Education Election Megathread

bazkennedy

Hey guys as some of you may know the position of ULSU Education Officer is up for election on Friday. Here's one candidate (Eammon Gardiner)'s manisto

Who am I? Hi, my name is Eamonn Gardiner. I’ve been a student here in UL for the past 5 years. I’ve spent four years here doing my Undergrad in HPSS and I’m currently studying for my M.A. in History.

What qualifies me for the position of Education Officer?
Experience: I was a HPSS Class Rep for two years and having sat on Class Reps Council I have good knowledge of its inner workings, both its strengths and areas which need to be improved. I have an Undergraduate Degree HPSS and will soon be awarded a MA which means I have experienced all the levels of education in UL including Co-Op and Erasmus.

Availability: If you elect me, I will be available to take up the position of Education Officer immediately; as the student body faces into exam time, there is not a second to be lost. I have NO prior commitments, NO classes to take, NO exams to sit for the current or forthcoming semesters and can dedicate myself fully to working the realistic 60 hours a week to Fight Fees and Fix the Education System in the University of Limerick for students.

My Policies
ITD & Exam Results: The failure of the UL system to handle the IT needs of the full student body at peak times is well documented. Every year without fail students experience massive delays in accessing their results online. The University decided to issue results in this manner; they KNEW that 10,000+ students would be logging on at the same time to access their results. Yet why is there still a problem? Why have no alternatives been tried? I WILL ask the hard questions if I get your vote and I WILL press the powers that be for answers and change.


Co-Op: UL has sold itself as the University that gets people Co-operative Work Experience. Unfortunately the Co-op office is no longer able to place all UL students properly in work experience relevant to their course. If I am elected I will work with the Co-op office and the University with a view to ensuring that all students enjoy a Co-op relevant to their course. Student Teachers & Nurses: If I am elected I will work with the Campaigns and Services Officer to press the Departments of Education and Health for a resolution to the issue of a lack of proper compensation for expenses incurred by Student Teachers and Nurses on Practice.

Class Reps: Council this term has enjoyed a period of good attendance. However not all Classes have been allowed to elect their own representatives yet. As Education Officer, one of my first duties on taking office will be to visit these classes and start the ball rolling on their elections. Class Rep training for the second semester will also take priority and will be tailored to suit the problems encountered by Reps.

ECTS Credits: The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System is the system by which all degrees earned in the European Union are worth the same in the various member states. This system has still not been fully implemented in UL and without it our graduates will not be guaranteed that their hard won degrees will be recognised outside Ireland. I will lobby the University to fully implement this scheme and safeguard our graduates’ futures!

Any questions, just let me know

(posted by barry kennedy, campaign manager for Eamon Gardiner)

bluedolphin

bazkennedy wrote: »

(posted by barry kennedy, campaign manager for Eamon Gardiner)

Has there been an official change of campaign manager lodged with ERB?

kaimera

bluedolphin wrote: »

Has there been an official change of campaign manager lodged with ERB?

Yes .

rmacm

bluedolphin wrote: »

Has there been an official change of campaign manager lodged with ERB?

Who or what is ERB?

kaimera wrote: »

Yes .

Just to contradict you I'll say no

On a vaguely serious note, while Eammons promises/aspirations are indeed admirable I think every Education Officer since I've been in UL has promised something similar. Maybe I'm just cynical but what's new?

Of course it's not really my place to comment given that I'm not in UL anymore nevertheless I spent a good four years there and it's a place that I'd like to see improving and evolving. Best of luck to Eammon and if he manges to makes some changes for the better then kudos to him.

ergonomics

ECTS Credits: The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System is the system by which all degrees earned in the European Union are worth the same in the various member states. This system has still not been fully implemented in UL and without it our graduates will not be guaranteed that their hard won degrees will be recognised outside Ireland. I will lobby the University to fully implement this scheme and safeguard our graduates’ futures!

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought ECTS Credits affected the credits earned on Erasmus, and have no effect whatsoever on the validity of one's final degree.

In the current system a student may find, upon returning from Erasmus, that the credits for the modules they studied are worth more here than in their host University. This means that they will not be able to use all the credits they earned on Erasmus and some of their hard work will go to waste. It can also work the other way in that students will find that the credits they earned abroad are worth less here, leaving them up a certain creek without a paddle.

Regardless of whether ECTS is implemented or not, our degrees will still be fully recognisable abroad. ECTS just wants to make sure that all credits earned on Erasmus will be guaranteed to be equal to the credits the student would have earned in Limerick.

Like I said, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm almost certain that with or without ECTS our hard earned degrees will not be void in other countries, and you may want to be 100% certain yourself if you're including it in your manifesto.

bluedolphin

rmacm wrote: »

Who or what is ERB?

The Electoral & Referenda Board...the official independent body of the SU that convenes before every election to govern its operation and procedures and ensure that all candidates adhere to the constitution etc etc etc

DJCR

ergonomics wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought ECTS Credits affected the credits earned on Erasmus, and have no effect whatsoever on the validity of one's final degree.

In the current system a student may find, upon returning from Erasmus, that the credits for the modules they studied are worth more here than in their host University. This means that they will not be able to use all the credits they earned on Erasmus and some of their hard work will go to waste. It can also work the other way in that students will find that the credits they earned abroad are worth less here, leaving them up a certain creek without a paddle.

Regardless of whether ECTS is implemented or not, our degrees will still be fully recognisable abroad. ECTS just wants to make sure that all credits earned on Erasmus will be guaranteed to be equal to the credits the student would have earned in Limerick.

Like I said, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm almost certain that with or without ECTS our hard earned degrees will not be void in other countries, and you may want to be 100% certain yourself if you're including it in your manifesto.

ECTS credits are not just earned on Erasmus they are earned all the way through college - it's just a standardisation of all EU courses. ie. 30 credits per semester - every subject is divided into denominations of 3, 6 and 9 points depending on work load.

Where ECTS comes in really handy, is like you said, on Erasmus, where by you can slip into another university, do your subjects (adding up to 30) come home and pass the year!

This is where the problem is now - people are doing either too many or too little credits each year .............

Too many = waste of students time (takes away from erasmus experience)
Too little = Student (boned) in a lot of trouble when they get back ie. not enough points fly back with them and they may have to do erasmus again the following year!

Naturally the root problem is that the credits for each subject are recognised differently by each university.

ECTS will clear this problem and make way for a clearer more transparent system!

So what you said is kind of true Ergonomics maybe there is a mix up between ECTS and EQUIS which would give us better standing degrees across Europe!

But as it is our Degrees "fly" very well !!!!!!

Would be nice to get Equis accreditation though - Shame neither of these candiates has brought it up yet!

thattequilagirl

DIARMUID HEALY

EDUCATION OFFICER ‘08

· Fighting fees
· Recognising C & S
· Improving library standards
· Lobbying ITD


Fighting fees:
The Government has hiked the registration fee by 60% in the hope that students will say “at least it’s not fees” and back down. I will ensure that no local politician forgets that reversing this decision is of utmost importance to students.

Clubs and Societies:
I have been involved with a pilot project since last year which has the aim of getting work done by members of C&S reflected in their degrees. I think this is a great idea and will do all I can to move the system forward.

Library:
The standard of books in the library is abysmal, in terms of both quality and quantity. I will try and change this through lobbying the University.

ITD:
Every year ITD crashes leaving thousands of students without critical information for their degrees: this is not good enough so I will try and change it.

Diarmuid… who?

I’m a New Media and English student who has been involved in the Students’ Union in almost every possible capacity; I write for An Focal and I have been involved in loads of societies (dj soc, poker soc, debating union, journo soc…), I took up the position of Welfare Officer last year – more about that later, heck I even worked in the SU shop for a while.

Experience:
During my time as a Sabbatical Officer last year I sat on the SU Exec, Class Reps Council and various other UL Committees. I gained experience in meeting students and dealing with a wide variety of student issues effectively. I coordinated information campaigns on healthy living, accommodation and exam stress.

So why do I deserve your vote?
I am the most experienced candidate for this position. I have shown commitment every step of the way when it comes to his involvement in the SU, and I’ll bring that energy to the job of Education Officer.

panda100

I'm not a student in UL but Im just wondering why the election for Education officer are being held so early in the year?

klong

Education officer resigned a few weeks ago.

panda100

klong wrote: »

Education officer resigned a few weeks ago.

Any reason why?

Just curious to know what the SU are like in general? Do they have much impact on the day to day life of the UL student?

klong

Illness if I remember rightly.

Only having been in UL I couldn't compare the activities of the SU to anywhere else. Class reps council in my experience (last year) was badly attended, people only showed up for the free hoodie (hideous) and the official cert from UL at the end of the year. I don't think the general student body pays the SU that much attention really- the turnout at Sabbatical elections is proof enough of that.

ULPaddy

thattequilagirl wrote: »

Clubs and Societies: I have been involved with a pilot project since last year which has the aim of getting work done by members of C&S reflected in their degrees. I think this is a great idea and will do all I can to move the system forward.

I was led to believe that it applied to all extra-curricular activities. A good few people are involved in various sports and activities that aren't part of the C & S in the ULSU. What about them? Isn't this utterly unfair on those people who have an equally as demanding "spare-time"?

It's been on the agenda for over 3 years, but never has gotten anywhere - What's to say Diarmuid will be able introduce it?

ULPaddy

On the subject of EQUIS or is it ECTS - sure we can go and mix those two up, but it doesn't matter - SEEMINGLY.

No offence to eamonn, BUT it kinda undermines his reliability to be giving advice on educational matters where he can't really tell the difference between degree recognition and credit transfers...

The hustings will hopefully involve very heated exchange, going by the general feeling I've been getting!

thattequilagirl

ULPaddy wrote: »

It's been on the agenda for over 3 years, but never has gotten anywhere - What's to say Diarmuid will be able introduce it?

Apologies, it is for all extra-curricular activities, my mistake.

I'm not actually working for Diarmuid's campaign, but to answer your question, Diarmuid has been involved wit the pilot project that has been going on for over a year now.

He knows all the people involved, and how far along the process is. He'll use this knowledge to push the scheme forward as much as he can; Diarmuid is passionate about this kind of stuff.

ULPaddy

thattequilagirl wrote: »

Apologies, it is for all extra-curricular activities, my mistake.

So that goes for Class-Reps aswell! Who surprisingly get no mention in his manifesto! All that's there is the fact that he was on Council last year (as Welfare Officer that would be expected). A shame his possible future minnions got no mention!

DJCR

ULPaddy wrote: »

thattequilagirl wrote: »

Apologies, it is for all extra-curricular activities, my mistake.

thattequilagirl wrote: »

So that goes for Class-Reps aswell! Who surprisingly get no mention in his manifesto! All that's there is the fact that he was on Council last year (as Welfare Officer that would be expected). A shame his possible future minnions got no mention!

To true, as well as the fact that the faculty Officers get no mention either as they are the ones who are pushing the Extra-Curricular recognition agenda at their relative faculty Boards.

ie. Getting real debate on the issue from lecturers - the people who need to be talked to about it!!

I'd like to know who he's been talking to for over a year because as I recall it was Alan higgins who went through the proposal with me!

ULPaddy

Damn Right! You'd think after being in discussions for more than one year he would have been clear on the fact that it applies to more than just C&S and actually is known as "Uaneen Module" in DCU - a term which Paddy Pratt took on when he first introduced the idea of credits for extra-curricular activities! Diarmuid might want to pay a little better attention in meetings!

Anyone else think the Hustings was a "cur amú ama"?

DJCR

ULPaddy wrote: »

Anyone else think the Hustings was a "cur amú ama"?

I'm gonna go with a complete waste of time - Partly our fault though because no one asked any questions.

I honestly thought it was going to be a conventional debate though - with the right Joe Wallace asking the questions an the candidates giving the answers.......... oh well lessons of a hustings Virgin.

I had loads to get at them at too

---

Suppose we could do a boards hustings if we could get them together online at some stage.

Or even better - get them to do some sort of debate tonight before the elections - ooooo that would be savage!! (if not a little wishful) :cool::rolleyes::cool:

ULPaddy

DJCR wrote: »

Or even better - get them to do some sort of debate tonight before the elections - ooooo that would be savage!! (if not a little wishful) :cool::rolleyes::cool:

If there is a clear outline for what the debate is going to cover, definitely! Putting them up on a stage and saying "Go for it!" isn't gonna get us anywhere! They'll probably say "I've nothing to say to him, vote for me!" and leave it at that!

I suggest that we get a list of important topics and see what they have to say on them - allowing them to criticise the other person (within reason) and question the other person.

Conflict often brings about the best solutions!

If anyone out there is on the campaign team of one or the other candidates, get this up and running!

I suggest the Faculties Officer or Postgrad President (both neutral but informed) as MC for the event!

Anyone ideas on topics?

thattequilagirl

DJCR wrote: »

ULPaddy wrote: »

To true, as well as the fact that the faculty Officers get no mention either as they are the ones who are pushing the Extra-Curricular recognition agenda at their relative faculty Boards.

Hi guys,

Just to let you know Diarmuid had 400 manifestos printed off on Monday at close of nominations which dealt with Class Reps and Diarmuid's plans for decreasing bureaucracy and increasing efficiency.

Unfortunately, the original campaign which had a completely different theme had to be dumped at the last minute due to a technicality; the new manifestos were designed differently and the class reps info got pushed off by accident. Diarmuid has info on his policy class reps on other handouts that he's distributing.

ULPaddy

Why has Class-Reps promotion been spoken about for yonks and still half the student body knows them only as the "guys who get hoodies and organise parties"?

Why has there never been a rewards system set-up for Class Reps to give something back to those who work hard at their role?

If you had to choose one thing to change about the role of the education officer what would it be?

What is ECTS?

What is EQUIS?

How would you go about reducing the bureacracy of the Administration in UL?

TheWaterBaby

Ye gud question.

I think it has a lot of potential.

What do people think class reps role is or what do people see it being and how would that be achieved??

DJCR

ULPaddy wrote: »

Why has there never been a rewards system set-up for Class Reps to give something back to those who work hard at their role?

If you had to choose one thing to change about the role of the education officer what would it be?

What is ECTS?

What is EQUIS?

How would you go about reducing the bureacracy of the Administration in UL?

Do you want actual answers to these questions because if you want I can spend all night typing. However, I think it's a bit of a disgrace that we have two candidates for Education officer out there campaigning and there are people who still don't know the answer to fundamental policies that are Education based!!:eek::eek::eek:

DJCR

thattequilagirl wrote: »

Diarmuid has info on his policy class reps on other handouts that he's distributing.

Great can he put it online for us - I mean it had to be typed in the fist place so a little ctrl-c, ctrl-v can't be too much to ask can it ???

Unfortunately, I wasn't one of the elusive 400 - it would have been nice to see what it said!!:cool:

ULPaddy

DJCR wrote: »

Do you want actual answers to these questions because if you want I can spend all night typing.

If you clearly know so much about this why aren't you running?

Or does this mean you're one of the candidates running for the position? If so you've my vote secured if you're able competently answer the questions!

To be honest I'm confused!

Diarmuid Healy

Hi guys,

Here are my ideas for the Class Reps Council I would implement in office

• Offer incentives for Class Reps who consistently show up and contribute such as drinks vouchers at the Class Reps party for those who turned up to 75%+ meetings or a RAG week event ticket for those with 100% attendance to that point.
• Encourage an increased level of dialogue between Class Reps and their classes so that 'ordinary' students get that Council is there for them, and they may feel more inclined to raise issues through their Reps
• Consult with the Education Working Group and Class Reps to see how we could make Council more accessible and make Reps feel like their work is meaningful
• Some Class Reps serve for four years, others have just started out. I'm going to try and get these Reps to engage with each other to get the best possible combination of experience and initiative at Council

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask

ULPaddy

• Encourage an increased level of dialogue between Class Reps and their classes so that 'ordinary' students get that Council is there for them, and they may feel more inclined to raise issues through their Reps
• Some Class Reps serve for four years, others have just started out. I'm going to try and get these Reps to engage with each other to get the best possible combination of experience and initiative at Council

HOW?

What measures are you gonna put in place to get that dialogue? "Encourage" could amount to saying "Talk to your class!" at CRC.

Which means will you use to get them to engage? A system of mentoring!

Peteee

Can we try to keep all election related posts and stuff in here, front page is getting a bit messy.

Continue on

ULPaddy

Good Idea Petee!!!

Is it not a bit biased though having Diarmuids Campaign merged to general "Education Election Megathread" whilst Eamonns is still seperate?

klong

Diarmuid Healy wrote: »

Hi guys,

Here are my ideas for the Class Reps Council I would implement in office

• Offer incentives for Class Reps who consistently show up and contribute such as drinks vouchers at the Class Reps party for those who turned up to 75%+ meetings or a RAG week event ticket for those with 100% attendance to that point.
• Encourage an increased level of dialogue between Class Reps and their classes so that 'ordinary' students get that Council is there for them, and they may feel more inclined to raise issues through their Reps
• Consult with the Education Working Group and Class Reps to see how we could make Council more accessible and make Reps feel like their work is meaningful
• Some Class Reps serve for four years, others have just started out. I'm going to try and get these Reps to engage with each other to get the best possible combination of experience and initiative at Council

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask

Where will the shiny new books you've promised to get go?

What will you do regarding class reps training?