One of the first things I did when I came into office was to map out what the Students’ Union and University were doing on academic representation (basically course reps!) I used a tool from the National Union of Students to benchmark what we do against what Universities do nationally. Click here to see the results.

Starting Fresh.

So, given that I was more or less starting from scratch and that the University told us that ‘courses’ stopped existing a while ago, I thought this was probably the best time to modernise what we do:

As you can see in the diagram, Subject Representatives (Subject Reps) will exist for each year of each program of study. Then, for each College there will be three paid College Representatives (College Reps) – an Undergraduate, a Postgraduate Taught and a Postgraduate Research. There are 6 Colleges which means there will be 18 paid positions up for grabs this October. Originally, this funding was only guaranteed for last year.

I’ve successfully negotiated for it to be extended to this year and for its long term continuation. Myself and Alan Speight (Pro Vice Chancellor for Student Experience) are due to put forward a paper to the University’s Learning & Teaching committee to enshrine our shared commitment to this system of academic representation.

What Will Reps Actually Do?

Every single Rep will be elected online – only your class mates will be eligible to vote (obvs.) Every term, Subject Reps in each College will meet for a staff-student forum led by their College Rep.  Then, every College Rep, along with committee members of subject societies and some of the Students’ Union’s part time Officers will meet with the Education Officer for the Education forum.

This year, the Students’ Union and the University will track the issues that Reps raise as well as what is happening to resolve those issues. We’ll be encouraging every rep on twitter to follow @SUSUVoice and tweet about their work using #KnowYourRep – we’ll retweet your work and feature it on the SU website.

Supporting Reps.

We will deliver training for every single Subject and College Rep. We’re going to put on a Training Conference at the start of November with the University which will be followed up with online training to develop the skills we introduced to you. Click here for a draft agenda (which is subject to change, obvs!)

Rewarding Good Reps.

College Reps will be paid a bursary at the end of the year (which is subject to how much work they do.) We’re currently working on getting all Reps to be able to upgrade regular hot drinks to a large for free (watch this space!) We’ll also be putting on exclusive social events at SU nights throughout the year which all Reps can attend for free.

At the end of the year, there will also be an Academic Awards evening held by the Students’ Union and the University to formally reward your work. All reps that engage their role and demonstrate that they’ve acquired / used skills will have their work recognised on their Higher Education Achievement Record which comes with your University Degree.

Sounds good? Tell me! Got questions or concerns? Let me know: educationofficer@swansea-union.co.uk