In January 2018, when I was 20, I was appointed as the first student board member of the Office for Students.
I held this role for a single year – I applied to be reappointed to the board but was unsuccessful. Alongside this, I was a member of the student panel until January 2020. I have a lot to be thankful for, but I also have a lot to be concerned about.
Recently, members of the OfS student panel, including Martha Longdon, who held the role of student board member after me, gave evidence to the House of Lords Industry and Regulators committee about feeling sidelined as student panellists for OfS. Their evidence chimed with some of my own experience, and I’m drawing on that to offer some ideas about how OfS could act to address its student representation problem.
The advert to join the student panel was posted on Twitter. I put in an application and was interviewed in December 2017. After the interview I got a phone call from a member of staff, saying that I did really well in the panel interview and that they would like to put me forward for the board position. Before I know it I am on the phone to then chair of OfS Michael Barber having a “casual chat” – I had no idea this was actually my interview for the board.
