DMU congratulated after thousands of students register to vote

A DMU campaign has seen close to 3,000 students register to vote in Leicester, giving them an essential voice in local and national politics.

REGISTERED: DMU students and staff with Jon Ashworth MP

Last year, the Government introduced the Individual Electoral Registration System (IER) which meant every eligible person had to register to vote individually, including students living at their term-time address.

This particularly affected students, because the change in law meant that universities could no longer complete electoral registration on their behalf.

In order to help its students living within Leicester, DMU worked closely with Leicester City Council to develop a system which offered them the opportunity to register automatically when logging into the student intranet 'myDMU'. This is an online tool which enables students to do everything from submit assignments to read the latest campus news.

With the help of the DMU internal communications team and the De Montfort Students’ Union (DSU), a phenomenal 97 per cent of eligible students responded.

As a result, an extra 2,774 students have now joined the electoral register in Leicester, giving them the right to vote in local, regional and national elections.

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Leicester South MP Jon Ashworth, whose constituency includes the DMU campus, met with students and staff today (FRI) to congratulate them for running the campaign and signing up to it.

He was hugely impressed to see such large numbers of students keen to register. 

Mr Ashworth said: “I'm very grateful to the staff at De Montfort University and the Student Union for their amazing work in registering so many students that would not have had a voice if this registration system had not existed.

“I would like to thank the Vice Chancellor of De Montfort University for his commitment to registering as many students as possible from the University.

“Dominic’s recognition of the importance of students registering, and giving Higher Education a voice, was vital to the implementation of the system.”

Professor Dominic Shellard, Vice-Chancellor of DMU, added: “The successful registration of nearly 3,000 students is testament to DMU’s commitment to ensuring that all student voices are heard.

“This is another excellent example of working in partnership and I am grateful for the work undertaken by colleagues along with De Montfort Students’ Union and Leicester City Council.”

Third Year Pharmacy students Fawzia Tarki, Mariyah Zamakda and Farhanu Panchbhaya, all from Leicester, came to meet the MP.

Farhanu said: "I think the myDMU registration scheme was such a good idea. So many more students have become aware of their rights and the fact they can have a voice and that has to be good."

Fawzia, who lives in Jon Ashworth's constituency, said: "Laws affect students as much as anyone else and we need to have a voice in the House of Commons. We should take part in elections. It was not that long ago that we did not have a vote and generations of people have fought to earn us that right."

Mariyah, another constituent, added: "There are so many policies which affect us and as students we should be putting our opinions forward. Tuition fees were introduced and there was a cut in the maintenance grant and we all need to register to have a say on these issues."

Jon Lees, Deputy Director of Student and Academic Services (SAAS), led the initiative with the support of Jason Ferguson, Davina Moore-Read and Atul Mamtora from the university’s ITMS department, as well as DMU’s Internal Communications team and the DSU.

He said: “I am delighted that the efforts of staff and the DSU helped drum up such huge support for the initiative and ensure the student voice is heard loud and clear.

“This has helped to ensure students can now use their right to vote when the opportunity arises and have a say in issues that affect them and fellow residents in the city of Leicester.”