Client consultancy project: Leeds Metropolitan University Student' Union Elections

Résumé du document

This report carries out extensive background research to the election process of Leeds Metropolitan University Students Union (S.U.) and the attitudes of students attending the University. The findings show that students do not feel there is an effort to engage them in the S.U. election process with a clear lacking in overall communication. Candidates then face difficulty in accessing students who have an National Union of Students (N.U.S) membership card which enables them to vote, as many students are either a) unaware of the rewards of voting and owning a membership card, or b) do not feel any personal benefits of associating with the S.U. The report concludes with realistic ways to improve communications over the election process to result in raised levels of voting numbers. Key recommendations emphasis the need of increased and improved communication channels with students about the elections, through the S.U. and supported by the University. This requires the augmentation of advertising about the elections so students are aware of why they should vote, who they can vote for, when voting is taking place, where voting can be done and how to vote. The Student Union is experiencing significantly low levels of participating members, and more specifically, members who take part in voting. This is a nationwide problem, reflecting the poor general voting turnout at a governmental level as well. People no longer feel obliged to vote, it is not considered to be part of the ‘norm' (Rogders, 2006). The Student Union is legally a separate entity from the University, however they are closely related, in that the Student Union (S.U.) receives finance from the University and the University uses the Union as a communication channel with its students.

Extraits

[...] This is key to aiding the improvement of elections, as without students there technically is no S.U. Miss Tumelty was questioned about the barriers on advertising, asking where candidates are allowed to promote themselves, and then what the budget is that they are provided with. These are vital for us to know in order for realistic recommendations to be made regarding more advertising. The following question then asks what methods of voting students can use. Ballot boxes were re-introduced during the March 2007 election when previous elections have solely used on-line voting. [...]

[...] However, if there had been more instructions posted around the university then students would have better understood how to use the online voting system. The main focus was to find out was what would encourage students to vote, the most important factors being; more advertising, more information about issues, issues that actually affect the students and more incentives to vote. In Section it was necessary to establish whether students were aware that elections events were taking place in and around the students' union. [...]

[...] This is clearly fundamental for this study, to see how many students currently vote in SU elections to assess the extent of the problem. Section Students who vote The focus of this section is on students who have voted in any SU elections. The first question in this section is to see if students who have voted do so routinely, or have just done so on the odd occasion. This will distinguish whether the SU has actually succeeded in gathering some loyal voters. [...]

[...] Lecturers are then able to pass on these attitudes to students and be in a position to endorse voting. Provide prominent areas where the S.U. can speak to students at induction time and display relevant literature and promotional material Raise the number of candidates standing. Candidates should be made aware of the benefits of becoming an S.U. officer, what the election process involves and how they can stand for election. Increasing the number of candidates standing for elections would create a more competitive and vibrant atmosphere. [...]

[...] This revealed that approximately 1,400 students had answered the NSS. This is an astounding turnout compared with the 188 voters in last years SU elections Other University Findings Using a combination of ballot boxes and online voting has enabled Loughborough and Manchester to reach a wider audience, as the Internet is used by the majority of students for research purposes as well as to obtain information. When looking at the different universities many of them used similar techniques to interact with students and also improve the number of votes by students. [...]