Putting yourself forwards as a School Officer
Putting yourself forwards as a School Officer is simple - you just need to put your name in, and write a bit about yourself in a manifesto to tell students why to vote for you. Otherwise, you just need to follow the following rules:
- Students must be free to cast their vote without undue influence or pressure.
- Obey the law, union policies, and university policies.
- Keep everyone safe
- Treat other candidates with respect and honesty.
- Campaigning will start on the agreed upon day.
- To be confirmed as a candidate you must upload a photo and a manifesto.
How it works:
To give you an idea of how this works there are some examples of how the principles are applied below:
Students must be free to cast their vote without undue influence or pressure.
Candidates may not stand and watch students when they vote as the student would be under pressure to vote for that particular candidate. While you may offer students benefits such as inviting them to a watch party to help students remember to you and listen to you, any benefits offered to voters must not be contingent on voting for that candidate. You cannot offer students any rewards that they get after they have voted for you, as this would be deemed as undue influence.
Obey the law, union and university policies.
This means that you as a candidate and your campaign team, as always, must adhere to the law, University regulation (such as their behavioural code, health and safety regulations, equal opportunities procedure, harassment code, damage to university property, and use of email etc.) and Union policy (such as our safe spaces policy, Elections Regulations, and our online campaigning guide etc). Breach of these policies can lead to a disciplinary which could in turn affect your student status and your Union membership.
Keep everyone safe
All campaigning during this election must be safe for everyone involved. This means that you should not campaign face to face if you are suffering from a contagious illness for example, and that you should ensure campaign teams get breaks and look after themselves.
Treat others candidates with respect
This principle covers a lot of ground. For example: defacing other candidates’ publicity, making up stories about other candidates, or heckling other candidates are among the actions that would be considered a breach of this principle.
To be confirmed as a candidate you must upload a photo and a manifesto, and confirmed that you understand the role you are running for.
Your status as a candidate will not be confirmed until you have uploaded a photo and a manifesto to the Students’ Union website, and confirmed that you understand the role you are running for.
Big Elections Candidate Information Spring 2024
This is all the information given to candidates in last years Big Elections. If you're thinking of putting yourself forwards for election next time this would be a useful read to know what to expect!
Please make sure you read through all of these sections carefully to ensure that you understand the rules, the support available, and what your responsibilities are as a candidate.
- Timetable - this gives you all the information on deadlines and support sessions that are available to you as a candidate.
- Elections Rules - make sure you and any of your campaign team have read and understand all of these rules
- Candidate Support
- FAQs - We will update answers to Frequently Asked Questions as we get more!
- Elections Terms and Conditions
| Session |
What is it? |
Date/Time |
| Drop in Manifesto Development and Q+A Sessions |
This online session will help you to develop ideas for your manifesto, and answer any questions you may have about running for election. This will be held on Microsoft Teams
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 394 456 183 890 Passcode: UdExp9
|
Thursday 1st February 12-1pm Friday 2nd Februray 12-2pm |
| Nominations Open |
You can put your name forwards for election and start your journey! |
Monday 5th February 9.30am |
| Online Drop in Question and Answer Sessions |
Provide you with an opportunity to ask any questions they have about standing for elections. This will be held on Microsoft Teams
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 366 462 353 811 Passcode: i7SuKc
|
12-1pm on Monday 12th Tuesday 13th Wednesday 14th Friday 16th February. |
| Nominations Close |
Deadline for close of nominations for all positions.
All candidates will receive further information and instructions after this date. |
Thursday 15th February 11.59pm |
| Elections Campaigning Workshops |
How to run a campaign: designing materials, reaching voters, using social media and more! This will be held on Mircrosoft Teams.
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 331 419 196 516 Passcode: EV3buD
|
12-2pm Monday 19tth Tuesday 20th Thursday 22nd Friday 23rd February |
| Candidate Briefing and FAQ MANDATORY |
You must attend this session to have your candidacy approved. This will provide you with an overview of the elections rules and support available to you. |
Wednesday 21st February 2pm-4pm. |
| Manifesto Feedback |
These are 15 minute sessions to provide feedback on your manifestos. Manifestos must be submitted at least 48 hours prior to your booked session. You can also request feedback via. email. E-mail david.devlin@uws.ac.uk to book your session. |
Book an appointment that suits you before the 21st February. |
| Public speaking and Confidence building sessions |
In partnership with Academic Skills, the workshop aims to support potential candidates to feel confident to speak to students about their manifestos.
Registration detials to follow
Please note this session has been moved from 6th Feb to 27th Feb, time of session TBC.
|
Tuesday 27th Feb, time TBC
In person and online available
|
| Manifesto Deadline |
Upload your manifesto by this time or your candidacy will be withdrawn. |
Friday 1st March, 12pm. |
| Video Editing Deadline |
Candidates standing for Student President/VP positions are provided with professional video editing support.Video content must be sent to the video editor no later than the deadline or your video will not be produced in time for voting week. |
Friday 1st March, 12pm |
| Voting Opens |
All students are able to vote! |
Tuesday 5th March, 9.30am |
| Drop in Voting Week Support Sessions |
Provides candidates with a space to talk about how their campaigns are going and support each other. Links will be send to candidates directly. |
Dates TBC |
| Voting Closes |
Voting is closed! Sit back, relax, and wait for the results night. |
Thursday 7th March, 11.59pm |
| Big Elections Results Party |
The results for all positions will be announced at Your Union, UWS Paisley Campus |
Friday 8th March,
5pm
|
Elections Rules
When standing for election it is very important to understand all of the rules that ensure we have free and fair elections, and to keep yourself and everypone else safe.
Elections Principles and Rules 2024
- Students must be free to cast their vote without undue influence or pressure.
- Obey the law, union policies, and university policies.
- Keep everyone safe
- Treat other candidates with respect and honesty.
- Items produced or primarily used for your campaign must be accounted for within the given allowance.
- Campaigning will start on the agreed upon day.
- To be confirmed as a candidate you must attend a candidate briefing, and upload a photo and a manifesto.
How it works:
To give you an idea of how this works there are some examples of how the principles are applied below:
Students must be free to cast their vote without undue influence or pressure.
Candidates may not stand and watch students when they vote as the student would be under pressure to vote for that particular candidate. While you may offer students benefits such as inviting them to a watch party to help students remember to you and listen to you, any benefits offered to voters must not be contingent on voting for that candidate. You cannot offer students any rewards that they get after they have voted for you, as this would be deemed as undue influence.
Obey the law, union and university policies.
This means that you as a candidate and your campaign team, as always, must adhere to the law, University regulation (such as their behavioural code, health and safety regulations, equal opportunities procedure, harassment code, damage to university property, and use of email etc.) and Union policy (such as our safe spaces policy, Elections Regulations, and our online campaigning guide etc). Breach of these policies can lead to a disciplinary which could in turn affect your student status and your Union membership.
Keep everyone safe
All campaigning during this election must be safe for everyone involved. This means that you should not campaign face to face if you are suffering from a contagious illness for example, and that you should ensure campaign teams get breaks and look after themselves.
Treat others candidates with respect
This principle covers a lot of ground. For example: defacing other candidates’ publicity, making up stories about other candidates, or heckling other candidates are among the actions that would be considered a breach of this principle.
Campaign within the allowance provided.
Each year candidates receive a financial allowance to spend on campaigning, and access to services such as video editing and graphic design consultancy to help them to run their campaigns. The allowance for 2024 is set out here.
Receipts must be kept and submitted to the Students’ Union for approval.
Campaigning will start on the agreed upon day.
Candidates may begin their campaign as soon as they are confirmed as a candidate.
To be confirmed as a candidate you must attend a candidate briefing, and upload a photo and a manifesto, and confirmed that you understand the role you are running for.
Your status as a candidate will not be confirmed until you have attended a candidate briefing, and uploaded a photo and a manifesto to the Students’ Union website, and confirmed that you understand the role you are running for.
Campaign Allowance
Your campaign allowance is money to help you campaign. We provide this to all candidates to make sure that you can afford to run for election. You must not spend any of your own money to run for election. You may wish to spend this money on posters or flyers, t-shirts for your campaign team, or anything else that you think will get you noticed and encourage students to vote for you. You may not offer students rewards (such as sweets) for voting for you, but you may offer sweets to encourage students to talk to you. Different roles have different candidate allowances:
President/VP candidates Up to £100 for travel to other campuses during the campaign period. Up to £100 campaign allowance. Video editing service from a professional video editor
School Officer Candidates Up to £100 for travel and campaign allowance combined. It is up to you what you prioritise.
Travel rules
You can use the travel allowance to travel to different campuses to campaign during the campaign period. This covers candidates only – unfortunately we cannot cover the travel costs of your campaign team. Where possible you should travel by public transport.
How to claim your travel and campaign allowances
- Inform us of what you would like to purchase, including sharing any designs with us for your printed materials such as posters or flyers, and the cost of each item by emailing elections@uwsunion.org.uk.
- After recieving approval you can either:
- Purchase them using your own funds and then submit the expenses form and receipts to claim reimbursement.
- Request funding in advance, using the expenses form, and then submit the receipt.
You can download a copy of the expenses form here, and then send it to elections@uwsunion.org.uk.
3. Once we have received your request, we will pay you the money. Failure to follow this process, or spending above the allocated allowance, will result in you not receiving your money, and a referral being made to the Deputy Returning Officer for Breach of the Rules. A failure to follow these rules may result in you being disqualified from the election, so please do ensure that you follow the above processes.
Online Campaigning Rules and Guidance
Websites
- Campaign websites and blogs are acceptable for campaigning.
- Any expenses for setting up a website/blog must be submitted as campaign expenses.
Emails
- You may collect and create your own mailing list for the purposes of the campaign.
- Such lists must not contain information gained from any third party (such as a departmental distribution list, Students’ Union society, a Students’ Union list, or a social media group other than a candidate’s specific campaign group).
- You may not send messages to a list created for any reason other than your campaign (e.g. a society membership list)
- Messages sent to such lists must not then be forwarded to any other list gathered for any other purpose than the campaign.
Social Media
- You are encouraged to allow a healthy debate over issues surrounding your candidacy. However, you are expected to remove any defamatory remarks or other posts which break elections rules and regulations as soon as possible. The elections committee may take action regarding posts which are defamatory or are deemed to break any other elections rules or regulations.
- Private messages sent in support of your candidacy to other Social Media users should abide by the rules and regulations of emails as described above.
- You and any supporters may use personal Social Media statuses to promote your candidacy, however you should not “tag” other individuals in these posts unless you have their explicit permission to do so.
- You may utilise your personal social media accounts and connections to campaign
Rules for designing social media posts and printed materials
Printed Materials, such as flyers, posters, or business cards must adhere to all campaigning rules, such as those about being respectful. You are unable to use the UWS logo on your designs as this would breach copywrite legislation, but you may use the Students’ Union Logo and other assets from the Students’ Union.You must ensure that you have the right to use any other images or videos you use as part of your campaign.
Consequences of breaking the elections rules
If you break the elections rules, you will be referred to the Deputy Returning Officer. If necessary an elections panel will be convened of students who are not known to you, and they will look at your case and decide on the consequences of you breaking the rules. These consequences may include being withdrawn from the election, confiscation of elections materials, or even being referred to further disciplinary proceedures if you are found to have broken the law or other university or union policies. If you have a complaint about another candidate please email elections@uwsunion.org.uk, clearly setting out which rule you feel has been broken, and any evidence you have to this effect.
Candidate Support
We are here to help you to campaign successfully for election. If you have any questions at any time you can email elections@uwsunion.org.uk. We have a full timetable of support sessions detailed below:
Candidate Briefing
You MUST attend this to be confirmed as a candidate. If you only attend one session - this should be it! We'll give you an introduction to the roles, explain all of the elections rules, and get you started thinking about your campaign. Candidates who do not attend a candidate briefing are not eligible to stand for election. This will be held on Wednesday 21st February 2pm - 4pm.
Public Speaking and Confidence Building Sessions
Our partners and friends over at Academic Skills are running a workshop designed to support you to feel confident to speak to students and promote yourself and your manifesto. This is being held on Tuesday 6th February, In Person 11-12 or online 1-2pm. Register to attend the session here: https://uws.careercentre.me/u/q9q323eq
Campaigning Support
There are lots of drop in sessions which include campaigning support. These sessions will cover how to run a successful campaign, getting the most out of running for election, and help you to narrow down your ideas. Details of sessions can be found in the elections timetable.
Video Editing Service (President/VP candidates only)
Manifesto Support
We offer manifesto support and advice. As a former student president with lots of experience of working in Students' Unions, David is a great person to ask for advice! You can book a 15 minute session by e-mailing david.devlin@uws.ac.uk. You can also request feedback by email. If you book a session, please send your manifesto at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting. You can also watch this video we created for our elections in 2022 - the advice in it is all still very relevant!
Creating Graphics on Canva
Canva is a great tool to use to create graphics for social media, or for posters, flyers, banners, or anything else you might want to design! Here is a video introducing you to canva, but do ask questions at a drop in session or email us if you want to know more.
You are able to use our logos and a QR code to direct students to vote on your materials - just drop us an email to request these.
Video Editing Support
Student President Candidates get access to a video editing service from a professional. You can watch the video guidance below and read the brief here. DEADLINE IS FRIDAY 1st MARCH - Instructions on how to submit your video will be e-mailed to candidates directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
We'll be updating these as the election goes on and we get more questions!
I am from the London campus, can I stand for election? Yes you can! All roles and open to students from any campus. However, if you are elected as a Student President or Vice President, you must either live in Scotland already or move to Scotland. Do I really have to move to Scotland if I am successfully elected as a Student President or Vice President? Yes! Although London campus is an important campus for UWS, many of the university meetings which a President or VP must attend are now held in person at Scottish Campuses. It would be impossible to be successful in any of these roles while continuing to live in London.
Can I continue my studies if I am elected? If you are elected to a part time volunteer position, such as a School Officer or PGR position, you can continue your studies as normal as these roles are part time. However, if you are elected as a Student President or Vice President, you must pause your studies for the full year. We recommend talking to your programme leader about this as soon as possible, and of course you can always contact us with any questions you may have,
How do I nominate myself? When elections are open you can simply log in to this election page and choose which position to nominate yourself for. Make sure you upload a manifesto to let students know what you stand for and why they should vote for you!
I'm an international student, can I stand for a Student President Position? Yes you can! To talk about visa requirements e-mail elections@uwsunion.org.uk.
Can you post something for me on your social media page? Because of the number of candidates we are unable to share posts on request as we must be fair to all candidates. However, we will share candidate videos, encourage students to vote, and promote the elections more broadly.
How do I get students to vote for me? Attend our support sessions for the longer answer to this question - but the short answer is talk to them! Make sure students know who you are, and what you will do for them if you are elected.
Still have questions? Email elections@uwsunion.org.uk, for more information!
Elections Terms and Conditions
By confirming your nomination you are confirmation that:
- You give the student Union consent to verify the information that you have provided us to identify you as a member of the student union and that you meet the progression requirements of the role (that you are able to progress or graduate).
- You study at a domestic campus in the UK.
- You understand that you must be a fit and proper person to take office, as the position sits on our Board of Trustees. You also give us permission to make the appropriate checks to confirm this.
- You agree that you must adhere to all of the policies and procedures of the Student Union, including policies passed by Student Council.
- You agree to adhere to all election regulations issued by the Returning Officer and Depute Returning Officers.
- If standing for a Sabbatical Officer position you agree to upload a manifesto before your candidacy will be approved.
- You understand that failure to comply with these T&Cs, the election regulations, our constitution and bye-laws, the Code of Practice and the rulings of the returning officer and depute returning officers may lead to disciplinary action which could result in you being disqualified from the election.
- Before your candidacy can be confirmed for any position, you must send the Student Union details of your social media accounts – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc – in order for us to ensure that there have been no instances in your past that may bring the institution into disrepute.
If you are unsure about any of the information contained within this disclaimer, you should contact the Deputy Returning Officer David Devlin - David.Devlin@uws.ac.uk. If you have concerns about the Deputy Returning Officer you may contact the Returning Officer from NUS Scotland at - democracy@nus-scotland.org.uk