Nigerian students elected onto Students' Union Council

Chinonso Ezeanyika has become the first Nigerian student to be elected onto the Students' Union Council as Representative Councillor for Taught Postgraduates.

Chinonso, who is currently studying for a Masters in Public Health, fought off competition from 6 other contenders to win the election, held on 22nd October 2009.

He said, "As the Postgraduate Taught Union Councillor, I basically serve to represent those postgraduate preferences, unique predilections, values, and a variety of inclinations which are really quite dissimilar from their undergraduate counterparts, for all full-time and part-time Masters´ students.

In recent council and committee meetings, I have suggested various models to address postgraduate passivity, unresponsiveness, and disinterest which has been a very difficult challenge faced by the Students' Union.

My target this year as councillor is to develop a blue-print to tackle postgraduate apathy. This is something which has long been sought after by the Union and is something which I hope to be able to pass on to my successors. Fundamentally, my overall goal is to humbly represent the needs and concerns of all postgraduate taught students."

Fellow student Chinedu Onyeonagu, studying MSc Environmental and Energy Engineering, was also elected Departmental Councillor for the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering.

He said, "Being a Student Councillor is a BIG decision I have made, because it demands my time and effort to fully represent my department at the Students' Union Council.

My overriding objective is to give my department a good representation, by raising and relating issues my department feel should be raised. I have on several occasions visited various classes in my department, to seek their opinions and to find out whether there are any issues arising.

Dedicating myself to represent my department is a call for service, because I know that 'whenever a man wakes up to fulfil the need of his environment, he must not forget the fact that the measure of his service is dependent on his role towards sustaining and responding to the needs and welfare of his environment'. Bearing this in mind I put in my best effort to serve my department despite all outstanding academic pressure."

Congratulations to both Chinonso and Chinedu on their new roles!

What is the Students' Union Council?

The Students' Union Council is a group of elected students who help to make important decisions for all members of the students union. They meet fortnightly during term-time to represent the views and interests of the students in the group they represent.

The Students' Union Council consists of 56 members:

• 8 Student Officers: These are the full-time Students' Union Officers (Union President, Finance Officer, Welfare Officer, Education Officer, Women’s Officer, International Students’ Officer, Sports Officer, Activities Officer)
• 8 Student Group Representatives: There is one representative for each of the key student groups (Black Students, International Students, LGBT Students (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Students), Mature Students, Postgraduate Taught, Postgraduate Research Students, Students with Disabilities and Women Students)
• 40 Departmental representatives (one from each Department across the University)

The role of the Students' Union Council is to:

• Represent the views of students from their department or group
  
• Make decisions on behalf of all students
• Establish or renew Students' Union policy
• Oversee the work of the Student Officers