Officer Blogs

Education Officer Blog

Hi, my name is Matt, and I am your Education Officer for this year.

I first came to Keele in 2019 from Guildford in Surrey to study English and American Literature. I first got involved in the Students’ Union when I joined Causal Gaming in my first year. Since then, I become more involved by going to Union General Meetings (UGMs), becoming a Student Voice Rep and being a part of Union Assembly.  

I am interested in video games and rock climbing. I have also previously been social secretary and technician for the Casual Gaming Society and have been Treasurer and then Captain of the Mountaineering Club, which I first joined in 2nd year after spending my first year in lockdown during the pandemic.  

My role is to support your studies and ensure that you get the most out of your experience at Keele. I am responsible for a number of projects, including Student Voice Representatives, whereby your opinions can be acted on at both a course and school level. My role also includes making sure that your voice is heard and acted on, as well as providing change to university processes, including Exceptional Circumstances.

One thing you wish you had known before you came to Keele

I wish I had known about opportunities like being a voice rep or volunteering before I arrived, as I only found out about these things in my second year and I hugely regret not knowing about voice reps in my first year, as I would have joined. 

Talk to me about:

  • Becoming a Voice Rep or a Faculty Officer 
  • Study Spaces 
  • Academic Mentors 
  • Timetabling 
  • Issues with your course of study 
  • Accessibility of resources 

Email me at su.educationofficer@keele.ac.uk

Mon 01 Dec 2025

December AGM 2025

Posted on Mon 01 Dec 2025 at 08:42

Hi everyone! This year I have been working to improve your experience in a few different areas within the academic side of the university. If you have any questions or feedback around anything below (such as AI) please get in contact with me as it would be great to hear your views!

Study Spaces Survey – Open now until January!

· I’m currently gathering views on the student experience of studying on campus through my study spaces survey. It would be great to get as many undergraduate and postgraduate students are welcome to take part as the data gathered will be passed on to the university in the new year.

 

Brand New Voice Reps Structure

· This semester I have supported the recruitment and training of our new Programme and School Voice Reps and Faculty Officers as part of the changes brought in by the voice rep review last year. The review helped to re-balance the workload of each voice rep role and has improved student representation in undergraduate, postgraduate and apprenticeship courses across Keele.

 

Improving Appeals

· This year I have been working with the university to improve the student experience of the appeals process and pushing the university to be more transparent with students over its appeals and academic misconduct cases.

 

Student Rights Handbook

· I’m currently looking into creating a student rights handbook. This will bring together your academic, housing and part-time work rights all into one place so it makes it easier for students to know and understand what their rights are whilst studying at university.

 

Office for Students quality of education consultation

· The OfS currently has a consultation open on its proposed changes to how education quality is assessed at universities. I am working on putting a response together on behalf of Keele students and the SU to ensure students' voices are being heard in how their university own education is assessed in the future.

 

Improving Student Records Processes

· This year I have been pushing the university to improve the policies relating to reassessment and progression to ensure undergraduate have the right support as continue through their course and ensure there is consistency in how these policies are applied for postgraduate students.

 

Helping to Reduce Language Barriers

· This semester, me and Zoe have been pushing the university to get academic policies such as appeals made available in other languages to help support international students who have difficulties with language barriers when they first arrive at Keele.

 

AI Usage in Assessment

· Last year I helped contribute to the creation of AI guidance for assessment and pushed for the university to take a consistent position over students' use of AI. The next part of this is reviewing the impact the guidance has had so far to ensure students are benefiting from it and are not being unfairly penalised as well as reviewing AI use in assessment feedback.

 

Improving Timetabling:

· This year I’ve been continuing to push the university for improvements to the timetable as students continue to experience different issues. I have also become part of a new group which is overseeing the progression of the new university timetabling system which hopefully will result in many of the timetable issues students have had to deal over the past few years being fixed.