Pay
You’ll receive £25,500 (from June 2025), salaried for 12 months with 46 days annual leave. The pay is on par with the UK average for recent graduates whilst the annual leave is way more than the standard 28 days.

Training
The role of Full Time Officer comes with extensive training opportunities. Over the summer, you'll take part in residential NUS's Lead and Change training where you will get to meet other Officers from all around the UK, sparqs residential training and lots of Students' Association in-house training.

Location
Located in the heart of Glasgow's vibrant city centre - right on campus where you already spend your days - with excellent bus, train, and subway connections at your doorstep.

Mentoring
Throughout your year in office, you’ll be mentored by our team of staff who will support, challenge and motivate you to get the most from your experience.

Agency
In collaboration with the other Full Time Officer, you will create a bespoke remit area. So if you're passionate about societies, sports, or sustainability, for example, you can lead the work in these areas not just make the tea or put together the pitch deck for your boss.

Values based organisation
Work in an organisation that shares your values and is dedicated to improving your fellow students' lives.

Experience
Experience will include: leading campaigns, managing projects, overseeing budgets, communicating and teamworking skills.

Trusteeship
In your role as a trustee of the charity you’ll not only gain invaluable insight into how our organisation works, you’ll also make real decisions that shape our future. Find out more about our Trustee Board.

Employability
Leading an organisation with a £875,000 budget, before you’ve left university, puts you in a great position. Past officers have found their experience in the role of great benefit when applying for graduate careers.

This recruitment pack provides more information on what you will gain from being a Full Time Officer and benefits of the role.

The election booklet may not display correctly on mobile divices. If this is the case, click here.

The Full Time Officer role at GCU is unique in Scotland in that each Vice President leads a School, rather than having a single Vice President Education for the whole university. This means you'll be engaging directly with students and representing their interests to School leadership.

Beyond enriching the academic experience, Full Time Officers represent students and lead initiatives within their remit areas—decided collaboratively by the Officer team. From championing representation networks for marginalised students to supporting sports development or advocating for better mental health and wellbeing, you’ll work across a wide range of impactful areas.

Be inspired by some of the campaign wins of previous Full Time Officers. What could you achieve while in office?

Jodie takes us through a Day in the Life of a Full Time Officer:

Hear from former FTOs—Adil, Tabitha, Susan and Yetunde—as they reflect on their experiences:

Any registered GCU student studying a programme from the Glasgow or London Campus and has completed at least one trimester at GCU is eligible to stand to be a Full Time Officer. 

You don’t need to be in your final year, in the past many officers have taken a year out to lead the Students’ Association before returning to finish their degree. In fact, this might be the better option for those studying on professionally registered courses.

A student from the London Campus has previously been elected. However, any elected Full Time Officer will be required to work from the Glasgow Campus.

We have had several international students elected to be a Full Time Officer in the past. To be eligible, you need to be currently on a registered GCU programme of study (note: not including the "grace period"  on your visa after your course has finished to enable resits etc. We use the registration data from GCU to determine eligibility). The University would be required to sponsor any international student with a visa. International students may be required to pay for their visa costs, this includes if an international student takes a break from their studies to be a Full Time Officers and wishes to return to their studies. More information about immigration requirements is provided by UKCISA here and potential candidates who are subject to visa requirements are encouraged to speak to the GCU VISA Team. We encourage any international student to email elections@GCUstudents.co.uk with any questions.

If successfully elected as a Full Time Officer you will become an employee and trustee of the organisation. This means that you’ll need to meet a small number of legal requirements outlined in the Charity Trustee Declaration Form. 

Like any job, there is a selection method for choosing the right person for the role. As this is a leadership position representing GCU students, it's up to GCU students to decide who is best to represent them. Whilst standing in an election can be daunting (like any job interview!), it can also be a rewarding process in itself. Whether you win or not, you’ll gain great experience through running your election campaign which is an excellent CV booster—demonstrating motivation, determination and hopefully creativity too!

1. Deciding to stand

Take a look at the Role Description and speak to the current Full Time Officers about their experiences.

Our Full Time Officers Officers get to decide on which areas they'd like to work on at the start of their term of office so also consider which aspects of the Students' Association interests you the most. 

Find out about campaigning in the Full Time Officer Elections.

2. Nominating yourself

Nominations open on Monday 3rd February 2025 at 10am for the Full Time Officer Elections 2025.

You will need to be logged into our website to nominate yourself. You are required to submit a headshot photo of yourself and your manifesto text when you submit your nomination. A manifesto is what you hope to achieve whilst in the role and why people should vote for you. 

If you have any questions or problems submitting your nomination then email elections@GCUstudents.co.uk well before the close of nominations on Friday 21st February 2025 at 12noon, to give us a chance to resolve any issues.

Nominate

3. Getting elected

To be successful you’ll need to convince your fellow students that you’re the best person for the role. That might sound daunting, but there’s plenty of support on offer to you.

Previous Full Time Officers have overcome all sorts of challenges whilst campaigning—don't let the election myths stop you from standing!

We’ll be putting campaign advice online to help you start planning, and all candidates will need to attend a Candidates’ Briefing as well as optional manifesto writing and campaign training. 

You will also get up to £30 from us to fund your campaign.