Inam Khan is running for Union President in this year’s union elections, so Brig sat down for a chat with him over Zoom as he explained his manifesto from Barcelona.
Whoever wins this election for Union President is an ambassador of the university, and leads the student union.
An international student originally from Pakistan, Inam already has an undergraduate degree in Human Resource Management, and its now studying Static Communication and Public Relations as a joint degree. He’s trilingual and learning Spanish, and returning from Barcelona to Stirling in March.
Leadership roles
Inam has been a leader at the University of Stirling for a while now, having been an Academic Rep during his undergrad, and a Programme Rep during his masters.
“It was always my passion to do something for my fellow classmates, and I’ve always believed in student representation,” he said.
A passionate advocate for students to have their voices heard, Inam believes that: “students are the main stakeholders in any institution and so they must have some representation in management and over our community building”.
Fixing issues with housing
Like most students, Inam has heard the notorious complaints about university accommodation. He wants more action to be taken for students who complain about their accommodation.
“They [students] complain about the accommodation twice or thrice, that the bed was not proper, one complained about the high prices,” he said. “While complaints in any accommodation are normal, the problem is that we have twice or thrice complained and have no one fixing the things, so that’s the main issue.”
Blood donation
Uniquely, Inam has a record of caring for the health of others and taking action to fix it, displayed in his founding of a Blood Donation society. “When I was in my undergrad, our hostel was over by the hospital, so I usually saw the people who were asking for the blood donation.”
He hopes to popularise the donation of blood by students, as: “it’s not a normal thing, not everyone donates blood”.
Union participation
“Someone who is already president has more influence on many things,” he said.
Inam holds the belief that the Union President should only stand for one term, which stands out considering that one of his opponents is the current Union President, Leen Ali.
“It will give more opportunities and more chance to the other students,” he said.
A sensible realist, he understands that most students don’t participate in student elections: “I must ask all of the students to participate, and if I am given the chance of student presidentship, every student must participate in the student union, because it is their representation, we need them.”
Whilst he doesn’t have an exact plan for enforcing this at the minute, he plans to assemble a brain-storming team to understand how the union can engage with students and encourage them to vote. One suggestion involves the use of Academic Reps: “we can use them to encourage their classmates to vote”.
He thinks that the current method of engaging with students is inadequate, as: “nowadays, we just post on the student union website and the student union social media”.
Why should you vote for Inam?
Inam claims his experience in management would help him with the role, not only his degree, but he has had two years of professional experience in management.
He also credits his international background, claiming “over 35-40 per cent of students at Stirling are internationals, and they need to be represented”.
His ability to speak multiple languages also helps him, speaking Urdu, Hindi, English, and learning Spanish. With many students finding the union and speaking to officers to be somewhat inaccessible or intimidating, Inam believes that his ability to speak to some students in their first language would greatly benefit the university.
To find out more about the elections and read Inam Khan’s manifesto in full click here.
Voting opens on Tuesday 27 February at 10 am.
Featured Image Credit: Stirling Student Union
2nd year politics and journalism student. Politics co-editor. Mostly just complaining.
