Every year across the sector in the early bit of spring, thousands of students put their name forward hoping to become the following year’s full time, elected student leaders for their university.
Many only see the litter of leaflets, the lollipops being handed out by candidates in costumes, or the over-zealous estates jobsworth carefully removing posters from prohibited areas in the dead of night. It looks like – and in many ways is – a garish popularity contest.
But most of those standing and even more of those winning have an extraordinary passion for improving the “student experience”. This cracking video from one of the outgoing “sabbs” (from “sabbatical”, although most do it at the end) explains the role – often operating right at the nexus of students’ urgent expectations for change and the sector’s often snail pace at delivering it.
As well as writing blogs about HE policy and popping up to talk about cost of living or belonging at sector events, we both spend a good chunk of our week supporting those student leaders to be more impactful, influential and powerful when they’re talking to students.
