise any issues that they need to. The security of a well-established support system would hopefully also contribute to an increase in positive mental health around academic/personal issues that students may face

Megan: 6 months from now, I will aim to have built a connected and accessible postgraduate community. Postgrads will find a dedicated environment for careers advice, research opportunities, finance and wellbeing, as well as a social space to just meet up and chat. Academically, I want to ensure that every student has access to recorded lectures and a compassionate, student-friendly exceptional circumstances procedure. I will also push against deadline bunching to alleviate a major source of student stress- especially during a pandemic. Postgraduate students have been left behind, and I want to change that as soon as possible.

Courtney: In six months’ time, I hope to have implemented some of my policies particularly in relation to fostering postgraduate community and administrative issues. For community, this would be increasing group meet ups and social spaces to tackle isolation and loneliness among postgraduate and liberation-group students. In a voluntary role as the co-founder of the Belfast Girl Gang I have successfully delivered this for 500+ members during the pandemic. For administrative issues I will ensure the library and graduate school have longer hours to accommodate the diversity of postgrad schedules and ensure online lecture recording remains a vital tool for student learning.

Tasha: Firstly, the Graduate School will have finally agreed to the need for the inclusivity changes spelled out in my manifesto. Postgraduates will finally have access to a dedicated quiet room, improved loop system and other key changes. There’ll also be a comprehensive events calendar to improve engagement across Schools. Secondly, I’ll have ensured the Postgraduate Reps include course reps and research cluster reps and they’re all given mental health training. Finally, there will be an embedded mental health framework for supporting students at critical times such as APR and PGTs will have specific guidance in the Supervisory Toolkit for dissertations.

How have your personal experiences shaped your manifesto?

Elena: As a master’s student availing of the tuition fee loan, I am too familiar with needing to find a way of funding the extra fees that were not covered by the loan. This put a huge pressure on me before I even started my degree. Coupled with no maintenance loan, like most postgrads, I also struggle to balance my master’s alongside a part-time job to be able to provide a sufficient income, as well as my part-time role in the union. As a postgrad student with a disability, I am aware, at least from my own experiences, of the extra pressure that this puts on completing a postgraduate degree and so I am extremely keen on reviewing and (where necessary) reforming the experience for students with disabilities and other pressures (such as caring/parenting responsibilities etc.) And, after this year, I know too well that the postgraduate sense of community needs to be continually fostered.

Megan: I was an international student when I first came to Queens. I was alone, nervous, and having to find my way around a new school and a new country without much support from the university, all the while paying ever-increasing fees. Four years later, when I was set to start a PhD, I had to drop out because there was no funding for me- not enough scholarships and no government funding. And the whole time I was suffering with an anxiety disorder that caused me to defer my studies, to push for help from the university and having to make my case to lecturers every semester for extra help. Throughout all of this, I was frustrated by the Students Unions delay in putting forward a radical case for student rights, and while Students Deserve Better is a good first step, I feel like I can help to push this further.

Courtney: My experience as a working-class postgraduate student is felt throughout my manifesto. With no maintenance loan and £640 additional in fees, after paying my first instalment I was left with £4-8 to last me a month in my bank account. This creates needless structural barriers to those students from low-income backgrounds, and those with less disposable income. As an intersectional feminist I have tried to ensure my manifesto is inclusive of liberation groups and deals with gender specific issues. This includes my desire to ensure when reforming supervisor supervision for all education levels, that there is clear supporting and reporting mechanisms established for those engaging in misconduct, sexual harassment, and predatory language.

Tasha: I’ve 8 years of experience at QUB. I’ve been involved in many clubs and societies, as such I understand how valuable, rewarding and beneficial having postgraduate voices are in those spaces. As a working-class PhD student I’ve experienced burnout, financial difficulties, mental health problems and then like many others I faced the difficulties of trying to work on my thesis during COVID-19. I know PGRs and PGTs face challenges distinctive from other degrees, and we’ve institutional problems I’m actively tackling including the academic year structure, research culture and TA support. We’re in a mental health crisis, burnout and drop-out rates are still prevalent, despite the good work done this year to ensure wellbeing services are supportive and understanding of postgraduate issues. More can be done to ensure all postgraduates have relevant experienced wellbeing support and that your reps receive mental health training, as I found it so valuable this year.

And finally… What is your most embarrassing experience?

Elena: To be honest I have many, they’re a good laugh. If I had to choose, it would be in Portugal when I very confidently went to get a menu, was having a look and sat down again at the next table over, completely oblivious and admiring the choices, much to the…surprise…of those at the table.

Megan: One time, I started a new class with blonde hair, then the next week I dyed it brunette. The lecturer didn’t recognise me and thought I had just transferred in. I was too embarrassed to say that it was still me, so I pretended that I was a new student.

Courtney: I once ran through a field of wheat, joke I’m not Theresa May. My actual embarrassing experience which is no way displays leadership qualities is that I was locked in an airport bathroom while my flight was called and a queue of people waiting to get in.

Tasha: My most embarrassing experience happened during an introductory meeting with the Dean of the Graduate School, quite early into starting as Postgraduate Officer. Mid-way through my meeting I heard the neighbours going at it, extremely noisily. I went scarlet, praying no-one could hear it. I was mortified for weeks afterwards.

To see all the candidates running for this position, visit the QUB SU Website.