Photo of Professor Buitendijk

Missed the VC’s Q&A? Take a look at what she had to say

Tuesday evening saw Vice Chancellor Professor Simone Buitendijk sit down with LSTV –  your student television station – to answer your questions.

The event was a real success, with deeply insightful questions put to the Vice Chancellor covering a host of topics, from decolonisation to student mental health and tuition fees.

If you weren’t able to make it but still want to hear what Professor Buitendijk had to say, take a look at LSTV’s video playlist for individual questions and answers, designed to let you watch in full or select the topics that matter most to you. We worked to select questions to sufficiently cover every topic submitted, and hope you found the session as illuminating as we did. All the questions from the night are listed below in full.

We’d like to express our thanks to Professor Buitendijk for her time and insight, to LSTV for their fantastic facilitation of the event and to everybody who tuned in and submitted questions.

Questions

  • What does a Vice-Chancellor do and how is the role relevant to students?
  • What are the most important things for you to do over the next 12 months?
  • How will the university commit to helping with students’ mental health problems this year?
  • Are there any immediate changes you think need to be made at the University today? What do you believe the University will look like in 10 years time?
  • Based on all of the strikes last year, how will you deal with the issues faced by staff so that students do not lose out on valuable teaching time again?
  • What resources and ideas are you investing into empowering trans students at Leeds Uni?
  • Will the University of Leeds declare a Climate Emergency?
  • What do you hope to achieve as a VC at Leeds University about the engagement between home and international students?
  • The coronavirus pandemic, and Government response, have exacerbated inequalities in Higher Education for disadvantaged students, what steps are you taking to address these? How can we ensure that higher education remains accessible when the cost of being a student continues to rise?
  • Barclays Bank, our main banking provider, is the biggest financier of fossil fuels in Europe, making our institution complicit with the climate breakdown. Would you be in favour of cutting financial ties with Barclays Bank?
  • How would the Vice Chancellor respond to those who argue that the University has encouraged and is continuing to encourage students to remain in Leeds, even when doing so is to the detriment of their physical, mental, or financial wellbeing?
  • Are you going to be fighting on behalf of students for a rebate on tuition fees from the government?
  • Is the University of Leeds going to introduce a no detriment policy or safety net for the January and summer assignments, to protect the grades and academic integrity of students from the effects of covid-19, like that implemented last summer?
  • What advice would the Vice Chancellor give to students who, due to the coronavirus pandemic, no longer feel able to continue living in Leeds, but are unable to terminate their costly accommodation contracts, both for University accommodation and in the private sector?
  • We have seen the movement across universities in the UK demanding decolonisation of our institutions. From Rhodes must fall in Oxford to Occupy in Warwick and the divestment campaign here in Leeds. Is the new VC committed to decolonisation of our university?
  • What would be the approach that the University of Leeds will take to integrate intelligence in online education?
  • How do we maintain the sense of a connected University of Leeds community whilst not all physically present on campus?