Owen Marques for President!
Building a better US through; safety, belonging, extracurricular and life skills.
Hi! If you don’t know me already – My name is Owen Marques. I have studied at the University of Derby for 4 years and I have been fortunate enough to represent students at various stages, which has given me various key strengths and has provided me with a deep insight into how both the Union and University work.
· Sports committee member (2 years) · Student Representative (2years) ·
· Student Officer for Human Sciences (1 year) · Vice President Welfare (1 year) ·
As a natural progression of my time here at the Union, I want to be able to continue doing the job I have an ever-growing passion for by representing you as the President of the Union of Students. I know I can confidently guide the Union and University to its greater potential! Understanding the complexities of the University structure and processes has been eye-opening and there is simply so much I want to do for the student community that I would have wanted whilst I was a student – it's something you all deserve!
With the trust you have previously instilled in me I want to reassure you that voting for me will make the difference you want to see… Together we will be #GOwenInTheRightDirection.
#OwenMarquesForPresident #Marcares
Student Safety
Currently, as Vice President Welfare this issue has been growing in concern more and more each day. The massive support of nationwide movements like ‘Girls Night In’ facilitated the space to continue a conversation that should have been going on from the start and most definitely should not die out. Having done so much work with student safety already, I hope to carry this on with a clear and defined direction.
- Crystal clear messaging around student safety and the support that is available by embedding it in the induction weeks for each semester - less of the repeated library information and more current and helpful materials for students!
- Work with Derby City Council to supply safety kits for students and award venues in the night-time economy with a certification of safety standards.
- Active Bystander Training to encourage the perpetual notion that victims are to blame for these encounters - Steering away from this harmful narrative is done by combating it as a community!
Belonging
The sense of belonging is a difficult issue to combat but possible, nonetheless, student life is supposed to harbour the sense of belonging for everyone, but with such a difficult and disconnected period it has been challenging for many students to feel like they belong. All of this builds from the community and what we can utilise to facilitate the vast cultural differences many students bring with them.
- Grow the community with social events being held by students and work with sports and societies to work collaboratively with joint events to support the intersectionality of the community.
- International students - Catered and consistent support for international students to help along their journey into a culture they won’t be familiar with, whilst also adapting to their culture to offer that greater sense of belonging.
Extracurricular and Life Skills
Your time at university is a massive step in personal growth and development, there are a lot of essential life skills support available to students that don’t know and a lot of the extracurricular activities we take on go unrecognised. Learning both the basics and complexities of university life and life, in general, is something that can be more supported.
Micro-credentials are what many universities offer to their students as “short courses” that are taken alongside your degree and are accredited by the university through the UK academic credits – yes this means you can have more credits applied to your overall course, more importantly, you will be recognised for the extracurricular activities by any employer.
- Explore a micro-credential system for the university to give students the room to grow outside of their day-to-day lectures.
- Awareness around the support available for the essential life skills such as bills, taxes, managing income and expenditure etc.
Thank you for taking the time to read through my manifesto, I hope I can count on your vote!
#OwenMarquesForPresident #GOwenInTheRightDirection #Marcares