Our Student Representatives met on Thursday 19th February for the latest Rep Council meeting to discuss key student issues, updates from the Officers and Voice team, and areas where the Students’ Union is advocating for change.
What is Rep Council?
For anyone unaware, The Students' Representative Council is responsible for guiding the Students' Union and ensuring it represents your interests in everything it does. Rep Council is composed of Subject Reps, The London Site Rep and Post Graduate Research Reps - all coming together with the Full-Time Officers present.
Our Student Representatives met on Thursday 19th February for the latest Rep Council meeting to discuss key student issues, updates from the Officers and Voice team, and areas where the Students’ Union is advocating for change.
Here’s a quick overview of what was discussed:
Officer Updates
The Officer team shared some updates on their ongoing work representing students across the University, including ongoing projects and student issues being raised with the University.
Know Your Rights Campaign
The Union is launching the ‘Know Your Rights campaign’ to help students understand the support and protections available to them.
Reps discussed ways to make representatives more visible, including clearer contact details on Blackboard, targeted department emails, and stronger introductions to reps in lectures.
Course Committee Meetings
The University is considering reducing the number of Course Committee Meetings each year, instead relying more on informal feedback between reps and academics.
The Union raised concerns about this proposal, as formal meetings provide an important space for structured student feedback. Reps also discussed how collecting feedback can be challenging and shared ideas such as more interactive ways to encourage students to participate.
Student Issues
Several ongoing student issues were discussed, including:
- Games course computers resetting overnight, which has been reported to the University
- Progress with Collab module changes
- Ongoing concerns raised within the Social Work department
Campus Updates
The University is continuing with plans to change the Art Shop. The Students’ Union will support students through this transition by helping ensure key materials remain available and offering support through the Print Bureau.
Information regarding the Print Bureau can be found here: https://www.staffs.ac.uk/about/facilities/technical/print-bureau
The Officer team also shared updates on the University’s AI project work and the recent Drugs and Alcohol survey.
We Are Staffs Awards and The Leadership Race
As many of you know, the ‘We Are Staffs’ awards are currently open for nominations!
Every year, we celebrate the huge successes and everyday impacts that students, student groups and staff have achieved in making our university community Proud To Be Staffs.
Nominations will be running until the 23rd March, so please don’t hesitate to celebrate your Campus Heroes here: https://www.staffsunion.com/proudtobestaffs/
The Students’ Union Leadership Race is also coming up soon, with nominations opening from 23rd March until 13th April.
If you’re interested in running, you can attend our “You Should Run” sessions to learn more! The next session is Wednesday 18th March at 12:30 – 1:30. This is a no-pressure drop-in where we can chat with you about all things elections.
Information on the drop in can be found here: https://www.staffsunion.com/ents/event/28676/
If you have feedback about your course, you can speak to your Subject Rep or contact the Students’ Union Voice team to ensure that your voice is heard.
Email: studentvoice@staffs.ac.uk
In person: @ The Students Union