My name is Eddie and I’m a second-year BA student in French Studies with Business at the University of London Institute in Paris (ULIP). I’m currently serving as the 2021-22 SU Education Officer for the Students’ Union, and I’ve just been elected as SU President for the upcoming academic year (2022-23).

Coming to the end of my second year in Paris, I couldn’t imagine myself being anywhere else. I definitely couldn’t imagine being in a university which doesn’t have the same small community feeling as ULIP – which characterises the work that we do at ULIPSU. Having worked for the SU for a year already has given me a deep insight into what the president does, and how the SU works here at ULIP which is completely unique compared to other students’ unions.

What was the election process like? How did we get here?

The SU elections were held at the start of April, and there was a lot of interest from potential candidates, however when it came down to election day there was only one candidate for each role. Although this may sound to some like an easy ride, us candidates still had to go through the whole process of producing manifestos, posters, attending hustings and being endorsed in an election. This process was extremely valuable for each of us to really consider our aims and objectives for the year. Check the ULIPSU Instagram feed where you can see some of the election posters and familiarise yourself with the new SU executive team.

What is my main aim as SU President?

Personally, my aims as president focus on continuing and building on initiatives and objectives from last year. ULIP is a growing community, and my main focus is to make sure that everyone is comfortable, welcome in the community and having fun! This means continuing the important work that we started this year surrounding diversity and inclusion, allowing everyone who comes to university to feel comfortable, but also that the SU is representing everyone, no matter what issues are raised to us. When it comes to the expansion of our university community, my aim is that ULIPSU can grow in a sustainable way and that we can continue to represent everyone and provide events and societies for all in a way that keeps the small community feeling that is so unique to ULIP.

What is the ULIP SU team going to do next year?

As a team, our current focus is to start planning Freshers' week. Although people often think that this only concerns the events team, it is in fact a big week for all the SU members as each officer has at least one event to organise during the induction period. We’ll all be working over the summer and in September to put on the best freshers' week possible for incoming and current students. We’re hoping for it to be a lot easier than in previous years when SU activities and participation have suffered during and after the pandemic restrictions.

After that, we’re all looking forward to seeing what the next year holds for us as a students’ union and as a university. Again, we’re looking forward to hopefully hosting more events in our own facilities, something that hasn’t been possible until now, also allowing our societies to use these facilities and host their own events with the support of the executive team. We will also be looking to expand current welfare and education initiatives as the university grows, for example, more career advice, and broader support for both mental and physical health.

Ultimately, we couldn’t continue the work that we do if it wasn’t for the brilliant work done by the rest of the current and incoming executive teams and the engagement of the student body. That’s why we’re hoping to increase student engagement post-pandemic by offering a wider range of events, services and opportunities to students. This should allow students to spend more time engaging with SU activities both inside and outside of the ULIP environment in order to make everyone’s student life a bit easier and hopefully a lot more fun!