Pascal Loose, Deputy President (Education) is here to give students the satisfaction they deserve

Bernadett: Where are you from?

Pascal: I’m from Belgium, born in Brussells but my family is German.

B: Do you think that the Sabb team can accurately represent the international student population of Imperial?

P: The Sabb team is not as diverse as we hoped it to be, or as we could be, but in the end it’s down to who runs and who gets elected.

B: Do you think that international students want different things from their education, because they're paying more etc?

P: On the whole, there is a higher turnout of non-international students for sports and arts societies. But the international societies are popular with international students. And the main difference seems to be between level of commitment students want to offer a society; ie: to just be members of a society rather than committee members who are involved with running the clubs.

B: So do you think to justify the amount of money some of the students are paying for their education, education at Imperial should be improved? For example, NSS (National Student Survey) result (2014) for "assessment and feedback" was 124th in the HE sector.

P: That was one of my manifesto points. However, with improving feedback, you can’t definitively pinpoint when feedback improves, the outcome may only be seen in a few years’ time, when student satisfaction results improve.

B: I've heard that different academic departments at Imperial make different kinds of mistakes every year. But the mistakes seem to be consistent for each department.

Would it not be better to integrate the faculties so that all the problems are solved?

P: We can’t do that because every department is autonomous. It has benefits, because every department generally finds what works best for itself. One of the issues of integrating all faculties would be to do with standardising.

B: What other manifesto points did you have?

P: One was to improve e-learning, to provide lecture recordings (the completion of this aim is more tangible) and maybe extend it to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The other manifesto point was to integrate with the postgrad population of Imperial, because of Imperial’s large postgrad population (55% undergrads, 45% postgrads).

B: Why do you not think the postgrads are as engaged?

P: Extracurricular activities are less important for postgrads, their main priority is their research. They tend to view being involved in the student Union as extra-workload and tend to see their CV benefits less.

B: But are they not concerned about the standard of education they are getting? Is the standard of postgrad teaching better than for undergrads?

P: I’m not in a position to say yet, I’ve only had this job a month and a half. There are concerns, involving league tables, just like with undergrad league tables, so there is an interest in wanting to get postgrad students to be involved with feedback on education.

B: How do you think Nat did last year?

P: I think she did a great job. I wasn’t as heavily involved in the Union before I got the role, as Nat was, so I can only really judge now how she did. Her involvement with the year and dep reps was outstanding.

B: It has been suggested that the students who complete the NSS perhaps give an unrepresentative view because of the amount of surveys students get sent to complete.

P: Yeah, the Union recognises that students may be getting over-surveyed.

B: But is there a better way than conducting surveys to find out the student opinion?

P: Maybe better use of year reps? Regular student engagement is useful.

B: Why did you run for a sabbatical position?

P: A friend of mine recommended to Nat that I should run for the DPE position. I gave it some thought.

B: Why did your friend recommend to Nat that she talk to you?

P: I was a year rep before, and I was a treasurer for another society before with my friend, so I guess he thought I did a good job!

B: What are you doing after this year?

P: I have just finished my 3rd year of EEE, so I’m going back to complete my degree. It’s going to be interesting changing back going from a working environment back to student life.

B: Why did you run for a sabb position now rather than later on in your degree?

P: The chances of winning were good!

B: What do you think about Chris saying that the DPE and DPW should be combined? Or do you think you two are doing two separate jobs, the roles worthy of two full-time employees?

P: Yeah, I think there should be two separate roles.

B: What do you think about him donating a third of his salary?

P: I think it’s very admirable.

B: Is there anything you like or dislike about the Union from a student perspective?

P: Good question, when I was a student, I never really knew what the Union was or what the Union provides. But now I realise that the Union has some great schemes running the representation network and also having all the clubs and societies. I think some students take the Union for granted, and I think that the Union should maybe address this, by better communication.

B: What do you think about having hot desk sessions?

P: No. I don’t think it’s very approachable. Open office policy is better; it’s more private and would be more successful.

B: What manifesto points did you have for this year?

P: Feedback, E-Learning, Postgrad involvement.

B: Why is it primarily welfare?

P: Because it was Chris’ manifesto point! It’s his project, but we’re all behind it. It brings back the issue of DPE and DPW. The line is blurred between them, because Imperial is an educational institution, but student welfare is obviously an issue.

B: Did you go out a lot in your Freshers week? Can you recommend any places or any places to avoid?

P: I didn’t go out a lot. East London’s quite exciting! I used to live in East London, so just go out in the area and see what’s there.

B: If you were trapped on a desert island with the other Sabbs, who do you think you would collectively decide to eat first?

P: Whoever one would provide the most nutrition. Don’t know who that is!

B: Who do you think would be the last person to survive?

P: Probably Tom, he can climb over rocks and everything!

B: If you had to have tinder, what bio would you have?

P: Normally, I would leave those profiles blank. With regards to online dating, I think it’s interesting to provide as little information as possible, so then when you get chatting, you have things to talk about, like ‘What do you do?’ and ‘Where are you from?’.

B: So it's primarily based on what you look like?

P: Basically yeah!

B: Okay, say your tinder profile earns you a date but because you are so busy with all your sabb duties, you don't have time to leave campus, and have to have your first date at an Imperial establishment. Where do you go?

P: Either the Union bar or Eastside. Depends which one’s quieter.

B: If you had to eat one meal from 568 for the rest of your life, what would it be?

P: Chicken burger with cheese and bacon with curly fries!

B: Didn't even have to think about that one!

P: It’s quite good!