Omar Ouadaa: Candidate for President

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. 

Omar Ouadaa, running for the position of Students’ President, says he decided to run ‘early in the year,’ as he took inspiration from the current President, Diya. ‘I thought what she's been doing is admirable [...] and I want to build on the foundation that she’s left.’ 

When asked what makes him the best person for this position, he replied ‘I will preface this by saying that I respect all of my fellow candidates. It takes a lot of courage to run, but I think I am the best candidate because I have the most comprehensive plan. I will never make an empty promise.’ Omar then adds that for every promise he does make, he has a clear cut explanation of why and how he will implement it. ‘With all due respect to my fellow candidates, I don’t think you can say the same thing about everyone.’ 

He says that what inspired him about Diya was mostly the ‘fostering a culture of collaboration.’ Out of the policies she has implemented over the last year and that he wants to build on is the ‘commitment to security on campus and the women’s only spaces. His vision is to push the university to create permanent women only spaces around certain areas such as libraries between certain hours of the day. ‘As much as it would be ideal, it is unreasonable to expect somewhere to be women’s only 24/7, especially around the libraries.’  

He adds that besides following up on Diya’s foundation, he has a few flagship policies on his own. These include fixing eduroam, and a complete reform of the QMUL mobile app, which he believes would further improve the students’ experience. He adds that these issues can be addressed through the collaboration with the IT team at QMUL, which he views as ‘receptive and collaborative.’ 

Omar also expresses his concerns when it comes to the freedom of expression and speech on campus. ‘Last year we saw a lot of student protests, a lot of people using their voice, and I totally support that cause. I find it so respectable and admirable that they stand for what they believe in.’ He however adds that this year he hasn't ‘really seen the same.’ When asked why he believes this is the case, he replied ‘I am not sure, because there are so many causes for people to protest about [...] I don’t think I need to go on about how current affairs will be affecting students here.’ He believes this could be solved by approaching the university ‘because I am aware they have taken actions in regards to student protests [...] this would mean evaluating why they have taken the actions they have.’ 

If elected, Omar would first like to focus on the SU’s issues with finances. ‘For any of my policies to work, there needs to be decent financial backing,’ he says. Omar plans to work with the elected trustees to evaluate where the SU is financially at right now, look at commercial spending and ‘look at how we can cut back on unnecessary, or wasteful spending, in order to support projects elsewhere.’ 

When asked what he believes is the biggest issue students currently face, he says that in his understanding it is ‘the academic experience.’ He specifically refers to unclear or unhelpful feedback. ‘I will push the university to introduce a basic standard of feedback. A basic standard for every member of the faculty to reach.’ 

When asked what he would do differently from Diya, the current Students’ President, he replied: ‘As I’ve said I want to build on her foundation and the culture that she’s set. The only things I’d do differently would be going further [...] in terms of pushing my projects to be done, trying to push for a visible campus change, lobbying the university and explaining to them clearly why these changes are desperately necessary for students’ 

In his understanding, success would mean delivering on every promise he has made. When asked if that is possible, he replied: ‘It’s important to aim high. I think students deserve a president who is extremely ambitious and who will fight for what they promised.’ 

He concludes by encouraging students to ‘vote with their conscience.’ He believes that: ‘It's extremely important for student democracy that when you come to vote, you read everyone’s manifesto and you vote for whoever you agree with the most. I think it’s only fair that every candidate gets their chance to say what they want. You can only make a decision after having really involved yourself with the candidates, because after all, this is the person who will represent you to the university for the rest of the year.’ 

Voting runs from 23 to 26 March 2026.