Welcome Candidates!

Congratulations on taking this exciting step in your student journey! Standing in the Full Time Officer elections shows real courage and commitment to making positive change on campus. Whether you're feeling nervous, excited, or a bit of both - that's completely normal. Remember, every successful candidate started exactly where you are now.

Over the next few weeks, you'll learn new skills, meet amazing people, and have the chance to share your vision for improving student life at GCU. This page will help you navigate your campaign journey, but always remember - your passion for helping fellow students is your greatest strength. You've got this!

Election Rules and attending the Candidates' Briefing 

The Election Rules set out the parameters of the election and what you can and cannot do. They are really important to know!

The Candidates' Briefing will be an opportunity to hear straight from the Deputy Returning Officer (the person who organises the election and enforces the rules) what the rules are and what they mean in practice.

Candidates must attend! If a candidate (or their designated nominee) does not attend, they will be withdrawn from the election. 

This year, the briefing will be delivered online via MSTeams.    

The Candidates' Briefing will take place on Friday 13th February 2026 from 2pm to 4pm online.

Below is a short video produced several years ago. Most of what it covers is still accurate but there is a few changes (like there is now no campainging allowed in Caledonian Court). The most up to date info will be at the MANDATORY candidates briefing session. 

Developing and writing your Manifesto

When you submit a nomination, you will be asked to provide a manifesto no more than 300 words long. This is what students will see on the voting platform (along with your picture). Your manifesto is your chance to share your ideas and vision with voters - think of it as your written pitch to fellow students explaining who you are, what you want to change, and why they should elect you as their representative. 

Sounds daunting? Don't worry, fam, we got you! We will be hosting a Manifesto Training led by a former GCU Full Time Officer candidate and the Deputy Returning Officer on Friday 6th February at 11am online. If you can't make it or want to get a jump start on it, the tools we use in the training are below.

To ensure fairness, we can only give insights on strategy and tactics during training events as they are open to all candidates. Attending training is highly recommended but optional. 

Manifesto writing resources

Want to see examples of manifestos?

Visit www.GCUstudents.co.uk/resources and type 'manifestos' into the search box.

Equally, search 'Student Union manifestos' into a search engine.

 

Manifesto Planning & Preparation Activity Sheets

S.M.A.R.T Objective Worksheet

S.W.O.T Analysis Worksheet

National Union Of Students' Eight Manifesto Writing Tips

A Simple Manifesto Template

Developing your campaign skills

We've compiled a resource for Candidates about how to campaign online and will be developing a self-paced training for further campaign skills, so keep your eyes out for that!