Hear them out!

Anastazja Oppenheim wants to make a change. But sometimes, it seems tricky to decide where to start.

Each day on her way to work, Anastazja passes London’s busy streets of Holborn. Anxious looking pedestrians shrub their shoulder against each other, balancing a coffee in their hand, a computer in the other. She could have been one of them. After finishing a Bachelor course at Central Saint Martins, the future was holding many opportunities for Anastazja. But she knew, she didn’t want to become one of them. She knew, she wanted to improve people’s life.

Being the student union´s Campaign Officer at the University of Arts London (UAL) since July this year, there have been many issues to deal with. From replacing students maintenance grants with loans, to allowing universities to increase their yearly tuition fees of £9,000, Osborne & Co are building a wall that stands strong against Anastazja’s beliefs.

Her demands are clear. “More student involvement, more democracy, more freedom, more support“ is what should govern the British education system. Together with her colleagues at the student union (SUARTS), she has accepted the challenge to foster these ideals at one of London´s most influential centres of higher education. With its six colleges across the capital, including Central Saint Martins, UAL gives home to thousands of aspiring students who are looking to work in the creative industries. Although the UAL colleges have achieved a worldwide reputation with its popular graduates, it has been dealing with an increasing amount of student resentment. And it’s not an individual case. The British education system has been facing anger and incomprehensibility among the public for many years. Inequality and opacity are just two of many issues thousands of students have been protesting against.

You want to believe Anastazja when she talks about the future of British eduaction. “We need to have a government change to achieve free and accessible education. I do think it´s possible and I do think we have the money. It’s just a matter of how you spend it. If Corbyn wins, there is a possibility of a wider movement and it´s really important not to give up.“

The possibility of giving up is one of the last things that comes to mind when talking to Anastazja about her job. This isn´t a nine-to-five thing. “It´s usually on my mind. Very often, even my social life is connected to my work.“ Discussing the educational system in Britain, there isn’t a moment in which she loses eye contact or hesitates. Her choice of words is so straightforward and direct, it becomes clear that Anastazja’s is not here to chit-chat. Anastazja is a political person in every aspect of her life. Only on rare occasions, she seems to let go.

The feeling of not being listened to dominates Anastazja´s stories on dealing with UAL authorities. “I don´t count on support from UAL. I get support from the team here and the union, and I get support from students.“ To her, it is a fact that “UAL is very management driven and, often students are their last priority“.

The problems at UAL are ubiquitous. By constantly researching and talking to students and teachers, SUARTS reveals sobering results. “There are huge attainment gaps for ethnic minority students“. To Anastazja, it shows that Britain is still part of an educational system that is governed by an “elitism within the curriculum which is white and eurocentric.“ How frustrating it can be to constantly fight for a voice is easy to imagine. “Sometimes people can be so dismissive that I do want to physically shake them and get them back to reality. They are so in denial about student property poverty?, racism or just daily struggles. You just want to shout at them. But part of it is to be calm and diplomatic“.

Anastazja has experienced it first hand. While doing a BA at Central Saint Martins, her desire to improve Britain´s educational system grew steadily. An interesting development considering the fact that moving from Poland to the UK to study was never really her plan. Throughout the years spent in the UK, Anastazja has managed to retain an important balance between observing situations from a certain distance and being very much at the centre of it. “I now feel more connected to Britain then I am to Poland. Obviously I still have a connection back home but I feel very much ingrained in the British culture“. Anastazja came to stay. Fully wrapped up in the British culture, she now has two homes.

It´s a long way to go, but Anastazja wouldn´t have chosen a different path. “I come here. I see real students with real issues that can be solved. Some of them very simply within the university. Some of them are bigger struggles but we just can‘t give up. It‘s not an option.“