Alexander 'Alex' Maximilian - Vice President Education

An open, transparent, and engaged VP Education:
1) I want to dedicate myself to a weekly Q&A to be freely attended by everyone, allowing you to shape my work and to be accountable to you. 
2) I will host monthly drop-in meetings for you to come and further  
3) Specifically in relation to the WSA, I will dedicate myself to a visit every 2 weeks in order to ensure that our artists and creatives are heard. 

 Education Aims: 
1) Lobby departments to create 1-2 free deadline extensions per year, or per semester. 
2) Lobby Departments to offer broken-down grades, ensuring our students of all different programmes to get specific feedback to improve their grades. 
3) Lobby the University to include students on their decision-making in relation to module timetabling. 
4) Lobby the University to create more practically-oriented module choices, such as the UOSM Global Sustainability Challenges. 
5) Lobby the University to create draft assignments for all degree programmes to help boost your grades up! 
6) Lobby departments to review how they can support students with specific disabilities (social anxiety, depression, etc) more. 
7) Lobby all departments to create a 10% rule for assignments or exams – allowing students to write 10% more than the word limit, or 10% under.  
8) Lobby the University to allow for more optional modules for those programmes who have majority mandatory modules.  
9) Celebrate our researchers (PhD Students, MA Students, and otherwise) more. 
 
Careers Aims: 
1) Lobby the University Careers Service to create ‘first come first serve’ work experience opportunities that don’t require application to undertake, in order to ensure more students get vital professional experience. 
2) Lobby the University to review its careers advice, and see how it can be updated, working with corporate employers to give more practical CV advice. 
3) Lobby the University to create faculty-specific sections on the UoS MyCareer website. 
4) Work with local businesses and institutions in Southampton to run more programmes for work experience and otherwise.  
 
Why me? 
Serving as 1st Year Philosophy's Course Rep has been an enjoyable experience for me. The diversity in the issues that have been raised, and practically solving them at the student-Staff Liaison Committees, is such a rewarding experience and feeling. I hope to solve more of the issues that we all face collectively as students to ensure a smoother educational experience that is worth the years of our life that we will, or have spent, here at the University of Southampton. I do not just want to work to improve the experience of undergraduate students, I also want to work for postgraduate students and doctoral students who produce the research that gives the University its world-class reputation.