Student Government elections
As I previously was an active member of the Student Association myself, for me it was personally very interesting to observe the Student Government elections and how they are happening in another university, namely here in KIMEP. So this entry is devoted to tell you the specifics of KIMEP university Student Government elections, and how they differ from SSE Riga.
What first striked me is the BIG posters that everyone makes. And I mean it, BIG. By walking around the campus you can see posters and banners hanged between trees or on the walls from A4 paper size up to 4×6 meter size!!! Imagine 4×6 meter size banner in our school of a presidential candidate! It looks like it would be elections to be Kazakhstan's president! I don't even try to guess how much these posters costed. But KIMEP students are rich, cause tuition fee here is very big - around 7000 dollars per year. So I guess they can all afford it, but still. Many of them also made flyers, which they distribute even door to door in the dormitory! Yes, we were calmly having our supper with some guests (my “saltibarsciai”, by the way), when a bunch of guys came with flyers saying “vote for us, vote for us”. Direct marketing, so to say. Nothing much else was happening throughout the week, except for one candidate who made a free tea stand in the KIMEP Grill (cafeteria). Immediatelly reminded me of Henrijs and Marten and their free sandwiches last year. :) Or our famous politician V. Uspaskich and his concert with helicopter dropping free ice-cream (read something like that in newspaper long time ago). Cheap tricks, in other words. So, to conclude, candidates were not very creative.
Today, however, was the final day, on which presentations took place. The system is such: president candidates not just together with vice-president, as in SSE Riga, but also with 5 or 6 (don't remember) so called Senators, basically additional members of Student Government. However, in presentations only the president makes a speech. There were 5 candidating teams in total, and each president made a 10 minute speech, without any powerpoint (as in our school). It took place in the Great Hall, which could host probably some 300 students, but even though there are close to 5000 students in KIMEP, only around 50-80 were there to listen to the presentations. And I heard that usually only 10% (!) of students actually vote. This tells a lot about how much the students care about it here, and it is closely connected to the very bad reputation of Student Goverment here. Everything was in russian, but I had a few girls around me to help translate things I didn't understand.
Regarding the candidates themselves, I must say all of them looked really serious and strong. The overall view is much stronger than in SSE Riga, where, in my opinion, every year there are just 1 or 2 really strong candidates, and you can feel it from the very beginning. But I think this can be easily explained by 2 reasons: firstly, the size of our school is more than 10 times smaller, so simple statistics say that to be equal for every 1 strong candidate in our school KIMEP should have 10 strong candidates. :) Secondly, in SSE Riga its always first year students who candidate, while here, as in most big universities with 4 years of studies, candidates are much more mature and aware of the situation and problems of the university. Although they were far from perfect and they told a lot of bullshitting, all of them were concentrating on what they will do, what they promise, or what their plan is (for example, they will make Wi-Fi internet etc.). Although it once again reminded me of my good buddy Henrijs (our current SA president) - they were all concentrating on satisfying primary (basic) student needs - internet, car parking, dormitory renovation, cheaper prices in shops etc. First level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, if you know what I am talking about. :)
Tomorrow will be voting, and I already picked one candidate that I will vote for, which seemed the most serious for me. To sum up, I really enjoyed observing the elections, its a very interesting experience. Hopefully it wasn't too boring for you to read about it, as most of you are probably much less interested in it than I am. :)
Rodyk draugams
How come Aliya didn't candidate??? You could have helped her with some tactics.
Actually, elections are aproaching here in SSE Riga as well (time flies fast, too fast) so I guess after a month or so we will start receiving spam of candidates… Ok, take care Marius! Hope to hear from you soon! :)
przebojowy uporzadkowanie platnosci wewnatrz posrednictwem Internetu (w tym i mikroplatnosci) pozwalajacy podtrzymac te forme udostepniania informacji na zdrowych zasadach ekonomicznych.
i takze Microsoft stworzyl osobisty nasz numer e-bookow (rozszerzenie .lit), zaadaptowany kompilator plus tzw. Microsoft Reader, tudziez nawet specjalna wtyczke do Worda sluzaca az do kompilowania jego dokumentow. organizm ten zyskal sobie znaczna glosne imie zas miejsce w ksiegarniach internetowych, chociaz po okresie zywego zainteresowania ze okolica rynku na internetowej stronie MS Readera nie bodajze wiekszej aktywnosci.
Following study several of the weblog posts on your website now, and I really like your way of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark site list and might be checking back soon. Pls take a look at my website at the same time and let me know what you believe.
Greetings from Ohio! I’m bored to tears at work so I decided to check out your blog on my iphone during lunch break. I really like the info you present here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m shocked at how quick your blog loaded on my phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, great site!
You made some decent points there. I looked online for the concern and discovered most people will go together with together with your web page.
Hey there I am so thrilled I found your site, I really found you by mistake, while I was searching on Yahoo for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say kudos for a fantastic post and a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I donít have time to look over it all at the moment but I have bookmarked it and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a great deal more, Please do keep up the superb job. http://www.aishmark.info/user.php?login=frsatter&view=history
We absolutely love your blog and find almost all of your post’s to be what precisely I’m looking for. can you offer guest writers to write content for you personally? I wouldn’t mind creating a post or elaborating on many of the subjects you write about here. Again, awesome web site! http://www.sexbookmark.biz/user.php?login=bdelaine&view=history
Appreciating the dedication you put into your site and in depth information you offer. It’s good to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same out of date rehashed information. Excellent read! I’ve saved your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account. http://smallsip.com/user.php?login=lpanas&view=history
Please let me know if you’re looking for a article writer for your blog. You have some really good articles and I feel I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d really like to write some material for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please blast me an email if interested. Thanks!
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you design this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz respond as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to find out where u got this from. thanks a lot
Hey there! I’m at work surfing around your blog from my new iphone 4! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts! Keep up the outstanding work!
I am curious to find out what blog system you happen to be using? I’m having some minor security issues with my latest website and I’d like to find something more safeguarded. Do you have any suggestions?
Hiya! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog post or vice-versa? My blog discusses a lot of the same subjects as yours and I think we could greatly benefit from each other. If you might be interested feel free to send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you! Superb blog by the way!
Good day! I know this is kinda off topic however I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My website discusses a lot of the same subjects as yours and I believe we could greatly benefit from each other. If you happen to be interested feel free to send me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Superb blog by the way!
Currently it seems like BlogEngine is the preferred blogging platform out there right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
I am really loving the theme/design of your blog. Do you ever run into any browser compatibility issues? A few of my blog audience have complained about my site not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Chrome. Do you have any ideas to help fix this issue?
Please let me know if you’re looking for a article author for your site. You have some really great posts and I believe I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d really like to write some material for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please blast me an e-mail if interested. Cheers!
I was curious if you ever considered changing the layout of your website? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or 2 pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?
My developer is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using WordPress on several websites for about a year and am anxious about switching to another platform. I have heard very good things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can import all my wordpress content into it? Any kind of help would be really appreciated!
Do you mind if I quote a few of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your blog? My blog site is in the exact same area of interest as yours and my users would truly benefit from some of the information you present here. Please let me know if this okay with you. Regards!
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get several e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service? Bless you!
Located your article pretty remarkable indeed. I definitely enjoyed reading it therefore you make very some good details. I am going to bookmark this web site with the long term! Relly great short article.