I am a student of the School of Engineering seeking to be elected as the Research Student Representative for this session. If given this opportunity, I would work towards strengthening the research students community and advocating for the needs of research students such as improved research space, increased support services and involvement in the university activities. I would channel my energy to the enhancement of the research students learning experience by introducing sustainable innovations. I would also focus on fostering the relationship between RGU’s research students and the University’s Governing Council, Student Union and other relevant external communities.
I believe that the skills I have developed in my previous roles within the university would be put to profitable use in this position. Some of these skills include;
Leadership: In my role as class representative, I was responsible for organising meetings, relaying information to the class, receiving their feedback and suggestions, and aggregating these into specific points and action plans to be implemented. Occasionally, there were scenarios where the students had differing opinions about issues (e.g. extending the deadline for submission of a coursework) and I would apply both courage and consideration to arrive at a decision that was mutually beneficial.
Communication: As a student buddy, I often have to relate information to newly arriving students clearly. I apply empathy and try to see things from their perspective, this helps me relate better with them and enables them to easily understand me. One interesting experience was my Buddy Role with students from Japan, I was able to build friendships with them despite their little knowledge of English and different ethnic/cultural background and this further improved my interpersonal skills.
Project Management and Organisation: I have actively participated in planning and executing events in some of these roles. There is usually a strategic meeting before the Undergraduate Open Day in which we share our opinions of expectations and make adequate arrangements for the event. Furthermore, as an executive in the Nigerian Students Association, I analyse the suggestions of the members and extract action plans that are achievable and beneficial to the organisation. These are then streamlined into a full plan and presented to the house before being implemented. This requires foresight and management of the group’s resources.
Team Work: I effectively cooperate with other students, sometimes with people that I just meet for the first time, to achieve the goals of teams I belong to. A good example is the 2017 Freshers week in which the team was further split into sub-groups for rotation of duties. My group created a WhatsApp page to enable us stay connected and share information speedily. Also, team members who couldn’t attend their allocated events contacted other members to attend in their stead and this helped us to work more efficiently.
In addition, my conflict resolution skills have been immensely improved through participation in several meetings and planning sessions.
I strongly believe that these skills establish me as the perfect candidate for this role. Thank you.