The Third Eye sat down with the new KSU President, William Farrugia to get to know his thoughts looking back and looking forward, as secretary general and president. How has his year been like, how is the transition between to now-leader of the council and what can he promise for KSU in 2020?
Looking back to the past year William reflected on how his previous role gave him a good idea of how the council works. Although the work done does not really show or have an actual physical impact, it is essential for KSU to work efficiently.
You get to work on all of the issues going on behind the scenes. In this regard a highlight of last year’s was the change in GDPR, since the council had a large amount of student data, varying from parking permits to the KSU account, that needed to be updated.
“To be honest the first two months were me trying to understand what’s happening,” William said admittingly, “I’m sure I wasn’t perfect – nobody’s perfect.” Thankfully he continued, in his case there was Carla who helped him a lot in figuring out his position, having been secretary general herself.
William considered himself lucky to have been secretary general prior to becoming president, as it was the perfect set up to his newly-found managerial position. You get a clear idea of what the council is all about and knowing this makes it easier to decide what direction to take for KSU as president.
“Going from secretary general to president was easy in this regard since I already had an idea of what needs to happen”
Looking forward to the new term William credited Carla for the direction she took with the council during her term and promised to build on it. Concepts like sustainability and the environment will remain at the forefront of the council’s work, with the rights of students undoubtedly remaining at the most-inner core.
With regards to the new initiatives to be introduced William hinted at the manifesto that will be launched this Wednesday.
“No problems can be identified from the outset really,” he said when asked about issues he might foresee during his term as president. From William’s previous role, a major takeaway was that if there is no good planning the problem will not be solved.
Communication with University administration will always be a challenge, although this year it improved vastly. Still, William continued, looking back on the parking issue of last February there needs to be a proper communication system set in place so that crises like that can be avoided.
From his work as secretary general he said how the room booking system, although improved, has yet to be made more accessible. That said William expressed his faith in Christian Aquilina as the new secretary general will do a great job.
