Of Elections and Allowances and original titles

Over the last few months Felix has broken two stories about Union Club, Society and Project election mismanagement. Most recently we wrote about the rules broken during the elections held by the Chinese Students and Scholars Association which contravened Union election rules, especially when considering the prioritisation of committee votes. One thing that this has shown us is that maybe it’s time to rethink how voting is managed at the Union, if clubs regularly fall foul of the rules. As Stephen suggested, we may even see a widening adoption of the Union’s e-voting by clubs, whether willing or not.

This week we also found out about the government’s plan to “modernise” the Disabled Students Allowances system to reflect the modern age of the internet and developing technologies. It seems, when reading the statement signed by David Willetts MP, that the government intends to shift more responsibility for aiding students with disabilities to higher education institutions as opposed to shouldering it themselves.

While universities should, and do provide assistance and support to students with disabilities, when push comes to shove can we really guarantee that an institution will be able to give as much financial support as the government currently does? Especially considering the intense competition for resources a university experiences, between spending on education, academia, staffing, infrastructure, accommodation and other costs, can we really be sure that every university will be able to support their students equally, whether endowed with a large or small income?

Additionally the government is trying to guide HEIs towards providing more implicit support, i.e. changing the way courses are taught rather than providing direct support to students who need it. But where is their evidence and reasoning for these actions?

Finally, on a cheerier note, we hope everybody had an enjoyable Easter vacation, well as much as it can be with revision, or staying in the research office while the sun is occasionally shining. The Summer term is short but tough, so as patronising as it may sound, do take care not to get to stressed or burned out, the end is in sight (at least if you’re an undergrad). If you have any tips on how to de-stress send us an email and you may end up in print!