Why do we have Course Representatives (Reps)?

The University is committed to ensuring that students are provided with the opportunity to contribute to the shaping of your learning experience individually, collectively and through your representational body, your Students' Union. 

The role of a Course Rep is vital to assure a high-quality student experience and to support student retention and success.  Below is a summary of the role and how you can get involved, or the full Course Rep Guide for Students 2018/19 can be found here. 

What do you do as a Course Rep?

As a student representative:

• Act as a voice for the students. 
• provide feedback to the University and the Union on key issues which affect the student experience. 
• work proactively to develop and enhance the wider University experience.
• communicate regularly with the cohort being spoken for.

Different Course Rep positions

‘Course Rep’ is a catch-all term for student volunteers elected by their peers to do this, and they are essential and central to ensuring we are empowering all learners to have the best possible experience.  The four Course Rep roles are:

• University Reps - Representatives on University-wide boards and committees.

• Faculty Reps - Representatives for their Faculty, sitting on faculty boards and committees.

• School Reps - Representatives for their school, sitting on school boards and committees.

• Programme Reps - Representatives for their programme only, attending SSL meetings.

Elections of Reps

Your programme director will be responsible for electing Programme Representatives, which will be done in class between 8th and 19th October 2018.

The Students' Union will then run an online vote for School Reps, Faculty Reps, and University Reps in November.

Training

Training is delivered by the Students' Union. Training sessions will be delivered from October 22nd face to face and online. There will be an option to partake in online training if you cannot make the face to face dates proposed.

Policy

The full University policy which students and staff need to follow can be found here. A useful guide with important facts from this policy for staff and for students can be found here. 

Meetings

You will be invited to represent students on particular meetings. 

• You will be informed of the agenda and provide with all relevant papers for each meeting you are meant to attend.
• This will be done at least one week before the meeting and with sufficient time to allow consultation with the student body where required.
• The Chair of that meeting is responsible for ensuring that you are given the opportunity for a briefing before a meeting.
• The meeting dates and times will be published at the beginning of the academic year.
• The first meeting must not take place before you have been given training. 
• If you are required to travel to another campus, your expenses should be paid. 
• You will be enabled to contribute to the agenda. 
• The Chair of the committee is responsible for ensuring that appropriate policies and procedures are made available to you, including relevant details of the University and School/Centre structures, details of roles, policies and procedures relating to the business of the committee.