One year on at Abertay...

My god how time flies when you're working hard - so apparently the last time I posted here in any capacity was just after handover last year. I am now, of course, approaching the end of my first term and already successfully elected for term number 2. So, perhaps it's time for some reflection and some looking ahead.

So when I left you - we were condemning the Scottish Governments decision to charge up to 9k a year to 'RUK' Students. That one, well it still hasn't been resolved - we're reasonably fortunate here at the University of Abertay Dundee, the relationship we have with the University allowed us to obtain a degree cost that generally reflects the cost per student of putting on that course and reasonable bursary packages.

However the decision has left Scotland charging the highest amount for degrees in the UK and many Universities have acted on Holyrood's decision not to enforce any level of widening access or retention funding.

That was just one of our fights this year however, the big one of course was Hands Off Abertay. I think I'll save the who's and why's of this one for a separate blog post, I know many students were confused by the whole situation.

The other big issue of the year and a more recent one, was a proposed change to the Academic Calendar - there were a lot of changes but it boiled down too Semester 2 beginning a week early and Semester 1 deadlines being a teaching week. I'm very pleased to say that it was the students that took charge on this one, we arranged for 2 concerned students to meet with the member of staff proposing the changes. Subsequent to this, said staff member scrapped the changes. Another win for the students, by the students.

Coming next time: Elections and what might the future bring?

Part 2 now available here!