Hello! I’m Scarlet James, and I am incredibly proud, excited, and still slightly amazed to be beginning my term as your new Open SU President.
I am a Psychology student, a proud Welsh student and, most importantly, someone who understands that studying with The Open University is rarely “just studying”. OU students balance assignments and tutorials alongside employment, caring responsibilities, disabilities, financial pressures, and everything else life decides to throw at us, usually just before a deadline.
Before being elected President, I volunteered across several areas of the Student Union, including as a Student Representative for WELS-ECYS, a member of Student Senate, a Wales Panel member, and co-lead of the Wales Club. These roles gave me the opportunity to listen to students from many different backgrounds, learn about the challenges they face, and see how powerful student communities can be.
I am also delighted to welcome our new Student Leadership Team.
Each member brings their own experiences, ideas, passions, and areas of expertise. We will not always agree on everything, and I do not think a strong team should, but we share a commitment to representing students and working together to make a positive difference. I am looking forward to learning from them, supporting them, and seeing what we can achieve as a team over the next two years.
What do we hope to work on?
My approach to this role will be based on openness rather than perfection, collaboration rather than assumptions, and honesty rather than unrealistic promises. I will never promise that every idea can be delivered, but I can promise that I will listen, ask difficult questions, and be transparent about what we are trying to achieve.
- One of our biggest priorities is strengthening student voice. Students deserve to know who represents them, how they can share their experiences, and what happens after they provide feedback. I want us to explore clearer communication and stronger feedback loops, so that students can see how their voices influence decisions.
- I also want to look at how we can modernise Open SU and communicate with students where they already are. This includes reviewing our digital presence, social media, website, newsletters, and short-form content to make information easier to find, understand and engage with.
- Building community and belonging will be another important focus. Distance learning should never have to mean learning alone. Clubs, societies, events, volunteering and student-led communities can make an enormous difference, particularly for students who may feel isolated. I hope we can strengthen the support and visibility available to these communities, while creating more opportunities for them to collaborate and learn from one another.
- Equity, diversity and inclusion must remain at the heart of our work. I want to ensure that underrepresented students, including BAME, LGBTQIA+, disabled and neurodivergent students, are genuinely included in conversations and decision-making. Inclusion should not be treated as an occasional project; it should shape how we communicate, plan and represent students every day.
- We will also be exploring ideas around student success, creativity, recognition, employability and innovation. That could include clearer and more accessible resources, practical support for students, opportunities to celebrate student achievements, and thoughtful conversations about how new technology, including AI, might support students responsibly and ethically.
Starting points
These are starting points rather than a finished list. The best ideas will come from listening to students and working with our representatives, volunteers, clubs, societies, staff and wider OU community.
Over the next two years, I want students to feel that their Student Union is visible, approachable and relevant to them. Whether you are joining the OU for the first time, returning after a break or have been part of this community for years, you should know that Open SU belongs to you.
I am excited to begin this chapter alongside our new Student Leadership Team, but we cannot shape the future of Open SU alone. We need your experiences, your challenges, your ideas and, occasionally, your willingness to tell us when something simply is not working.
Whether you are a day one student or a day 1,000 student, your voice matters, and it deserves to be heard.