1. Who are you
I’m Mark, the incumbent Colchester Union Chair, a 3rd year Politics Student and I’m running for VP Education. I’ve been involved in the Students’ Union since my first year and I'm passionate about getting you the best education you can.
2. What inspired you to run for this position?
Education is the most important part of coming to University. It’s what we’re paying for and everyone should be getting value for that money and get the best education we can. Personally, I've not always felt that I'm getting that value – and I know many of you feel the same; whether it be that you can’t find study space or Eduroam fails to connect again – this is unacceptable. I want to improve our education and I believe I am the person to do it.
3. Why should our students vote for you?
Students should vote for me for 3 key reasons:
Experienced:
I'm the most experienced candidate. Experience is vital for this role as it requires knowledge of both the SU and the University. I'm the current Colchester Union Chair and this gives me insight into how the SU works. I've worked with and for the University and I know how the University operates. I'm a third year student; I've experienced 3 years of teaching and studying here at Essex. All of this experience, and more, puts me in the best position to hit the ground running and start working to fix the problems that students are facing from day one.
Hard working:
The VP Education needs to be someone who works incredibly hard as they sit on around 20 committees and groups and have to read hundreds of pages of papers for many of these committees. You need someone who can read and scrutinise detailed and complex papers every week - this requires a work ethic. As Union Chair I have worked across the University and SU to give every student a voice and scrutinise key documents such as Articles of Governance, Bylaws, Policies and more. I would use this hard working attitude to work for you to give you the best education that you deserve.
Team player:
The successful candidate should be someone who can work with lots of different types of people and has experience working as a team player. I've worked with groups and people from across the University; from the Trustee Board, to the University Events and Stakeholder team, to the Department of Government and more. The VP Education is charged with ensuring that students are represented and has to work with other Sabbatical officers to ensure this. Being a team player means that I can work effectively with other stakeholders, like the Education Team and the University to ensure that you get the best education you can.
Students deserve someone who is experienced, hard working, and a team player as their next VP Education. If you believe that too, vote Mark Kiley #1 for VP Education.
4. How do you plan to represent our students?
The VP Education sits on 6 full committees and 11 University groups and at every one of them I will represent the views of students. I will push the University to address problems that have been brought to the attention of the SU by students, both during Decision Term and outside of it. I will follow up on issues that students are experiencing and ensure that students are getting quick and meaningful fixes to the problems they face. Representing student interests to the University is vital to the role and will be the cornerstone of what I will do if you elect me as your next VP Education.
5. What skills do you have that will help ensure the success of the big plan next year?
The Big Plan sets out the SU's main priorities over the coming academic year. It relies on a team effort and without it, the Big Plan would fail. I'm a team player as well as a hard worker and these are vital skills to ensure the Big Plan succeeds. I've been a part of the Big Plan for the last year and have been responsible for keeping our officers accountable for their work on the Big Plan - this knowledge of what the Big Plan entails is a great asset that will help me to ensure the success of the Big Plan. I'm tenacious; if a part of the Big Plan hits a brick wall, I can bounce back and press on with a new approach to the problem.
You need a VP Education who knows what they're doing, works hard, and is a team player. I'm all these things. You get marked by our University so often; it's time to Mark your Education. So give me your first preference - Vote Mark Kiley for VP Education #1
Be Smiley Vote Kiley