A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
Seven positions are up for election, including President, Welfare, Academic Affairs, Services and Finance Officers, and two trustee positions. The trustee positions are voluntary, while the sabbatical positions are part-time paid, with those elected expected to put in eleven hours a week
The GSA is an organisation devoted to representing the postgraduate students at the University of York. It is based in Wentworth Graduate College and Wentworth bar, Edge, has been the polling station for the previous elections. Elections are held annually, although graduate apathy and the stress of postgraduate work, has meant regular by-elections in recent years.
In 2008, Rui Huang and Luke Martin were disqualified for breach of campaign rules and there was controversy involving GSA members being turned away when they came to cast their vote, on account of their polling station being at capacity. Finance Officer, Richard Rhodes, has admitted that the GSA “faced major problems with its electoral process last year” and has explained that this was because of “a lack of a comprehensive set of election rules”.
Voter turnout for the GSA elections is also worrying low, with no more than 6% of graduates engaged (in the presidential ballet) and as low as 2% for some positions in the 2009 elections.
In 2009 however, the GSA voted on a new constitution to improve its workings. And Rhodes believes that changes made then “have run smoothly for the last election and a couple of by-elections”. Rhodes has emphasised that the GSA are “revising these rules with feedback from our elections” in an attempt to make the GSA elections as democratic and efficient as possible.
Nominations for this terms elections will be open from 10am, Monday 17th May (week 4). Rhodes says: “We hope that the principal officer team will be able to carry on the progress we have made this year (in electoral reform) and I would encourage any interested postgraduate student to apply.”
For more information, check out the GSA website
Co-written by Grace Redheadd
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