Murray Simpson, current president of the Students Union at Bournemouth University, is about to witness students campaign for his job by mid-march. As nominations for full-time officers positions are closing on Friday, Murray tells The Eye about his two-year experience as a full-time officer.

“You start off not knowing exactly what you’re doing. You have so much support and so much help that you really pick up skills that you can apply afterwards,” says the 22-year old as he reads some feedback saying that he was an ‘excited puppy’ when he first started. And he admits that it is really hard to do the job right from the beginning.

“You then learn that it’s all about the best interest of students and you are here to represent their views, and if you’re always doing what students tell you to do you know you’re always doing the right thing.”

Murray recalls freshers fortnight as the most exciting moment of his years as an officer. Seeing excited students, with “glitter in their eye”, as he says, and making them get involved in different activities, was a real highlight.

At only 22 years old, SUBU President has been Vice President for Education before reaching his current position. “This really opened my eyes to society,” he says.

Being VP for Education allowed Murray to work closely with academics. At that time, he felt the need to change the culture in the education system, where professional research can sometimes go too slow in comparison to a student culture that was raised with technology, and which is moving fast. “I always try to think 10 years ahead now,” he adds.

As a President, the main objetive is to keep good relations between students and the community, as well as improving safety in town and on campus. Getting students to feel like they are part of the community is a real challenge, according to him.

When talking about his plans for next year, Murray, who studied Psychology at BU, has only one answer: “Instinct.” He wants to keep his doors open and reckons the job he took for the past two years helped him build useful contacts for the future.

The graduate admits that he wents to university to get skills more than knowledge, and in that way, the position of SUBU’s President helped him a lot. He can now speak in public and gained great communication skills and confidence. “I can say I’ve tried everything with this job.”

For the applicants to his job for next year, Murray advises to smile and have confidence. But, more than anything, “you need to enjoy it. It is meant to be fun and engaging.”

Here is Murray's campaigning video from last year.