Achievements

I received the Millennium Service Award from Therfield for my contributions to the school.

For my work as Education Officer at Nottingham University I was awarded Honoury Life Membership of the Students' Union and of the National Union of Students. Part of my job involved being responsible for the Students' Union's campaign against tuition fees. I conducted a relentless campaign on this issue and took more students than any other university's union to the annual NUS march in London against fees.

I believe my greatest achievement was how I dealt with my University's proposal to change the structure of its teaching year. As Education Officer I was the students' representative on various university committees. One such committee discussed making examinations annual rather than bi-annual. I was unsure what the students' views were likely to be on this proposal, and the issue was so significant that I decided to organise a referendum.

I managed two teams of volunteers who conducted the 'Vote Yes' campaign and the 'Vote No' campaign to publicise the referendum. Their hard work resulted in an exceptionally high turnout at the ballot boxes, and the result was a clear 'No' to the proposal. Through meetings, negotiations and speeches I lobbied the University to drop the proposal. Despite the administration and almost all the academics wanting it to go ahead, I persuaded the Vice Chancellor to abandon it.