Manifesto points
- Standardise dissertation support with a clear timeline, early topic selection, fair supervisor allocation, and consistent deadlines across departments.
- Improve assessment timetabling by involving departments, preventing deadline clashes, and ensuring deadlines are released earlier.
- Strengthen academic representation with better structure, reduced workload, practical training, and greater transparency in key policy decisions.
I’m Aya, a final-year Criminal Justice and Social Policy student, and I’m running to be your next Academic Officer! Throughout my time at university, I’ve been actively involved in student life, from serving on my college committee in first year to representing the School for Business and Society since 2023. Now, I’m eager to use my experience to advocate for students on a larger scale as a Sabbatical Officer.
Creating a Fair and Consistent Dissertation Process
Dissertations are a key part of the university experience, yet the level of support and guidance students receive varies widely across departments. This inconsistency is unfair and must be addressed. I propose:
- Implementing a university-wide dissertation timeline to streamline deadlines and ensure all students, regardless of department, receive equal preparation time.
- Ensuring early topic selection by requiring departments to support students in choosing dissertation topics before the start of their final year. Some departments (e.g., History) already do this, while others leave students with little guidance.
- Fixing supervisor allocation issues by improving the system for matching students with dissertation supervisors. Too often, students are paired with supervisors who lack relevant expertise, affecting the quality of feedback and support.
- Providing clear and timely dissertation deadlines across all departments. Some students are given their deadlines with only a few months’ notice, causing unnecessary stress, especially when summer exam timetables are released just a week later.
Improving Exam Timetabling for Fairer Assessment Periods
Every assessment period, the same complaints arise: deadlines are clustered together, timetables are released too late, and students are forced to self-certify because of poor planning. It is time to fix this. I will:
- Demand transparency and earlier exam timetable releases so students have adequate time to prepare, rather than being left in the dark.
- Push for departments to have a say in the assessment timetable rather than leaving it solely to the central university team. Course leaders should have input to ensure fairness across shared programmes.
- Enforce better communication between departments that share modules to prevent students from facing multiple assessments on the same day. (For example, Sociology tried to prevent deadline clashes, yet Criminology and Law still set conflicting deadlines).
Reviewing and Strengthening the Academic Representation System
The role of academic reps has expanded massively in recent years, whilst this has been beneficial in giving students a greater voice, it has also made the system more confusing and sometimes overwhelming. This needs to change. My plan includes:
- Reviewing the structure of academic representation to ensure consistency across the University and across departments. At present, there are too many different systems in place (student action groups, course and department reps, volunteers, paid reps), making it difficult for students to navigate.
- Addressing the increased workload on academic reps caused by semesterisation, post-COVID learning transitions, department mergers, and assessment changes.
- Providing extensive and useful training for all academic reps, ensuring they are equipped to handle the real challenges they will face. Training must be practical, not just theoretical.
- Strengthening the Academic Leadership Team (ALT) as a space for sharing good practice among department reps. By fostering collaboration, departments can learn from each other’s successes, improving students’ experiences across the board while building a stronger sense of community and belonging.
- Clarifying the role of academic reps so they are not left to manage problems that should be the responsibility of departments and the university.
- Ensuring academic reps are properly consulted on key policy changes, such as the recent update to calculator regulations (which required students to bring their own University-approved calculators to exams—a decision made with little transparency, and which raised serious concerns about fairness and accessibility). This is a clear example of why student representatives must be actively involved in decision-making processes that directly affect their peers.
As a department rep, I’ve seen the issues firsthand. I’m ready to use that experience to make changes and ensure a better experience for all students.
The manifestos appear here exactly as they were submitted to us. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of York Vision.
What would be the theme song for your campaign i.e. Eye of the Tiger?
“Don’t Stop Me Now” – Queen
If your campaign had a mascot, what would it be?
The Bee – it represents hard work, teamwork and determination, just like my approach to improving the student experience.
* Hypothetically * if you could create a new degree at York what would it be and why?
If I could create a new degree at York, it would be a “Youth and Education Leadership” degree. This course would focus on developing leadership skills for youth work and education, with a particular emphasis on non-teaching roles within the education sector. Similar to social work degrees, it would include a heavy emphasis on placements, giving students hands-on experience in real-world settings. The degree would also cover important topics like mental health, inclusivity, and supporting diverse student needs, preparing graduates to positively impact young people’s education and wellbeing.
We gave the candidate a word, and asked them to think of what the question would be:
Answer: Chat GPT
Candidate Question: What AI tool is most commonly used to complete assignments?