Leadership race 2021: What has changed in the Sabbatical Officers system

In time for the 2021 Leadership Race, a new role of Equity Officer has been introduced to the Sabbatical team, while Women’s and Black and Minority Ethnic Students’ officers are now part-time roles.

Sabbatical officers (or “Sabbs” for short) are full-time elected officers who are in charge of the Students’ Union and represent its interest in meetings with the Provost and other high-ranking university leaders. 

At UCL, the sabbatical officers, each occupying a different position, are elected every spring by students and begin their term in office in July. They are members of the Union’s Trustee Board, UCL’s Council and a plethora of committees and working groups with the purpose of improving students’ experience at university. Some of the most impactful changes the sabbatical officers have worked to implement at UCL include additional funding for mental health services and this year’s “no detriment” package. 

In 2020, UCL’s Sabbatical Officers system was partially restructured. A new role – Equity Officer – was introduced whilst the Women’s and Black and Minority Ethnic Students’ officers became part-time positions, joining other part-time liberation officers, such as the Disabled Students’ Officer. A new Equalities Unit will also be instated in the Students’ Union starting from the 2021-2022 academic year. Made up of experienced and specialised staff, it will focus on tackling racism, discrimination, and harassment, and offering support to the liberation officers. The decision to restructure the officer positions is explained on the Students’ Union site - the new system will ensure that liberation officers receive robust and full-fledged support in their work towards a safer and more accessible campus for everyone. 

UCL’s decision to restructure the “Sabbs” positions is the result of a long term project focused on improving student representation. The Students’ Union hired the consultancy firm MiraGold in 2019 to review representation at UCL. After conducting surveys and focus groups amongst both students and staff members, the company put together a comprehensive report, which concluded that the workload of Sabbatical Officers was too demanding and that the whole system needed reshuffling. Additionally, a governance review found that the former structure was not in line with the 1994 Education Act (Section 22, 2. (d)) which states that major Union officers, meaning full-time sabbatical Officers,  must be elected by all students rather than a group as was the case before this year.

“We’ve been undertaking a review of our governance, democracy and representation structures on the Union for the past two years. We want to represent students at UCL more effectively and make it easier for students to make a change here. We also need to make it easier for students to hold those they elect to account, and influence their actions,” a Union spokesperson declared.

The six new full-time Sabbatical Officers set to be elected in March will begin their work in July and will be taking the next year off from university. The positions they will occupy are the following: Activities and Engagement Officer, Education Officer, Equity Officer, Postgraduate Officer, and Welfare and Community Officer. Up for election this month are also the 15 part-time officer positions. Part-time officers are volunteers who represent students on a wide range of issues and are in direct contact with a designated Sabbatical Officer.

Whilst the framework behind the officer positions is the same across the UK, there are slight variations at each university. For example, the London School of Economics (LSE) has five full-time sabbatical officers - a General Secretary, an Education Officer, an Activities and Development Officer, a Community and Welfare Officer, and a Postgraduate one, as well as 11 part-time officers. King’s College London has six full-time officers who occupy to a great extent the same roles as the ones at LSE, except there are two VPs for Education - one for Arts & Sciences and one for Health. At Cambridge, the Students’ Union is led by eight sabbatical officers - two presidents, two Access, Education & Participation Officers, a BME Officer, a Disabled Students’ Officer, a Women’s Officer, and a Welfare & Community Officer. 

UCL’s Leadership Race timetable is as follows:

Feb 1:   Nominations open

March 2: Nominations for Sabbatical, Part-time, and NUS Delegate positions close

March 9:  Manifesto Deadline

March 11:  Candidates announced

March 15: Voting opens

March 19: Voting closes and winners are announced

July New team starts

To vote in the upcoming election, you have to be part of the Students’ Union, which you automatically become once enrolled at UCL, unless you specifically choose to opt out. If you want to find out more about the Leadership Race, you can attend one of the many Election drop-ins on Zoom here.