Could you represent students in your Department?
Any questions on becoming a Department Rep? Contact studentvoice@staffs.ac.uk
Your Elected Officer Team has worked hard to champion the voice of students at Staffs throughout the year and especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Throughout they've been supported by more students, like yourselves, volunteering their time as Department Representatives - acting as the ears to the ground and picking up any course and department-specific issues ensuring they represent the full spectrum of academic interests at your University.
So, what is a Department Rep?
Department Reps represent groups of courses across related fields (e.g. Fine Art is a course within the Humanities and the Arts Department).
As well as talking to students and Course Reps in their department, these reps also meet with more senior staff (like the Head of Department and Associate Deans of Students).
They also have regular meetings with your Elected Officer Team and sit on your Union's Representative Council.
We ask that they follow three simple principles of representation:
- Listen to the students you represent
- Speak about the change students want to see
- Share the outcome of your work
Will this role look good on my CV?
Absolutely. This role can give you skills in assertiveness, negotiation, communication, problem-solving, and teamwork - all valuable in any workplace.
Employers are looking for you to provide examples of demonstrating these skills in applications and interviews, in this role, you'll gain a lot of varied experiences you can talk about.
You can also log all of the time you spend as a Department Rep in our online volunteering module.
I'm interested, how can I get involved?
You can nominate yourself right now!
All you need to do is log in to our website with your student sign-in details and submit your nomination before midnight on the 21st of March 2021.
Once you've done that, the Student Voice Team will be in touch, but if you fancy being proactive, why not begin talking to students on your course about what you might like to include in your manifesto.
Students will be able to view your manifesto from the 12th of April and vote for who they would like to represent their views.
A manifesto? That sounds daunting...
Writing a manifesto for any election is simply writing down your thoughts about how a situation is right now and what you can do to change it. It might include for example:
- An introduction about yourself - so that people know who you are and what you bring to the role
- What is good and bad about the current situation - in this case, your course and/or department
- What you think would improve the situation - for example, a list of things you'd like to happen for students
- How you'd like improvements to happen - try and get your readers to think about what success would look like... what's the outcome you're trying to achieve here?
Is there anything else I need to know?
You can request a full role description from the Student Voice Team and get in touch with them if you'd like to know anything else.
These key dates might be useful to you too:
- Nominations open | Until 23:59, 21 March
- Voting open | 26 - 28 April
Look out for testimonials from our current Department Reps from the past academic year, they've gained a lot of skills and experience they're keen to use in whatever comes next for them.
We can't wait to have you on board!
Have you got something to say about your representation at Department level? Share your views with us by emailing union@staffs.ac.uk.
You can also have your say: