Monday 04-10-2021 - 14:54

Do you care about the Student Voice? Become a Course Rep!

 

A Course Rep is a student volunteer who represents the views of their peers by collecting feedback about their course. They collect feedback from their coursemates and present this feedback to university staff in meetings so that the university can work with students to make the course as suitable to the students as it can be. Course Reps can have all sorts of impacts on their course! As a Course Rep, you can collect feedback on anything from rooms and timetabling, assessments, assessment feedback, frequency of tutorials, online resources, even course content. The feedback that Course Reps present in meetings is then responded to by programme staff who will see if they can find solutions to the issues that are brought to their attention in the meetings. Course Reps then need to relay this information to students on their course to make sure that students are aware of any changes and that they know what is being done with their feedback.

 

On top of being an active part of making positive student-led change, being a Course Rep has lots of other benefits. It’s a great opportunity to develop skills that will be useful in the workplace (and look great on your CV) such as an understanding of how decisions are made in large organisations, collecting and utilising feedback, professionalism from attending meetings, organisational skills, and public speaking skills from speaking on behalf of your peers. The Union will also help you to articulate the skills you have developed in your future job applications and cv. Current Course Reps have said that they enjoy the opportunities to speak to students in all years of their course in programme meetings and to speak directly with academic staff about matters that affect them.

 

As a Course Rep, you will receive lots of support from The Union to help you do the best in your role as you possibly can. You’ll have access to in-person and online training which provides you with an explanation of your role and your responsibilities, as well as advice on how to be effective in what you do. There are useful guides for you to access at any time on the Course Rep section of the website, such as the Course Rep Handbook and a handy guide to logging your volunteering hours. However, please don’t hesitate to send us an email if you’re unsure of anything! You’ll also have the support of your Faculty Organiser who will support you throughout your Course Rep role. Each faculty has a Faculty Organiser who offers support to students within each faculty and helps to coordinate the Course Rep role. There are two Faculty Organisers at The Union, there’s me (Ashleigh Kent) and Kirsty Appleton. I am the Faculty Organiser for Science & Engineering and Health & Education, and Kirsty is the Faculty Organiser for Arts & Humanities and Business & Law. We can offer you lots of support such as advice on how to gather feedback, talking about feedback in your meetings with university staff, help finding out when your meetings are, and support in relaying the outcomes of your meetings to your course mates. We’re located in the Voice Office, so if you ever need any help, just pop into our office or send us an email.

 

There’s also lots of recognition that you’ll get from the Union as well as opportunities to further represent the student voice and have your say on issues that affect you. As a Course Rep, you can log the hours that you spend on anything relating to your role and responsibilities as a Course Rep, such as speaking to your course mates about the course, meeting with your Faculty Organiser, preparing for meetings, and even attending training or other events. This means that you can collect rewards for the number of hours that you’ve dedicated to being a Course Rep, including the opportunity to be up for a Union Volunteering Award. Don’t forget, you can also put the number of hours that you’ve volunteered on your cv which will show employers hard evidence of how hard you work. In summary, there are lots of reasons to want to be a Course Rep! It’s really easy to volunteer too, you just have to let your Programme Leader know, then register on the Course Rep section of The Union website.