New UvA student assessor: Angelina Senchi

The role of the student assessor is to advise the Executive Board on student interests, with a focus on issues related to students and education. The assessor will attend Board meetings every week and participate in discussions about policies to be implemented, so the perspective of students and education can be taken into account at an early stage. Close contact with students, student councils and all kinds of student associations is important to get an idea of the current issues different students are dealing with.

Visible and approachable

Over the past four years, Angelina has been involved in the Faculty Student Council of the Faculty of Humanities, first as its secretary and last year as its chair. ‘I’ve been privileged to witness how impactful it can be to communicate the students’ perspective and experience at the administrative level. Students don’t just want to be heard, they want to be listened to. Some students don’t even know that there are people and groups that they can turn to in order to share their ideas and experiences.’

Her ambition for the coming year is to change this. ‘I hope that I can gain the trust of students to the point that they share concerns with me, so that they can be raised and that we, as a university and a community, can take the best administrative way forward together. In addition, I just really enjoy meeting and getting to know more great people outside my Humanities bubble.’

From anxiety to measures against the extended duration of study

As an assessor, she wants to focus on several themes. ‘Diversity and inclusion, social safety and mental well-being will be high on my agenda by default. Furthermore, I’ve been sensing a lot of uncertainty among students lately, accompanied by a certain amount of anxiety. I want to look at ways to address this anxiety or at least open it up to discussion.’

She sees the issue of taking a stand on sensitive subjects as a point for attention. ‘I want to lower the bar for students to speak out, improve communication within our community and look out for the voices that we might miss or overlook.’ Finally, there are also political issues on the table that Angelina wants to get involved in as a student assessor, such as the Balanced Internationalisation Act and measures against the extended duration of study.

Strong communication skills, creative and versatile

Peter-Paul Verbeek, Rector Magnificus and chair of the appointments committee: ‘We’re very pleased to have Angelina on board as the new student assessor. Angelina has strong communication skills, in addition to being creative and versatile. Moreover, because of all her previous experience, she has many ties to the student community. I’m very confident that she’ll be able to put student viewpoints across effectively in Board meetings and elsewhere.’