Students from the University of Algarve (UAlg) will again elect the direction of the Academic Association next Tuesday, December 5th. In 2017, there are two candidate lists, headed by Pedro Ornelas (List A) and Daniela Vairinhos (List C), who were once colleagues in a former board of AAUAlg, but who are now on opposite sides of the barricade.
O Sul Informação and Rádio Universitária do Algarve RUA FM interviewed both candidates for the General Directorate of AAUAlg, in a program Impressões which, this time, had a debate format. A conversation that made it clear that there are many points in common, in the plans of the two lists, and even in the posture of the two candidates. The difference, it was noticed, is in the great priority.
If, on the one hand, Pedro Ornelas, who was part of the team of the outgoing association's president, Rodrigo Teixeira, in his two terms of office, defends that the most important thing is to intervene at the level of social action, Daniela Vairinhos, who was one of the elements of the Board Geral de Nuno Lopes and who was with Rodrigo Teixeira in his 1st term, argues that, above all, it is urgent to bring AAUAlg closer to students.
“In my opinion, the Academic Association has a purpose – not least because it has this capacity – to be a tool for social action. Académica has to be close to the students and, in that way, it has to be aware of certain problems. From that moment on, your responsibility is to get there and try to solve them», believes Pedro Ornelas.
Hence, the candidate who heads the List A highlights this one among the pillars of his candidacy. “Support to needy students, with the creation of scholarships by the AAUAlg, could be a reality next year”, he assured.
“There are displaced students and others who really need financial help. I believe that if we create a scholarship in each Organic Unit, we will be giving fundamental help to those who do not have this possibility. We have to ensure that everyone, without exception, can study in Public Higher Education. If this is not a reality, what happens to the Social State?” asked Pedro Ornelas.
“Right now, we can't go crazy and say that we're going to create 30 or 40 exchanges, because that's not possible. AAUAlg has neither the size nor the financial resources for this. But if we create a grant per organic unit, it is perfectly feasible and does not make us a giant dent», he added.
Daniela Vairinhos, for her part, chose as her main focus “communication with students and bringing the Academic Association closer to students. Many of our proposals are in this direction, namely with regard to the General Meetings of Students (RGA), which take place by organic unit», he said.
"We want to adapt a system that was created two years ago at the Faculty of Science and Technology (FCT), which involves using students who are representatives for years and per course - who must necessarily be in these RGA to represent their courses - and provide a direct contact between the groups and AAUAlg, as well as with the director of the units, who is usually at the meetings», illustrated the student who heads List C.
Daniela Vairinhos also wants to make usual a practice that already takes place during the Caloiro Reception, in which there is direct communication, "by SMS or in person" between the representatives of the AAUAlg and the usual commissions.
“Everything that Académica does at the pedagogical level will be informed by our vice-presidents to the representatives per year and per course, so that the message and the image pass and it is not just a post or a communiqué from AAUAlg”, he defended.
All so that students know «what is going on and what we do for them. It's being with them in the classroom, making direct contact and being close to the students», he concluded.
The strengthening of the approach to students is, moreover, what Daniela Vairinhos would change, in relation to what has been done in recent years. Also because, like Pedro Ornelas, he considers the work that has been done by the previous General Directorates of AAUAlg to be meritorious, in terms of finances and the structuring of the association, seeing no reasons for fundamental changes.
«The focal point is really communication and the way students see the Academic Association. I don't say that vision is bad, but sometimes it is non-existent. Many of the students are not interested in what goes on in our academy and this can be seen in their participation. In about 7 students there were last year, 1600 voted. The abstention rate is very high and that means that, although we are working for them, many of the students don't notice», defended the candidate for AAUAlg.
Daniela Vairinhos added that the question “of the increase in the number of scholarships” is also a concern of her candidacy.
Likewise, when it comes to communication with students, Pedro Ornelas does not devalue its relevance, even defending that «it is fundamental and one of the pillars that has been defended for years by the AAUAlg». But, he says, "it is difficult to reach everyone, because we are an academy with more than 8 students."
The first element of List A assumes itself as a continuation candidate of the current General Direction and, as such, says that it will maintain the same line. Hence, I prefer to highlight what is to keep.
«I want to maintain the good financial management that has been done at the Academic Association and the recovery that is being achieved», he considered.
In other fields, such as the issue of tuition fees, both candidates are in tune: there can be no increases and even lower.
The debate between the two candidates for the presidency of AAUAlg can be heard in full here.
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