Friday 4 November 2022 4:26pm
Otago University Students' Association Postgraduate representative for 2023 Keegan Wells.
Re-introducing a postgraduate student allowance so people can spend less time at a job and more time on their studies is one of the highest priorities for newly elected 2023 Otago University Students’ Association Postgraduate (OUSA) representative.
“You’re having to get a job, often not in your field, and it’s taking time away from time which could be spent working on your project. It can be really stressful, postgrads are quite busy people,” says Keegan Wells.
“It’s also free time that’s taken away from you.”
An allowance would give postgraduate students a bit more “control and stability” within their lives, she added.
A campaign will require a joint effort from herself, senior OUSA staff, other OUSA exec and the University to be successful, she says, and also plans on contacting StudyLink directly.
Wells says she ran for both Postgraduate Representative and International Representative as “there’s so much crossover between the two, something like 50 per cent of all international students are postgrads”.
She would like to increase the visibility of OUSA as she feels many students, undergraduate and postgraduate, are not really aware of what the organisation does.
“If you have an issue, let’s talk about it.”
Wells has just finished the first year of her Master’s in Urban Planning. She arrived in Ōtepoti Dunedin from Northern California in 2018.
-Kōrero by Koren Allpress, Internal Communications Adviser