Lingxin Kong

As a candidate for the VP activities role, I would like to make the societies system easier to access and more transparent to all students. As a business student, I have taken on a role with moderate student engagement involved and have been recommended as a student ambassador in my final year. I wish to take this opportunity to make societies the best networking experience for all students. The society activities will be improved from  the following five key aspects:

Making more spaces available for society activities:

As a student who is eager to make the most out of the one academic year, I have found that information on activities is not always easy to find. Often times, activities are fully booked before students have a chance to look at the events. This could lead to many students who are interested in events missing out. Therefore, I believe that free events should be booking free. Meanwhile, societies should look to expand the availability of ticketed events to accommodate for the large campus body.

Increased society presence through increased visibility and cross-university collaboration:

While society fairs offer general information about societies, there lacks one place for all activities. Information on events is delivered by different channels like Facebook, Instagram, and email, making it hard for students to relocate information should they go back and revisit it. Further, students like to feel rewarded out of any society experience. Cross-university activities could make going to societies more interesting especially for students who feel that adding the society experience could be beneficial to their employability.

Making bookings easier to find:

When a ticket is booked in advance through the SUSU website or other websites, it can be lost later among the cluttered inbox items that students receive. As a result, students who have booked for an event may not attend because of the 'missing' information. I recognize the issue and as VP activities will try to minimize inconveniences like this.

Increased funding and opportunities for societies:

Ample funding is the basis of making more activities available to more students. As the VP activities, I need to reassure students that their contribution to the societies goes a long way in giving coordinators more to work with to bring the best experience they can. In this difficult time, to ensure that students walk out of the best university experience, I will lobby against the university and the student union to offer societies increased funding to support their events and help them organize large-scaled events.

Fostering a culture of volunteering by providing more opportunities:

There is a lack of emphasis on volunteering in general with the student union. Societies may use the increased funding for making regular donations or creating charity events. As VP activities, after careful budget allocation for society activities, I will coordinate with society committee to make more volunteering activities available.