What is the Association?

Firstly let me give you the contact details for the President of Barts & The London Students' Association.

Jeeves Wijesuria
Tel: 0207 882 8685
Mob: 07985 492 569

NOW, by the time you’ve got to this page you will be sick of being told that ‘you’ve made it through to the best medical school in the country’ etc. But let me tell you a few things about the Association.

Barts and The London Student Association (BLSA) was created when the two medical schools (Barts and The London) joined together and then subsequently joined with Queen Mary University. BLSA is a separate part of Queen Mary Students Union (QMSU). It is a union of students only by a different name. It is largely autonomous from QMSU. BLSA is run by the Student President Committee (SPC) which is an elected group of students from all five years, and from both courses.

BLSA is something that we, as BL students, should be immensely proud of. Although there are four permanent non-student members of staff, the Association and the clubs union building is run almost entirely by the students of the SPC, volunteers and the president. This group of students help to keep the bar and all the other amenities within the Union building in Whitechapel running. They also represent the students to a variety of outside bodies with concerns and problems.

What we have at BLSA is envied by other London medical schools. When the London medical schools joined with the nearest London colleges BL managed to keep it’s own student body, two bars and all of it’s own sports teams. We also have our own building – the Clubs’ Union building in Whitechapel. This is something that the other London schools could not do, and are currently struggling to maintain. Many other medical schools could only manage to keep their student body as a society within the larger student body, much like one of our many sports or social societies.

Having less than two thousand medical and dental students would seemingly make our clubs and societies smaller. This is not the case, our sports clubs are bigger (in most cases) than Queen Mary who have five times the number of students. We also have clubs and societies that many other places do not. This means that as a proportion more of our students are involved in clubs and societies than many other universities. These clubs and societies are very open. People who are experienced,inexperienced, skilled, un-skilled, shy or extrovert are always welcomed.

It would be nice say that all of this is done by the students but it would not be possible without the backing and continued support from the staff who work in the School (many of whom are former students). We are incredibly privileged with the staff that teach us throughout our 5 or 6 six years. They are at the top of their profession and so many of them work incredibly hard for us. Every year there is the Association Dinner where many of the staff including Sir Prof Nick Wright, Prof Caufield and Dr Brian Colvin attend. It is humbling to hear them make speeches of how they stand up regularly for the rights of the medical and dental students on national issues even when it does not affect them.

So, why is BLSA and its autonomy so important? You might say, ‘if they close our bar we’ll always find somewhere else to drink’, but the Association is more than just a bar. It’s a student body run by students for students. It represents the students on local, national and international issues. It is a portal between the students and the staff. It gives BL students the right to create teams, groups and societies and gives them a place to meet. If you don’t feel a part of the Association when you get here then you can always start your own group or failing that you can always just come out on one of the regular nights at the union whether you drink or not.

Whether you want to admit it or not, studying medicine is different from any other course. Everyone who started at Queen Mary at the same time as you will be finished when you are only half way through. The course is longer and the hours are more gruelling. These differences make you a little by default a bit different to people studying in other subjects. This is why we have an Association, to support all of the Medical and Dental students and see them through until they qualifying. The Association realises how different life is as a Medic or Dentist. All of the people that you meet at the Clubs’ Union building and within the Student Association are people that you may one day work with but will almost certainly be friends with for the rest of your life.

Chris Hall
VP Barts
(2007-2008)