Alissa Chohan.

Candidate for President

Alissa Chohan: President – VOTE CHOHAN FOR CHANGE!

1. Mental Health initiative:

There is an urgent demand for further mental health support at RHUL. I want to launch an initiative to bring mental health support to students, removing the barrier for students having to reach out themselves. There is a requirement for support to be embedded in students’ day to day activities to mitigate the effects of the pandemic and the stresses and pressures that being a student brings. I aim to expand the specific professional CBT sessions and wellbeing practitioners in the Wellbeing services. Further objectives include regular pet therapy and funded PT sessions for students upon referral.

2. Tackling Racial Harassment

Tackling racial harassment must be a key priority to make RHUL a strong community which embraces all cultures, with a strict and swift disciplinary process for those who do not embody these values. A trusted and effective report and support system is essential. An external consultant hired by the University would be hugely beneficial in providing set recommendations that will provide accountability for fulfilling actions.

3. Personal Tutoring

Some of you may have a great relationship with your Personal Tutor, others of you will have no idea who your Personal Tutor even is. Gaining consistency is key. You should have a member of your department who you can contact easily for academic support, to obtain wellbeing help, or even just to navigate the struggles of being a University student. This is so key to being successful and building a strong relationship with academics is immensely beneficial not only during your degree, but for the future too.

4. New attendance monitoring system

Having to log on to Campus Connect during every session just to log attendance is a tedious process whilst also having Moodle, MS Teams, emails, and other applications open. Even worse, is when you find out you missed the slot to log attendance! A simplified, easy to remember system is required, such as embedding it on Moodle, automatic logs when students log on or classic module leader records.

5. PGT Experience Report

I aim to launch a report into the PGT experience, investigating key areas such as subject support, communication, study spaces, and the overall student experience. This report would present a series of recommendations to the University to improve the overall experience for Masters students. There is also a need to provide further support in helping PGT’s gain professional experience for their future careers.