The Graduate Students’ Union (GSU) has voted this evening to lobby the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) to introduce a full-time postgraduate officer.
This evening, at a meeting of the GSU’s council, members voted to advocate for increased postgraduate student representation at a national level.
At USI Congress last March, a motion to introduce a new Vice-President for Postgraduate was delayed for a year. The motion, which was proposed by Dublin City University Students’ Union (DCUSU), would have seen the addition of the new officer. The decision was taken to postpone the vote, however, after then-President Annie Hoey said that the vote would happen the following year after the union had a chance to assess its financial position.
Next week, USI will host its annual congress and the motion will be revisited. GSU President Shane Collins is the only member of the union attending congress as part of the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU).
Postgraduate representatives from unions around the country have been pushing for increased representation on a
In recent years, the USI has introduced a full-time Irish Language Officer and a Dublin Regional Officer.
Speaking to The University Times in September, USI Vice-President for Academic Affairs Oisín Hassan said that the current “aim and hope” is to have a vote on whether to introduce a postgraduate officer at the next congress. He warned, however, that this won’t be the “silver bullet” that people hope it will be.
Trinity and the University of Limerick are the only two universities in Ireland to have a separate students’ union for postgraduates.
Aoife Kearins contributed reporting to this piece.
