Hey there, I'm Ben Marler, and I am running for Vice President of Education.
I'm currently a Politics and International Relations student going on to do my Masters in National Security, Intelligence and Disaster Management.
I have a long service in student advocacy and representation, having already dedicated five years to bringing change and voicing opinions. In recent years, I have founded the University's Debate Society, put forward the Student Research Bank* idea and even given evidence in Parliament on a law that will impact students and their unions. By becoming the VP (Education), I can use these skills and equip them to bring about long-term changes that will improve standards for current students.
Click here to find our social media accounts & my exact plan to back up my manifesto points to show you that I am putting substance above image.
Let's make teaching at university more accessible to everyone for issues that students face every day, whether you have neurodivergent conditions, mental health or physical disabilities. I want to move the university away from looking down on students who miss lectures for reasons related to their conditions. Instead, I want to move to a system where students can freely access their education without risking their grades and outcomes.
Universities are a vault of a vast wealth of knowledge, allowing us all to learn about the world we live in. Yet it is essential that what we learn is honest and critical, whether decolonising what we are taught or ensuring that teaching isn't prejudiced.
Our university is one to be proud of, but one that has dropped on league tables since 2019 with a slight recovery since. Plus, university elitism is still a prominent issue in the UK, leading to fewer and more challenging career opportunities for those of us who graduate. Let us tackle this by adopting a three-pronged approach. The first is investing and improving the careers team to provide students with tailored advice. Second, we need to look at the three main league tables and the scores from those, to find what areas we are lagging on and create an improvement plan. Finally, exploring different relationships with other universities and organisations to boost our image increase our services.
Whilst work has been done to improve the university's environmental impact; there is still a lot to work on. We need to focus our efforts on stepping up and diversifying our approach to sustainability, not just the "hot topics" but all environmental issues. We should also look to the People and Planet report to help us reach this goal.
This manifesto is your manifesto; if you have issues that you want to be addressed, then let your voice be heard! Contact me, and we can meet up. Let's discuss how we can bring those issues forward. Voting for me won't just be putting me into the Union; it will be an opportunity to put your needs and future on the table.
*The Student Research Bank is a Work In Progress project proposed by myself and was worked on by a cross-expertise team of staff from the Union of Students and the University of Derby. For more information, please click here