Department Representatives
Job Description, (PDF 56kb)
Your role
As a Student Rep, you have been elected to act, speak or be present on behalf of students in your department or subject year group. Your role is to find out what students think (all students, not just your friends!) and
feed their views, concerns and opinions into the meetings you attend.
This means representing the minority view as well as the majority one and, importantly, this can often mean putting forward opinions that you may not personally agree with.
As a Department Rep, you will work with the Department/Subject Reps within your School of study. By collating the information that they gather from students across the School, you will be able to confidently and accurately represent the interests of your School
If you ever feel unsure as to what your scope is or if you feel uncomfortable about putting forward any one opinion within any given situation, please don’t hesitate to seek advice from the Student Rep Support Team: studentrepquery@sussex.ac.uk
The role of a student rep is to find out what students think, represent
these opinions to the University and Students’ Union and then feed back to students. To effectively fulfil the requirements of the role you will need to
follow the eight steps listed below.
1. Get trained
This website is full of information designed to help you get the most out of your time as a Student Rep, and to help you to be effective in your role. In addition, Training Workshops for Student Reps are organised in the weeks following the elections – these workshops cover practical questions about being a Student Rep, and will give you an opportunity to meet and network with other Student Reps. Also, remember that the Student Rep Support
Team will always be happy to answer any questions you may have.
2. Be aware
It is fundamental, for your sake and for that of the students you represent,
that you are clear about the areas that you can deal with as a student rep, and those that you can’t. Please make sure you refer to the Boundaries section, and feel confident about the scope of your role. You can always access this info online, but we’ve also made a poster including this info, you can pull out and display somewhere prominent, e.g. above your desk, which you can download by clicking here, (PDF 1.1Mb). If you ever find yourself unsure about what to do in a particular situation, contact the Student Rep Support Team: studentrepquery@sussex.ac.uk who will be able to advise
the best way forward.
3. Self-publicise
School Staff, and Department/Subject Reps within your School will need to know who you are so that they know who to approach with any issues/concerns.. Here are a few ideas on how to get yourself out there:
Introduce yourself to the administrative staff in your School
The key people in departments are:
- Programme Co-ordinators
- School Administrative Manager (SAM)
- Course Administrator or Course Convenor
They are all valuable sources of information and should be happy to help
you publicise and ensure that you are able to contact students on your
course by email.
Social Networking
Setting up a blog or facebook page can be a great way of connecting with students in your School – please refer to the Student Rep Scheme
Social Networking Guidelines before setting up a group.
Speak at lectures and seminars
Approach your lecturers/seminar tutors and ask to have a couple of minutes at the start or end of a lecture where you can introduce yourself and let students know how to contact you. Every once in a while if you have a topic affecting everyone, ask if you can speak again to pass on key information, announce an upcoming committee meeting and/or get input from students.
Talk to students one to one
Keep your ears open for problems. Chatting to students on your course/in your department or school is the most effective way of letting them know what it is you do as well as finding out what they think.
Talk to other Reps one to one
Keep your ears open for problems. Make sure you stay in contact with Department/Subject Reps within your School by email or (better still!) in person. Chatting to students is the most effective way of letting them know what it is you do as well as finding out what they think.
Publicise your email address
This makes it as easy as possible for students to contact you quickly.
Pigeonholes
Check if there is a pigeonhole available to you in your department or school
so that students can leave messages for you. If there isn’t, organise one and remember to check it regularly!
Liaise with the USSU Education Officer
Attend the termly informal meetings and socials run by USSU to discuss issues of wider concern. The Education Officer: education@ussu.sussex.ac.uk will be able to offer advice, raise issues at higher level University committees and can forward major issues to be discussed by the USSU campaigns committee.
The Badger
A student newspaper just waiting for student input! If you have any issues or concerns that you think students should know, email badger-news@ussu.sussex.ac.uk
4. Consult
It is only by talking to students that you will discover their needs, opinions
and concerns and so it is very important that you approach students within your department/subject year-group to find out their opinions on:
- the department/subject;
- its courses; and
- the overall student experience at the University.
This could be done in person, via email or with the use of a short questionnaire. Remember, the more contact you have with Department/Subject Reps the better you will be able to understand what Students’ needs are and the more effectively you will be able to represent
their points of view. Once you have spoken to Department/Subject Reps
about the issues that concern Students within your School, it may be appropriate to take these issues to a committee meeting, or speak on a
one-to-one basis with an appropriate member of staff.
Whatever course of action you take will be dependant on the issue in hand, and whether the student(s) effected are happy for their issue to be raised in
a public forum (always check with a student what they are happy for you to
do with the information they tell you).
5. Represent
Attending meetings/committees to represent the views of students
within your School year-group is at the heart of your role. The meetings you will need to attend are a combination of:
- Department Meeting (one or two per term),
- School Student Experience Group (one per term)
*Note: if you are a rep for BSMS, IDS, SPRU or some Sussex Institute courses, you may find that you are asked to attend an equivalent meeting
that may be referred to by different names.
Each year the University publishes a document called
The Organisation of the University, which alphabetically lists every University committee and working group at the University. Under each named committee you will find its ‘terms of reference’ (describing its purpose and how often it meets) and its ‘composition’ (the people who are members of the committee).
You will find the document on the University’s website at www.sussex.ac.uk/governance/1-3-3.html
6. Feedback
It is absolutely vital that whatever the outcome of any meeting you attend,
you feed back what happened at it to the students that you represent. This applies even if the answer is not what you or your fellow students wanted or expected. It is up to you to determine what the best way of feeding back is but generally the rule is face to face if it’s a personal issue, via an email to your department if it’s to a group of students or directly at a lecture/seminar etc. Depending on the issue, it may be more appropriate to
feed back directly to the students within your School (perhaps via a blog, mass email, facebook group etc) and/or via the Department/Subject Reps in your School. Think carefully about the most effective and engaging ways to feed information back to the students you represent.
7. Network
With student reps
Previous reps have found that they are more effective if they don’t work in isolation but network and keep in contact with other reps. This means
keeping in touch with reps in other years, to share common issues of concern and/or to seek or offer advice and assistance. You can check out who all the reps are at the academic office website http://www.sussex.ac.uk/academicoffice/1-4-2-18.html
If you would like to contact all student reps to share best practice etc,
there is a rep mailing list to which you are all subscribed and welcome to use, providing you adhere to the list protocol. The address is studentreps@sussex.ac.uk. If you are yet to receive an email detailing this protocol please contact studentrepquery@sussex.ac.uk as your email address may need adding to the list.
Look out for email invites from the Student Rep Support Team to the termly rep meetings. These are informal gatherings with drinks and nibbles and provide an opportunity for you to meet other reps, share ideas, socialise and discuss with the Support Team any difficulties/successes you may be experiencing within your role.
With USSU Council reps
Each school of study (i.e. Hums, LifeSci, SocCul etc) has an elected representative who is a member of the Students’ Union Council.
Union Council is the highest decision-making body after Union General Meetings (which usually is one large meeting per year known as the Annual General Meeting). Council meets at least twice per term to discuss and
make policy decisions for the direction of the Students’ Union. In order for Union Council reps to be representative, they need to know what students think – and the best way for them to find this information out is from you, the student reps.
One of the best ways for you to ensure that the needs of students within your school are being met by the Students’ Union is to create good links with your Union Council rep. Your Union Council Rep will attend the School Student Experience Group with you, and it may well be worth meeting regularly outside this meeting to share info and ideas.
Contact your Union Council Rep by visiting http://www.ussu.info/democracy/content/150815/your_reps/union_councillors/
8. Stay up to date
Check your email regularly for messages sent from the rep mailing list as this is the main way that the Student Rep Support Team will contact you to inform you of anything that we think may be important/helpful for you to know.
Feel free to contact the Student Rep Support Team should you have any questions at any point throughout the year. Just drop us a line at studentrepquery@sussex.ac.uk