Articles for students and families transitioning into higher education.
If you have concerns or issues that your personal tutor, administrator, or lecturers can’t help you with, you should go speak to your student union. A student union is a student-run group that dedicates its time and resources to give the whole student community of the university opportunities and an equal voice. They oversee anything social or organisational of the student body, including you.
They represent student’s concerns, views and aspirations, campaigning, and organising activities. This ranges from welcome activities during your first weeks, to promoting student wellbeing through mental health weeks, to helping to organise protests on certain college specific issues. For instance, student unions across Ireland marched on O’Connell Street in 2019 to protest the rise of student fees nationwide.
Student unions are always looking for engaged members and can be a great way to socialise, especially if you are passionate about student issues. This ranges from Class Representatives, who volunteer on behalf of their year and their course to campaign workers who help with disability or mental health awareness campaigns. These activities also serve as good experience for the working world. While it is true many volunteers for the SU tend to do so due to an interest in politics and even a political career, these roles build experience in organising events, working in a team, budgeting and public relations which will serve you well no matter what career you’re aiming for.
