The Votes have been Counted and the Results are in! 

The students of Bournemouth University have spoken and your 2021/2022 Full-Time Officers have been elected! 

In spring each year, Students’ Unions around the country run elections across-campus for current students to run for and elect their full-time representatives for the next academic year. These representatives are called Full-Time Union Officers (sometimes referred to as Sabbaticals) and they lead the direction of the Students’ Union, representing and championing the collective student voice. Requirements for electing Full-Time Union Officers are set out in the?Education Act 1994?as well as the Union?Articles and Bye-laws and are usually carried out using an online voting system. The Full-Time Officers work closely with fellow students, the Union and University staff to deliver projects, campaigns and create or enact policies to improve the student experience at BU and nationally across the Higher Education sector. 

Over the past two years the Full-Time Officers lobbying has resulted in students getting rent rebates,?and student first?no-detriment?and protecting student?outcomes?policies and as well as delivering a range?of key events and campaigns.? 

This work never ends and that is why the Full-Time Officers are so important.? 

This year has been so incredibly tough for everyone and campaigning for this year’s candidates had to take place strictly online due to COVID-19 restrictions. We had 27 candidates running in the Full-Time Officer elections, 5 for President, 5 for Education, 7 for Student Opportunities and 10 for Welfare and Community. This year saw 1207 students vote in the elections.? 

2020’s Results Night was very different from previous year’s but with all the candidates on zoom, wearing their participation sashes, the elections excitement very much remained. 

The results began with the NUS Delegates positions. SUBU is a member of the National Union of Students, or NUS, this means that we are able to send a certain number of Delegates to the National Conference. This is where NUS set their policy and campaigning objectives for the year, so it’s a fantastic opportunity for Bournemouth University students to have their voice heard on a national scale. This year we have 6 Delegate space, one of which is automatically filled by the Union President, the remaining 5 spaces will be filled in this election.?? 

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NUS Conference requires a 50% of the delegates to define as a woman and as such, we will return at least 2 female delegates.? 

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This year we had 16 NUS Delegate Candidates.? 

This year’s NUS Delegates are:?Chiko?Bwalya, Elliot Cooper, Luci?Phalp, Sonia Sharma and?Toluwa?Atilade,?? 

Next up, VP Education. A role that is responsible for?representing the student body in their academic needs and progression, supporting student representative’s academic needs and acting for improvement in learning and teaching. 

The candidates for VP Education were Timothy Jaya, Ndidi Okitikpi, Lauren Francis, Chiko Bwalya and Durga Prasad. 

Your Vice-President?Education for 21/22 is announced as?Chiko Bwalya - Congratulations! 

Next up is VP Student Opportunities . This VP will be overlooking all of the extra-curricular activities and volunteering opportunities that students can get involved with. 

Your candidates for Vice-President Student Opportunities were Balaji Gundalaplalli, Jaykumar Prakash, Harsh Bhardwaj, Hemant Sain, Krishna Gadhe, Ugo Andy-Eke and Omuwa Ayomoto. 

Your Vice-President Student Opportunities for 21/22 is announced as?Omuwa Ayomoto - Congratualtions!

Next up is VP Welfare and Community. They will be responsible for ensuring that each and every student has adequate support for any issues that they might encounter as a student at BU and proactively represent students' rights on and off of campus. They will also strive for a more sustainable SU. 

Your candidates for Vice-President Welfare and Community were Sonia Sharma, Sumanth Moparthi, Toluwa Atilade, Christohper Uzochukwu Ikejiofor, Dee Walsh, Douglas Eli, Jake Hill, Simeon Oluyemi, Luci Phalp and Emily Tegg. 

Your Vice-President Welfare and Community for 21/22 is announced as?Toluwa Atilade?- Congratulations! 

Finally, it’s time to announce the newly elected Union President. The SU President?makes strategic and executive decisions, leads the sabbatical team and advocates on the behalf of all BU students to the University, locally and nationally. 

Your candidates for SUBU President were: Ochuwa Ayomoto, Barinua Kpowugah, Naomie Lebe, Alexandra Cazacu and Ahmad Milhem. 

Your SU President for 20/21 is announced as Naomie Lebe - Congratulations! 

All candidates should be so proud of themselves for having the intention to improve the lives of BU students and take the time to campaign alongside their studies.? 

A huge well done to everyone involved and thank you to those students that took the time to vote. After such a challenging year for students, SUBU want to make sure we continue to represent and fight for you as best we can, so thank you. 

You'll be hearing from your newly elected Officers from July 2021 but for now be sure to keep up to date with our social media and sign up for our Student Weekly email to stay up to date with your current FTOs and all things SUBU!