Gia Arora: Candidate for HSS Faculty Rep

By Julie Capkova

As the whole campus prepares to vote in the upcoming student elections, The Print has interviewed a number of candidates standing for representative and executive positions. All candidates were invited to participate. Those who did not respond are not included. Other candidates are available and students can see all of them on qmsu.org/elections. Anything mentioned in the text reflects the candidates’ opinions, not The Print’s. The length of the interviews does not imply preferences for a candidate, but instead ensures that we are factually reporting on their interviews. 

Gia Arora, a HSS Rep candidate, says that she has taken part in most elections at QMUL. ‘I usually run because I have a problem I want to fix,’ she says. This time she chose the HSS Rep position because ‘there were things that I wanted to fix that other people did not care enough about. That is why I am running, because I want to fix those things.’ 

The issues that she would like to focus on, if elected, range from timetabling issues, module selections, study spaces, assignment feedback, to career options, and communication and engagement. 

Gia recognises that timetables are created centrally to avoid conflict, which makes any change to this system rather complicated. ‘I don't assume it will be easy,’ she says. She however proposes uniting across faculties to decide on what to prioritise and what to focus on when it comes to scheduling timetables. This would establish the general idea of ‘what a good timetable looks like’ and create a solution that could then be presented to the university. ‘I feel that if we manage to give them a solution rather than just a problem it would make it easier.’ She then continues by saying: ‘I don't assume it will be easy, I think it'll be really messy, and I assume it will take a while. And there’s a chance it’ll take more than one term because it is a structural change.’ 

When it comes to module selection, Gia suggests improving it by adding student feedback or even ratings. ‘Being able to see what other students thought and felt about the module would be quite beneficial when it comes to choosing them and when deciding which modules are worth continuing to provide. So it would benefit both students and the faculty itself.’ 

Gia states that, if elected, study spaces across campus and standardising feedback for assignments, will be the first two issues she would like to address. ‘There are 25 000 students in HSS and around 30 spaces. You cannot expect such a few spaces to cut it.’ This could be solved by adding a certain number of rooms on each floor of Bancroft that students can use. Another thing that she is ‘looking forward to fixing’ is standardising feedback to ensure that it is clear and consistent. 

One of the biggest issues at QMUL, according to Gia, is the ‘lack of awareness of things,’ referring to poor engagement and communication. She believes there are many opportunities and events for students at QMUL, but people are simply ‘not aware’. She specifically states: ‘There’s so much communication coming through. But there’s so much that nobody wants to read it.’ She believes this could be improved through using better platforms to reach students, such as social media, or even posters around the campus. 

While she does not expect to carry out all of her manifesto points during only one year, she would love to see more study spaces and standardised feedback by the end of her term. She continues by stating that success for her would mean: ‘If I am able to make progress, and when I pass the role forward to whoever’s coming next and they are able to build on that progress. As long as students are aware that I've done something and that I have represented the student body to the best of my abilities and I've done what I could to improve the student experience at the HSS, that is a success to me.’ 

Gia further says that if elected, she will ensure that students ‘are a part of the conversation and it’s not just me fighting and them not knowing that I am fighting.’ She plans on actively using social media and newsletters to ensure that students know ‘what’s going on behind closed doors.’ She summarises this by saying: ‘The first thing that I am going to do differently is be very loud about everything that I am doing.’ 

She concludes by encouraging people to vote and engage with the elections. ‘At the end of the day, when you speak to your reps and they push forward your feedback, it does something. At the very least you're telling the university you're dissatisfied with something [...] That's what I want people to know, to just engage with elections, for your own sake.’ 

Voting runs from 23 to 26 March 2026. 

While this candidate is part of The Print team, they were not involved in any part of the election coverage and have been treated the same way as any other candidate to avoid conflict of interests.