Summer Elections FAQs

School, College and Senate Reps are all part of the academic Student Representation System run in partnership by the University of Birmingham and the Guild of Students. Reps within this system provide a voice for students on academic concerns at different levels of committees. School, College and Senate Reps work directly with the Student or PGR Reps, who volunteer to represent their course, to ensure feedback is heard on a higher level.

For example, Student Reps take academic feedback from students on the same course as them, to course-level or department-level Staff Student Forums. If an issue cannot be resolved there, the School Rep can then take the feedback to a School-level meeting, and so on.

School Reps are student representatives that attend School-level committees to represent the voice of all students within that School at the relevant level of study. They do this by actively gathering feedback on key issues and presenting these at the School-level committees they attend.

The most common School-level committee is known as a School Education Committee. These committees include academic staff, professional services staff and student representatives who meet throughout the year to discuss anything affecting the teaching and learning experience within each School. This includes the future direction and priorities for the School to focus on through submission of a School Education Plan.

College Reps are student representatives that sit on College-level committees to represent the voice of all students within that College at the relevant level of study. They do this by actively gathering feedback on key issues and presenting these at the College-level committees they attend.

College committees consist of academic staff, professional services staff, a Guild Officer and student representatives (College Reps) who meet throughout the year to discuss anything affecting the teaching and learning experience within each of the University’s 5 Colleges. There are 2 main College committees that meet regularly across the year that all College Reps are expected to attend (College Education Committees and College Quality Assurance and Approval Committees). PGR-level College Reps will also be asked to attend the University’s Graduate Research Board, which meets to discuss issues affecting Researchers.

Senate Reps are student representatives that sit in Senate meetings, to represent the voice of all students across the University at the relevant level of study.

Senate is the highest education-related decision-making body at the University. It is chaired by the Vice Chancellor and consists of other senior members of staff at the University, as well as Guild Officers and student representatives (Senate Reps). The committee meets 3-4 times per year and many discussion topics are confidential.

Our 2020 Summer Elections will provide Undergraduates and Postgraduate Researchers the opportunity to become School, College and Senate Reps for the 2020-21 academic year. You'll be able to apply for a Rep position from Monday 18th May at 10am. As a part of your application, you can write a 200 word statement to tell voters why you think they should elect you.

Commitment varies per role. Some Schools or Colleges, for example, may involve going to more committee meetings than others. Generally, you are asked to attend 1-2 hour committees no more than twice a month, and in many cases, once every 2 months. For Senate Reps, Senate meets 3-4 times per year.

Being a Rep gives you the opportunity to make real changes for students on campus. It allows you to voice your fellow students’ feedback and work with staff across the University to make changes, resolve issues that arise and improve the student experience.

These roles also build your skills in problem-solving, team-working, confidence and leadership - as it does involve taking solution-based feedback to committees with senior staff members. The role is also verified, can be added to your Enhanced Transcript and is worth PSA points.

You will be sent the committee papers for any committees you attend in advance, usually by the committee secretary. In some Schools and Colleges, members of staff (this may be the Chair, a Student Experience Officer or the Secretary) may offer to go through the papers with you to help you understand the context of what is being discussed. You can also approach these committee members with questions prior to, or after committee meetings.

The Student Reps team at the Guild, based in the Student Voice department are also here to support you. We are dedicated to supporting the Student Rep System and can offer briefings for papers, if needed, or answer any questions that you may have. We can also help you come up with plans for how to raise feedback.

If you have any questions about the role or are hesitant to apply for the position, please get in touch with the Student Reps team at the Guild! You can email us at studentreps@guild.bham.ac.uk and we will be happy to (virtually) meet with you, or answer your questions via email.

"I’ve been involved in the student rep system since joining UOB in 2016 and ascheesy as it sounds, I’ve absolutely loved it.

I started as a departmental rep, then senior departmental rep in second year,and became College of Arts and Law Undergraduate student rep in my final year. Now, alongside my MA, I am the CAL rep for all postgraduate taught students in the college, so I go to meetings within the college about education, learning resources, plagiarism, new modules, and the new academic teaching year. I attend a meeting roughly once a fortnight, which are normally an hour or two long, with a few documents to read beforehand. While this might sound a littledry at first glance, it is actually really interesting and often quite good fun!

Committee meetings give a behind-the-scenes look into the running of an institution of this size, as well as allowing you to share your ideas and those ofyour peers in front of senior members of staff. Initially, I was concerned that Iwas just included as a gesture but after my first meeting it was clear that the staff valued my input and actively sought it out, keen to get as much student insight as they could.

When I came to UOB I was pretty shy, however through my rep roles, I have seen immense growth in my self-confidence, my way of speaking and in recognising the value of my opinion. There are important conversations going on right now that students don’t typically see, but as a rep you can get a seat at the table to talk about and challenge key issues in education, such as inequality, strikes, and restructuring the academic year.

For example, in my second year I founded the ‘Confronting Colonialism’ conference series in response to the sense of uncertainty at one committee meeting when talking about the attainment gap and BAME student recruitment. It became fairly clear that while the college was eager to confront these issues, no one really knew what direction we should be moving in. I organised the conference to give BAME students a space to talk about their experiences in an entirely student-led space and to invite academics to present on aspects of their research that are typically excluded from curricula. Going into its third year, the conference has now been handed over to another student to run and has consistently kept the topic of racialised inequalities in higher education on the agenda.

Together, the conferences, meetings, and other opportunities that I have experienced as a result of the rep system have been pivotal in shaping my time at UOB. So, if you have even had a moment of interest in the rep system, I wholeheartedly recommend applying – it’s an incredibly rewarding but low-pressure role that will help you grow as a student, a future employee, and a person."