orge Press sat down with Ahmad Farqleet to discuss his plans for the International and Welfare Officer role and why he is running as a candidate.
We first began asking why the role he is applying for is important for the SU: “because me being an international student, I have faced certain problems that I feel like home students, would not be able to relate to, and I want to help the Students Union and international students with their welfare problems that they face.”
Ahmad stated: “the first year that I came in, I had an impostor syndrome. I did not feel like I belonged here. And then at that time, the support wasn’t available that I needed.”
Through his experiences as an international student Ahmad wants to “help students through legal aid. That is my main goal.”
Ahmad’s background as a law student has made him want to set up legal aid clinics for international students who “come in facing visa problems to develop certain programmes that are culturally inclusive, that help students get their mental wellbeing as according to their cultures.”
He said: “The first year I came in, rental agreement was a huge problem because they had fixed term contracts. Now they have removed it, but even now they have issues with landlords where students cannot afford lawyers.”
His legal aid clinics would first of all, help international students, and secondly, create work opportunities for the students studying law. When came to the UK, he had no idea how to book accommodations, and he feels like a lot of students go through that as well.
Ahmad’s other goal is to improve the welfare and mental well-being of students. He stated “even though, for example, we have got lots of societies, for example, a Pakistani society, when I went there, I didn’t feel like it was home. It just didn’t feel like it, even though there are lots of societies. What I want to do now is to combine all of it, because the first people that I met here were Omani. They were from Oman. So, it’s not necessary for you to only interact with the people who are from your country. You can interact with everyone.”
From this he wants to build up a cultural exchange programme, through language programmes, “so that you can understand languages and cultures of different people.”
We also asked why he thinks he would be a good candidate for the role: “I’m a great candidate because I’ve experience in law. With the housing problem, since I faced that and I have actually come over it, I feel like I have got the right channels and networks where I can provide support to other students as well. I love to learn new languages and cultures. And so, whenever I meet someone new, I just want to learn about their culture and want to learn about their language.”
