SU Spring Elections 2026 Interviews: Raj Hacker, VP Education

In the run-up to the Warwick Students’ Union (SU) Spring Elections, The Boar offered all Full-Time Officer (FTO) candidates the opportunity to be interviewed.

Raj Hacker, candidate for the Vice President for Education position, sat down with The Boar to discuss his key campaign policies.

The interview highlighted Hacker’s ideas and pledges centring on reforming existing processes regarding assessments, self-certifications, and mitigating circumstances, as well as pledging to try and tackle the cost-of-living crisis for students.

Why did you decide to run for this position?

Drawing on three years of experience in various positions across the SU, Hacker said he wants to take what he has learned from seeing how committees in the SU operate to better push for the policies he wants to see implemented.

He highlighted that the VP Education role is the “best kind of area where [his] interests align with the interests of what [he] wants to get done”, as a role he is “very invested in and interested in” which sits at a senior position and across a number of committees.

What would be your key priorities if you were elected as VP Education?

Hacker outlined his four key priorities:

1. Tackling the cost of living crisis by keeping rents low: He highlighted the NUS’ finding that over half of students have missed a meal because of affordability, but that high education standards can only be met if students are fed. To improve this affordability he wants to push for an end to hidden fees, like paying for textbooks, as well as reducing rents on campus, which he deemed “far far too expensive”.

2. Increasing sustainability on campus by incorporating climate literacy training into student life.

3. Increasing self-certifications from two to three and standardising mitigating circumstances: He noted that this increase of self-certifications would better reflect the termly structures of the academic year. Regarding mitigating circumstances applications, Hacker highlighted, “it’s very difficult to understand” and so wants to introduce support sessions for students to help them navigate the process.

4. International student accommodations such as extended visas or reforming their monitoring point system: Noting the rise of racist rhetoric across the UK combined with the current graduate job crisis, Hacker said, “the standards that have been set out for [international students] is unfair when compared to home students” and so wants to introduce policies to “make their lives a bit easier”.

What changes do you think are necessary in terms of exams and assessments at Warwick and how would you work to achieve these?

The biggest change he wants to make is bringing forward the release of exam timetables, but he also emphasised that the extension system has a lot to be improved upon. With what he deemed “very poor explanations” about the differences across departments, especially noting the lack of standardisation in exams and assessments, Hacker highlighted that “it’s a system which is very messy, especially for joining honours students”.

Additionally, Hacker recalled when the University used to offer different assessment types that students could choose, which he wants to bring back so that students can have different experiences to the current system when it comes to examinations.

SSLCs are supposed to be the primary forum for academic feedback. Many students feel that their concerns don’t actually lead to visible change. So how would you ensure that SSLCs actually lead to tangible outcomes rather than just being discussions people have?

Immediately emphasising that the SSLC system “needs a big level of reform”, Hacker spotlighted that it currently sees very low engagement. With lots of open positions, he said it seems that many students, especially in the later years of their degrees, don’t necessarily run for SSLC.

On the faculty representatives and SU side, he wants to push for greater engagement between the SU and SSLCs, which he said is currently “very minimal”. Additionally, he wants to bring back SSLCs sitting on different committees, as well as inviting SSLC Chairs to the University Senate, given it is the second highest decision making body on campus.

He essentially pushed for streamlining the process: if departmental issues need to be extended beyond the SSLC, you go to the Faculty Representative, then the VP Education, and so on, which he said would be “far better standardisation of all of these systems”.

Humanities and arts courses across the country are being defunded more than ever and Warwick is definitely not immune to this, having seen lots of staff cuts in the past year. How would you work to safeguard humanity subjects here at Warwick?

His first pledge was to stand with staff if and when there is a staff strike, because “the staff are incredibly important to this university and staff job losses are a pretty horrible thing for many people”. He noted the impact not only on staff but also on students and vital academic experiences.

Hacker emphasised wanting to ensure that developments across the university are not at the cost of funding for the humanities, particularly calling on the “impressive” funding given to STEM departments such as with the new Science and Engineering Precinct.

Considering the University’s rising intake year on year, he said he “would make sure that this isn’t explicitly leaning towards STEM or business students”. He mentioned wanting to see humanities “survive and flourish in the world where … the government doesn’t necessarily see humanities as a viable subject to study at university”, ending saying he would make sure to lobby for the humanities subjects.

This interview, along with all other interviews for Full-Time Officer positions, can be watched in full using the link here.

You can also view a list of all candidates and their manifestos here.