For students by students

A look at how a Student Council functions

Democracy is a process by which the people are free to choose the man who will get the blame.
– Laurence Peter, American educator and writer

Whether there is democracy or not, governments everywhere are usually viewed with close scrutiny and in negative light.

One would expect, then that student governments on campuses would receive the same treatment, albeit in smaller measure. But a talk with the Student Council at Sharjah Women's College (SWC) revealed otherwise.

"We are treated like family," said Rawda Abdul Qader, who was elected president of the council in February. The council has a new structure, under which it is divided into several committees, said Alya Mohammad, the vice-president.

Apart from the president and vice-president, the executive committee consists of a secretary/treasurer and marketing and public relations officer. A college staff member also serves on the executive committee as the council coordinator.

The members have so far been a part of several workshops and conferences including Education Without Borders, Clean Up UAE and Dubai 2005 Global Youth Gathering.

Specialised groups

The new SC structure entails six other committees. These are in charge of sports, health and food, environment, marketing, art and design, college events and charity and community projects.

This new structure, said Alya, is better because it's more organised than before. Having separate teams to work on specific tasks makes the job easier.

So while the Sports Committee is responsible for organising sports competitions and the Sports Day, the Health and Food Committee ensures that student complaints about the food and service on campus are addressed.

"We ask the students what they would like to eat in the cafeteria and have meetings with the caterers," said Rawda.

Aisha Mohammad, a member of the Environment Committee, said they are part of the Nature Network. "We participate in lots of conferences," she said.

The committee has produced a newsletter on marine life and the coastal habitat, which was distributed at Mosaic 2005, an annual college exhibition.

Whenever the council organises events, its posters and logos are designed by the Marketing, Art and Design committee, which include graphic arts students.

Managing events, of course, is the responsibility of the College Events committee. Aisha, who is the leader of this committee, spoke about their campaign to raise money for tsunami victims.

"Our goal was to raise Dh100,000 and we did it by organising several activities such as the iftar dinner, poetry evening for UAE national women and garage sale."

The Charity Committee was also part of this project. Alya, who is the leader of this team, said: "We raise money for all kinds of causes; we are trying to give the money to the Red Crescent."

Student issues

The Student Council also acts as a mediator between students and the administration. "There are lots of students who come to me with their problems, whether academic or otherwise. And we do what we can by taking them to the people who can help them," Rawda said.

She gave the example of a student who was accused of plagiarising for a project. "She told me she had the documents stored on her PC at home and that she didn't cheat, so I took her to one of the faculty heads who asked her to get these documents. When she did, it was discovered that she was innocent," Rawda said.

Alya said that their job was to engage the students with the administration. "Some of them are shy and have trouble communicating, and they ask for our assistance," she said.

Students can approach the council at their meeting room or through their coordinator and advisor Amal Al Maktoum, who is "always there and very friendly with students," said Rawda.

Mutual cooperation

Asked if the council members faced any problems among themselves, Rawda replied: "We might have different ideas but we sit together and share them. If no one is in favour of an idea, they explain why they don't like it and how it can be improved."

Alya agreed. "There is more communication among ourselves than there was last year; we sit together, discuss and develop ideas for events."

So what is next? "We have to cooperate more with the men's college; we are going to organise a conference for all Higher Colleges of Technology Student Councils next semester," Rawda said.

The conference, Tomorrow's Leaders, will focus on issues of leadership and will be held in Sharjah this time.

The council members said the administration was very cooperative. "We are really treated like a family," Rawda said.

Open house
Gulf Medical College (GMC) Ajman will hold the third in a series of open houses at their campus today.

Students aspiring to study medicine can visit the college and meet faculty members from 9am to 5pm.

GMC offers a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme, approved by the Ministry of Education. It also offers Bachelor of Physiotherapy (BPT).

Students and parents can meet English and Arabic faculty members and tour the facilities. Eligible students can register on the spot.

Students in the American
Who's Who Directory
Dr Lance de Masi, president of the American University in Dubai (AUD), honoured 35 AUD students who have been nominated and accepted to the Who's Who among Students in American Universities and Colleges directory.

AUD's students join an elite group chosen from more than 2,300 institutions of higher learning in all 50 American states, the District of Columbia and several foreign countries.

The campus nominating committees and editors of the annual directory choose the international outstanding campus leaders based on their academic achievement, service to the community, leadership in extracurricular activities and potential for continued success.

Outstanding students have been honoured in the annual directory since it was first published in 1934.

Business students outperform contemporaries in the US
Graduating students from the School of Business and Management (SBM) at the American University of Sharjah (AUS) have outperformed their counterparts at universities in the United States in the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Business Field Exam, according to preliminary reports received recently by SBM.

The Business Field Exam is usually given by schools of business in the US to graduating seniors as part of an overall curriculum assessment strategy.

The exam was conducted recently at SBM; students have scored higher than the mean score of the US universities that participated.

The students also scored higher than the mean score in all the topics covered in the exam except for Quantitative Business Analysis and Legal and Social Environment.

The writer is a mass communications student and editor of the university newspaper at the American University of Sharjah