Tim Roll-PickeringThe National Postgraduate Committee held their Annual Conference and General Meeting in St Andrews this weekend. You can find out more about NPC via the link at the bottom of this post.
One thing to note is that institutions affiliate (or not ) to NPC independently of NUS. Consequently a number of candidates comes from non NUS institutions.
With the exception of positions on the Scottish Sub-Committee and Welsh Sub-Committee, which are elected at meetings of the affiliates in those countries, all positions were up for re-election. The results were as follows:
General Secretary:
This post is the NPC's full time Sabbatical, who sits as an observer on the NUS NEC as well as a member of the NUS National Council and the Higher Education National Committee.
There were two candidates. Tim Brown, from the University of Surrey and currenly an NPC Project Officer, and Jim Ewing, from the University of Glasgow and currently Depute Chair & Secretary of the Scottsih Sub-Committee. The votes were as follows:
Round 1:
Tim Brown 13
Jim Ewing 10
RON 3 ELIMINATED
Round 2
Tim Brown 14 ELECTED
Jim Ewing 11
(Spoils 1)
Chair:
There was one candidate, Chris Neville-Smith from Durham University and currently the NPC's Communications Officer. Chris should be familiar to educationet regulars.
Chris Neville-Smith 22 ELECTED
RON 4
Treasurer:
Again there was one candidate, Tim Roll-Pickering from the University of Kent who was originally elected to this position in a by-election in May 2002. Again Tim should be familiar to educationet regulars.
Tim Roll-Pickering 23 ELECTED
RON 1
(Spoils 1)
Conference Secretary:
No nominations were received for this position, which is responsible for organising the annual conference, usually at their own institution. The position remains vacant and it is hoped to fill it as soon as possible.
Communications Officer:
There was one candidate, Paul Williams who is in the process of moving from University College London to Bath. Paul is a newcomer to NPC.
Paul Williams 24 ELECTED
RON 2
Equal Opportunities Officer:
Two candidates stood here. Chris Stuart is currently Chair of the Scottish Sub-Committee, an SWD Officer for NUS Scotland and a former Representations Sabbatical for Napier University. Graziella Iossa is an international student and Vice-President of the Postgraduate Society at the University of Bristol.
Round 1:
Graziella Iossa 11
Chris Stuart 13 ELECTED
RON 1
Minutes Secretary
This position is traditionally a little hard to fill. The outgoing General Secretary James Groves stood. James occassionally posts here.
James Groves 25 ELECTED
RON 0
Project Officers - 4 positions:
Project Officers are officers without set remits who work on particular areas that they and the Committee feel are important.
Five candidates stood. I'm copying out the basics of their proposed projects from the statements on their nomination forms.
Lorraine Mears from the University of Leeds proposed a project to carry out a survey of how students from different universities and departments record their personal development and achievements.
Rachel Mu from the University of Manchest Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) proposed a project related to the funding of home and overseas PhD students.
Marilyn Shanks from the University of Essex proposed a project relating to disability issues facing postgraduates.
Gemma Cansell from Imperial College, University of London proposed a project on the Interpretation of Postrgaduate Survey and Postgraduate Skills.
Emily Orme from the College of Law, who was initially elected as a Project Officer in a by-election in May 2002, stood again to undertake a project relating to professional training courses and instructional courses, particularly MAs.
As a multi-member STV election the results were potentially tricky. The quota was 5.
Round 1:
Gemma Cansell 7 ELECTED
Marilyn Shanks 7 ELECTED
Rachel Mu 1
Lorraine Mears 4
Emily Orme 5 ELECTED
RON 0
(Spoils 1)
Round 2 (Cansell's + Shanks' surpluses):
Rachel Mu 1.32
Lorraine Mears 7.86 ELECTED
RON 0.32
Ordinary Executive Officers - 2 positions:
Two Ordinary Executive Officers are elected to ensure the NPC is operating fairly and honestly, working for the benefit of postgraduate education in the UK.
Three candidates stood.
John Bullen from the University of Plymouth.
Sue Grogan from the University of Sheffield.
Benson Osawe from the University of Manchester, who is Chair of the Council for International Students and a member of the NUS Black Students' Committee.
Round 1
John Bullen 4
Sue Grogan 8 ELECTED
Benson Osawe 9 ELECTED
RON 0
(Spoils 1)
Although not elected at the AGM, the Chairs of the Scottish and Welsh Sub-Committees also sit on the Management Sub-Committee ex officio. The Scottish Chair is Chris Stuart and the Welsh Chair David Manning from Cardiff.
In addition the ordinary members of the Constitutional Sub-Committee and the Financial Sub-Committee were elected. In both cases the same number of candidates as positions stood and it was agreed to vote on a block by a show of hands.
Constitutional Sub-Committee - 3 positions - All elected
Peter Campbell (incumbent)
Chris Stuart (incumbent + see above)
James Groves (see above)
Additionally the Chair (Chris Neville-Smith), Past Chair (Alex Lewis) and General Secretary (Tim Brown) sit on the CSC ex officio. The most recently available former Chair sits on it as the Past Chair - in this case Alex Lewis. It is chaired by the Chair.
Financial Sub-Committee - 2 positions - Both elected
Martin Gough (incumbent and former Treasurer and General Secretary)
Josephine Fraser (University of York).
Additionally the Treasurer (Tim Roll-Pickering), Chair (Chris Neville-Smith), General Secretary (Tim Brown), Scottish Sub-Committee Treasurer (Stuart Purdie) and Welsh Sub-Committee Treasurer (Natasha Hirst) sit ex officio. The most recently available former Treasurer sits on it as the Past Treasurer - in this case James Groves. It is chaired by the Treasurer
Related Articles
National Postgraduate Survey; Key Findings
National Postgraduate Conference Report
NPC Elections
National Postgraduate Committee Website
