The first interview in our “Talking Student Partnership” series features Jay Brown, President of Academic Life at Queen Margaret University Students’ Union in Edinburgh. In this video, Jay reflects on his past two years as President and talks us through topics such as: 

- Changing learner needs 
- Neurodiversity and disability 
- Their #1 in Scotland National Student Survey ranking for representing students’ academic interests 
- Their unique approach to gatherings of their course representatives 
- and an exchange on student partnership with Radboud University in the Netherlands 

Podcast Chapters
00:00 Introduction
00:37 Welcome and Jay's Journey
3:17 Changing Learner Needs
5:47 Adapting our Representation Models
07:20 Neurodiverse and Disabled Students Network
10:34 Support for Trans and Nonbinary Students
14:10 Question of the Semester Campaign
16:25 National Student Survey Ranking (#1 in Scotland)
17:57 Class Reps' Relationships with Students
20:04 Academic Council Meetings
24:15 Visit from Radboud University
26:10 What's Next for Jay?
28:02 Wrap Up and Close


'Talking student partnership” is a series of occasional video interviews featuring students, institutional staff, students’ association staff, and other student partnership experts from Scotland’s tertiary education sector and beyond. The interviews aim to capture perspectives on student partnership and reflections on good practice on key topics within learning, teaching, and the student experience. 

To keep up to date on the full interview series, visit our webpage. Be sure to also follow sparqs on our social media: 

Twitter/X: @sparqs_scotland 

Bluesky: @sparqs-scotland.bsky.social 

LinkedIn: sparqsscotland 

Instagram: sparqs_scotland