News & Events

Students from across BU’s Media School streamed live analysis and debate during the European Parliamentary Elections to try and encourage student engagement in politics.

Going live Weymouth House on Talbot campus after the polling stations closed, dozens of students were involved in the BUEU2014 project.

The students were a cross-course team from The Media School including students from politics, journalism, media and communications, and TV production courses. Led by a core group, they brought their unique skills together to collaborate on the project.

The broadcast was the most recent in a series of events around the European Parliamentary Elections including televised hustings and a five day trip to Brussels for a group of Media School students.

The trip was financially supported in part by BU’s Fusion fund and part directly from MEPs. The fact-finding mission gave thirty students the opportunity to learn more about the European Parliament, interview MEPs and produce video for the BUEU2014 event.

Doug Tham, a second year BA (Hons) Politics and Media student and president of the Student Politics Society, was one of the organisers of the Brussels trip.

He began fundraising and contacting MEPs over a year ago and hopes to continue to keep the student body engaged in politics in the run up to next year’s general elections.

He said: “I wanted to show students that with politics you need to start from the small ‘p’ and then go to the big ‘P’. And politics, it involves everyone every day in their daily lives but people just need to see that.”

BA (Hons) Television Production student, Ed Lawrence was another of the key instigators for the project. Describing the idea behind BUEU2014, he said:

“There are young voters that are wanting to get interested in politics but finding it difficult to be engaged by the parties so this is a kind of experiment – we’re trying to get a lot of young people involved in this event to get them into the European elections and see what content we can produce.”

Jason Collins, a BA (Hons) Communication and Media student was the studio anchor for the broadcast, reading out the breaking election news live as it happened.

As a previous non-voter Jason said of the project: “I’m not from a political background and prior to applying for the Brussels trip I had no knowledge in the area.

“It wasn’t until I got to Belgium, conversed with other students by debating and got to meet the MEPs that I realised the importance of politics and Europe in our day to day lives.”

“I found myself becoming increasingly passionate and after the trip I formed more of a voice in the area and felt compelled to help with the coverage of the European Parliament Elections.”

Although BUEU2014 is a student-led endeavour it has been supported and encouraged by BU teaching staff and academics throughout.

Dr David McQueen lectures in Politics and Media at BU and has actively encouraged the students to be proactive in politics.

He said he hopes that this type of collaborative working will continue in the School, adding: “The professional manner in which the students have worked together and the degree of engagement in EU political matters has been outstanding.”

Photo courtesy of Neil Goridge