After working closely with students and a lot of research, the Students' Union is making some changes to improve the current academic representation structure. From next year, we're introducing the senior course rep role!
You may be surprised to hear that representing students’ academic interests is one of the core purposes of the Students’ Union and links strongly to our strategic aim to improve students’ education. One of the most prominent ways we do this is through our 400+ elected academic reps.
The Students’ Union has been working towards improving the current academic representation structure based on the feedback and findings they have collected since the current system began in 2018. After a lot of research, discussions, and consultations, there are some changes to the system which will be implemented next year. The changes will see the removal of the department rep role and instead, a senior course rep role will be introduced to bridge the gap between course reps and school reps.
Senior course reps will be responsible for gathering feedback from students and providing feedback to staff. They support course reps as peers, work alongside academic staff and share chairing responsibilities of regular departmental meetings. If you have previously been a course rep, this new role is a great way of progressing into a higher level of academic representation. Equally, if you're new to academic representation at Royal Holloway, becoming a senior course rep gives you the opportunity to support other course reps to improve academic experience all while gaining plenty of transferable skills at the same time.
The senior course rep role is voluntary and un-capped which means any UG and PGT student can be in the role. This structure means that there are multiple points of contact for course reps, school reps, and staff, rather than a single point of contact in the form of one UG and one PGT department rep.
Senior course reps are recruited and trained in term three, which ensures there is a level of representation in place over the summer period. The only requirement is that you are a student studying at Royal Holloway during the 2022/23 academic year. So, students from any year of study can sign up, including those in third-year continuing into their fourth year or moving onto a PGT course!
Key Dates
- Recruitment opens Friday 13 May
- Recruitment closes Sunday 5 June
- Training to be delivered virtually from the W/C 6 June
Sign up
Postgraduate Research students won't be affected by these changes due to the differences in representation with this type of study.
If you have any questions then please get in touch with the Students’ Union by emailing voice@su.rhul.ac.uk and they will be able to help!