Campusconnection 2005

Course Reps- Your Say On Your Education

As adult learners you have a major role to play in shaping the future of your course and effecting positive change for the benefit of your fellow students and your School overall. Higher education should never feel like being back at school, where you are often unable to effect change if things are not working as they should. However there is a right and wrong way of doing most things and airing your views to your school is no exception. That's why each School has a "Staff Student Consultative Committee" (SSCC), a specific forum for students to have their say!

The concept is quite straight forward, it's a meeting that happens at least once a term, where  student representatives better known as "Course Reps" from your year group/ cohort, meet with academics and course staff from your school to chat about issues that have come up. Normally a variety of issues will be raised, most will be course related, but often other "centre issues" arise; for example, common room issues or car parking etc.

I'm not a Course Rep - how do I get an issue raised at the SSCC?

  • Your Course Rep is there to represent everyone in your group! Approach them to tell them about your concerns, they can then take your issue to the SSCC for discussion, after which they will report the outcome back to you. If you don't know who your Course Rep is, check on your course website or you can ask at the reception desk of your school.

What does the School gain from the SSCC system?

  • As part of the University's quality system, your school is obligated to provide the opportunity for student feedback. As well as the students though, the school also benefits from this system as well. For example, it allows concerns to be identified at an early stage before they become bigger issues and allows new ideas to be exchanged. Additionally, staff members can also obtain positive as well as negative feedback on issues, allowing them to improve things for the future.

I've just started my course, how will the Course Reps from my group be elected?

  • This will be different depending on your School. Within a few weeks of starting your course, you should receive some information about how the course reps will be elected and how you can stand in the election. If this does not happen, make enquiries with your school or contact the Inter-site Support Worker at the Students' Union

If I become a Course Rep, how will I know what to do after the election?

  • Don't worry, you are not alone! The Students' Union provides local training sessions for you. This will tell you more about the role, inform you about where you fit into the over feedback system of the University, get you to consider how best to deal with various scenarios and describe the resources and further training available to you. The Inter-site Support Worker together with the Education Officer also provides on-going support to Course Reps during their term. To find out where the nearest training session to you will be, as well as the date and time, select your school from the course reps list on the left.

I'm not a Course Rep and I haven't raised an issue, although I'm quite nosy and want to know what is going on, how can I find out what's happening?

  • That's fine, being "inquisitive" is not a problem, your Course Rep should be feeding information back to your group anyway, but if not, the minutes from the SSCC's should be available either on a notice board in your centre, or on your course website.

Further Info

  • For more information about the Course Rep System, contact your school or the
    Inter-site Support Worker at the Students' Union.

 

University of Nottingham Students' Union
Portland Building, University Park , Nottingham NG7 2RD
Tel: + 44 (0)115 846 8800 Fax: + 44 (0)115 846 8801

© 2005 University of Nottingham Students' Union