Vote for me to be your next Mature Students Officer and I will make sure that YOUR views are heard! 
My name is Shelley. I am a mature student, currently studying Law here at Roehampton University. I have two grown up children age 26 and 21. I am running for the position of Mature Students Officer because I am passionate about improving the quality of student life for all of the mature student’s studying at our wonderful university. I believe that the university needs to do much more to attract applications from mature students in the future and also to engage and support their mature students who are currently enrolled on a programme.

As a mature student, I have an understanding of the challenges that ‘older’ students face once they have made the courageous decision to start, return or continue with university study, however, I am confident that those challenges can be overcome if the University has suitable (age appropriate) support networks in place. If I am elected, I will dedicate myself to making improvements to the resources and opportunities that the university currently provides to their mature student population

I intend to provide a range of social events, activities, forums and groups exclusively for mature students. These social events will provide all of the mature students at Roehampton with an opportunity to socialise regularly, build support networks and to make lifelong friendships with other students of a similar age. Mature students generally find adjusting to university life a bit more challenging than younger students and if the right support networks aren’t in place it can lead a mature student to feeling de-motivated and distracted and it can also have a negative impact on the quality of their work.

I intend to promote regular socials for mature students and to create a more prominent online presence . The improvements and more highly promoted social media impact will point mature students in the direction of a wide range of (age appropriate) advice and support services on topics such as managing the transition from parent or worker to full or part time student, financial / debt advice, developing effective study skills and ‘change of career’ focused employability support.

I intend to ensure that there is extra support available for mature students who are responsible for young children. Many mature students have young children who are still at school or that will require childcare whilst they are studying and those mature students may have difficulty finding adequate time to study around their current family commitments. I will encourage the university to continue to support mature students with young children by providing childcare facilities / funding, (officially) allowing reasonable time-table flexibility and support with developing time-management skills.

Other areas I intend to focus on as the Mature Student Officer include:

1.     Introducing open days with an improved emphasis on mature students/induction (welcome) days and a handbook exclusively for mature students.

2.    Improving the mature student web page on the university’s website.

Vote for me Shelley Taylor to be your next Mature Students Officer at Roehampton University!