Md Samiu Hossain is a current representative for the Schulich School of Engineering, running for re-election. He is in his second year of mechanical engineering.
The Gauntlet interviewed Hossain to discuss his goals and platform.
Hossain’s platform includes strengthening advocacy for international students, including starting an International Students’ Association on campus:
“This is just to make sure that we can advocate for stronger representation for international students and make their voices heard in decision-making spaces and better connect them with SU resources as well,” he said.
Hossain explained what gaps currently exist that the proposed International Students’ Association would fill.
“A lot of the times international students are not represented well enough in like decision making bodies,” Hossain said. “If you're an international student yourself, there's a lot of things that general feedback won't help you with and you need really specific feedback.”
“I've already connected with other international students. Our VP Internal of the SU is also supporting us in this initiative,” he explained.
Hossain plans to have the organization public by the end of the semester.
Hossain’s platform also advocates for furthering academic transparency and accessibility, particularly around financial costs.
“There has to be greater transparency on what [students are] actually getting into [... such as] additional course costs, things like paywalled assignments, online platforms that require payment, textbooks, lab materials or any design equipment that you need,” he explained. “And in the future, the goal is to remove these fees completely. Right now we're talking with our Dean, Dr. Nygren, about this, and he's going to have more meetings with us on this topic.”
Hossain is advocating for more clarity in academic advising and degree-planning, and wants course outlines to be made public for Engineering students prior to enrollment.
Lastly, Hossain plans to advocate for affordability and tuition. He hopes to do this by gathering feedback from students.
“We have created surveys that are going to go up in the upcoming weeks where [students] can fill out their opinions about tuition and affordability and how they feel about the increases,” Hossain said. “We're also going to be tabling [...] in the engineering faculty [...] We're going to have a box as well, where they can write it on paper and then put it in as well.”
Hossain plans to bring student feedback from the surveys and tabling to the Tuition and Fees Consultation Committee.
When asked why he’s the ideal candidate for the position, Hossain explained how he has gained valuable experience from already representing Engineering students.
“At the end of the day, I just want to listen and I want to help people out,” Hossain said. “I just want to make meaningful advocacy and make sure I can make an impact on the student body I'm representing.”
All undergraduate students can vote through their my.ucalgary.ca Student Centre from 9 a.m. on Oct. 6 to 4 p.m. on Oct. 8. Visit the SU website to read all candidate platforms.
