Nominations open on the 11th March as Arden University begins the election process for its next Student President of the Arden Students' Association.
Serving as the representational leader of the Students’ Association, the Student President plays a fundamental role in advocating for the needs of students, championing key challenges and providing a student-focused voice in various committees and with senior colleagues.
More than just a ceremonial title, Arden’s Students' Association’s President is a full-time salaried job with the university. The role is an opportunity to share experiences from yours’ and others’ time at Arden, to provide and promote new ideas, and represent the student voice to better the student experience.
The successful candidate will also play a substantial role as the Students’ Association continues to develop their operations and services designed to meet the needs of current and future students, no matter where or how they study.
'The Student President role is a once in a lifetime role, with no day the same,' said Sophie Harrison, Students’ Association Managing Director.
'You could be a voice for all students and champion key issues that all our Arden students face, whether that’s academically or about your wider experience. Not only will you have the experience to make positive change for others, but you will have the opportunity to develop your professional skills, to help you in your future career.'
Nominations go live from the 11th March and will be open until midnight on the 1st April. Anyone looking to put themselves forward for the role must have full student status (further info on eligibility is in the rules below). Voting will begin on the 15th April.
Nominating and voting for the Student President will take place on Unitu. All students would have received information when they enrolled, asking them to login and create an account. If you haven’t signed up yet, or you can’t find the information, email studentvoice@arden.ac.uk with your student details for us to help.
Anyone nominating will have the opportunity to get involved in a number of opportunities to help them through the experience.
FAQs
Elections are a process where students put themselves forward for a certain role and try to persuade other students to choose them as the best person for the role, through voting for them. This means students can choose who leads their Students’ Association. It’s important for our work to be led by students themselves so that we can be sure we’re truly working in your interests. To this end, students can choose who leads the SU, and help set the direction and priorities of the Students’ Association for the upcoming academic year.
Applications for Student President are open from 11th March to 1st April. To apply for the position, you will need to complete an online form via Unitu. The form includes outlining your ideas for what you’d like to achieve & why students should vote for you. When applications open, follow these simple steps to apply: Head to https://arden.unitu.co.uk/
- Click on Student President Election at the bottom of the screen
- Select Nominate and open the form
- Fill out the form
- Submit it before the deadline, and you’ll receive a confirmation that it’s gone through!
Accessibility needs shouldn’t be a barrier to applying for the Student President role and there is no requirement to disclose any needs before a candidate has successfully won the election. If you have any access needs or need assistance with your application, please email studentvoice@arden.ac.uk. If you are successful in the election, you will be an employee of Arden University, and we are dedicated to ensuring everyone is able to perform their role to the best of their ability. We’re able to make reasonable adjustments to support you in role, whether changing how things are done, physical features of the work environment or providing extra aids.
Voting takes place online through Unitu on 15th April to 18th April. Students just need to log in to the website, in order to vote. Each student gets one vote, and all voting is confidential.
We use a system called ‘First Past The Post’ on Unitu, which means the candidate with the most votes outright, wins the election. When voting closes, we count the results of the election, and then will communicate the winner via Arden University & Students’ Association channels including email. This will also be published on Unitu shortly after announced, with a voting breakdown.
The Election rules are there to ensure the election is free, fun and fair. These provide a clear set of guidelines for all candidates involved and for all students at Arden University, to ensure the process is transparent and clearly managed. You can find out more about the rules here, and they set out everything from who can nominate themselves to be Student President to what things you can/can’t do during the Election.
Get involved in one of our ‘Thinking of Running’ chats, which are informal sessions designed to go through what the role is, how does it work and talk an overview of what the Election is. These are hosted by Students’ Association staff and are online, just email studentvoice@arden.ac.uk to request a timeslot.
100% - we offer several opportunities to chat you through how things work, ideas to help you promote yourself and share your ideas, as well as a mandatory session on the rules which all candidates must attend. This ensures we can help you think about the opportunity in lots of ways and ensure everyone understands the rules of the process. The information for these will be posted here.
Recommend your friend and we will reach out to them so they can find out more.
The Student President is the elected leader of Arden University Students’ Association. They represent all students at Arden and influence your experience throughout the University.
As Student President you could:
- Meet with senior University leaders and academics across programmes to represent students and improve their student experience
- Work with students to campaign on issues that matter to them
- Network with other SUs across the country to learn from them and improve the student experience nationally
- Lead major campaigns to make the student experience better
The possibilities are endless.
The Student President role is full-time, salaried position – just like any job – and you can apply at whatever stage you’re at in your studies. Keep reading to find out how it works and check out the role description!
