Over the years that I have been a Pro-Vice-Chancellor, the University has been incredibly well served by a succession of outstanding officers of the Students' Union.   Almost all those that I have worked with have been genuinely concerned with the interests of the broad constituency of students rather than pushing sectional interests, and they have been altruistic in working for the future of the university as a whole rather than seeking short-term payoffs for long-term issues.  In most years I set up regular meetings with several of the Union Officers, and today I saw two of them for an hour each to talk through a variety of issues relating to their particular portfolios.

I feel a little sorry for the officers in one key respect.  They have been elected on a particular platform and over the summer (they take office at the start of July) they develop agendas and set objectives for their term of office.  But implementation of many of the changes they want to bring in is dependent on the annual university calendar.  Consequently even the most successful officers rarely see the outcomes of the things they work on during their year of office.  They start the ball rolling, and take ideas through work groups, to committees, to Union Council and so on - but it will be the following year's officers who witness the fulfillment of the ambitions of their predecessors.  Indeed, many good ideas that are brought forward in the first semester take longer to get agreed - particularly if there is further research needed, or if significant resources will be required - so that it may be the officers two years down the line who are at the launch events.

The term of office of our Union Officers is an unusually short one.  Many Students' Unions elect their sabbatical officers for two year terms, rather than for our one year. It could be made to work in Sheffield, and would provide for some continuity between years as well as providing the opportunity for Offciers to see their projects to fruition.  With 8 sabbatical officers, half the positions could be up for election each year.  All students would have the opportunity to run for all the posts - because the electorate has been prepared to elect second year as well as third year students to the various roles - and even, last year, a postgraduate research student as President.

But one argument against this would be that many of our Student Union officers are exhausted by the end of their single term of office, and the thought of going on for a second year is something that many of them wouldn't want to contemplate.  But again, perhaps that is a function of the fact that they only serve for a year and thus put an incredible amount of energy into achieving as much as they can during that limited period.   And perhaps it is that high level of concentrated energy that makes our officers as successful as they are as student leaders. I genuinely don't know whether the Union could improve the system or not.  But clearly it is not for me to say - the Students' Union is self-governing and needs no interference from a member of the University Executive.  Except that I have a feeling that I may be a life member of the Sheffield Students' Union as a result of being a life member of the union where I was at university ...

The next set of blogs will be on 1st, 6th, 8th, 16th and 26th September.