SU Postgraduate Officer Elected | Lorna Gardiner

Last week, elections took place for the position Postgraduate Officer in the university, seeing Ann Marie Harte, an MBS Government student elected to the post.Such a role holds particular importance now more than ever due to the cutbacks that postgraduate education endured in last year’s budget. Last December witnessed maintenance grants being removed from postgraduate students; therefore the successful representation of these students through a specially designated officer is vitally important.At the recent march of students from both University College Cork and Cork Institute of Technology to the constituency office of Fine Gael TD Jerry Buttimer, in protest against the possibility of further cuts to third level education in the forthcoming budget, the relevance of the effects of cutbacks to postgraduate education was starkly expressed by Dave Carey, the Welfare Officer of UCC’s Student’s Union. He said, ‘This year, they (the Government) have once again cut the postgraduate grant. We have dropped 17% in postgraduate registration this year alone just because there are no grants for them.’Ann Marie states: “Post-graduate students in UCC have been chronically under-represented by the Students' Union and we have seen the effects of this in previous years. I am well aware of the financial issues affecting all post-graduates at present and am looking forward to using my past experience in the Students' Union to hit the ground running in tackling these issues and more.”According to PJ O’Brien, the Students’ Union Education Officer, ‘Postgraduates make up a significant amount of the UCC population, and the problems that they encounter during their time as a student are extremely varied and different to those experienced by an undergraduate student.’ Because of this, the Postgraduate Officer will act as someone that postgraduate students can easily approach with their issues and problems. The Officer, as a postgraduate themselves, is someone who will understand and relate to the problems experienced by postgraduates and will have a good knowledge of the structure and workings of the university that relate to the postgraduate experience.O’Brien also expressed that the Student’s Union are very much looking forward to working with Ann Marie this year. As an undergraduate, she gained a wealth of experience as the College of Celtic Studies and Art’s Representative. This experience acquired her with skills and knowledge that will no doubt be extremely valuable to her in her new role.Elections for deputy reps for each of the four colleges will be held in due course.