After a week of intense campaigning, ever growing anticipation amongst the student body, the votes are in, and 2014/2015’s sabbatical officers have been announced.

VP Welfare – Megan Wells

A teary-eyed Megan was the first winner of this year’s elections, continuing on in the position of VP Welfare that she held for 2013/14. Vouching to continue to pursue her goals with the tenacity she has brought to the table this year, Megan admitted it had been a rewarding, if tiring week for her. First and foremost, she aims to continue to enforce the zero-tolerance policy she had initiated when she was first elected to the role of VP Welfare. Furthermore, she aims to introduce financial education into the curriculum for students, and lobbying for students to be registered to vote in the 2015 general elections.

VP Sports – Nina Mehmi

In this year’s elections, Sports garnered the most votes from the student body, electing Nina for next year’s VP Sports. Some of her main goals for the upcoming academic year include a larger awareness of sports across the student body, as well as pushing for sports to become more inclusive towards all students. To achieve this, she would like to encourage sport societies to introduce inclusion plans. Additionally, she aims to get college sports included in varsity, and establish a feasible gym membership discount for students that are in sport societies. Furthermore, Nina plans to strengthen links between the Canterbury and Medway campuses, change the layout of Kent Union’s sports section on their website, push for floodlights on pitches, and improving transport for clubs.

VP Education – Jack Lay

Jack’s first goal, now that he has been elected as VP Education, is the establishment of exam feedback for students, as a key tool for a better student experience. Some of his other plans as acting VP of Education are to provide more attention and aid to worse off students, and build on the already introduced lecture recordings to become a more standard tool that students can make use of. Furthermore, Jack hopes to reduce hidden course fees for students, introduce 24-hour library opening times, lobby for more years in industry as part of student degrees, and implement a postgraduate study centre at the university.

VP Activities – Tom Currie

Winner by the largest margin amongst all the candidates, Tom Currie will be taking on the role of VP Activities for 2014-2015. The first thing Tom aims to do in his position is to get in touch with societies, getting a feel for what he can do for them respectively. Something he would like to see introduced in the upcoming academic year is a “Success Magazine”, set up both online and in print, which would allow students to showcase their achievements. Also, Tom aims to set the closing time of the Venue from 2am to 4am, and, in accordance with later closing times, introduce a 24-hour uni-bus service. Other goals of his include the establishment of a student project fund, an increase in student group fundings by 10%, and to re-establish campus allotment for students.

Union President – Tammy Naidoo

Finishing off the results night was a close finish for the Union President position, won this year by Tammy Naidoo. On the forefront of Tammy’s goals is the notion of creating a Union that caters to every students’ needs – not necessarily only those actively involved in Union politics. Other aims of hers are to regulate and organise fixed prices for taxi fares to and from campus, improving travel between the university and the city, introduce mobile phone charging facilities in the library, and implement a Venue pass for students that would give the holder reduced prices to the club.