Become a course rep

What will you do?

1. You are a student leader empowered to make positive, student-led change within your course.

2. You represent (and re-present) the views of students in your programme and work alongside School Reps and staff to make your School better.

3. You do these things by taking student feedback to University and LUU meetings and events, and by informing students of positive change made.

How do you represent them?

1. You work as part of a team of Course/Programme/Peer Reps to consult students in your School. You will actively seek students’ views on decisions that affect them, and listen to any issues that they are facing or positive feedback that they have.

2. You will speak on behalf of students and influence decision making in student staff partnership forums.

Who will support you?

1. LUU Education Officer and the other Exec – who provide support and advice on academic issues and offer you the chance to join campaigns.

2. Programme leaders, School Reps and your school.

How long does it take?

1. On average, a Course Rep might find around one hour of their time taken up a week with their duties, but this can vary week to week.

2. Occasional evenings or longer sessions may be required for meetings and training opportunities and some weeks may require more than five hours commitment, but some may require less.

What do you go to?

1. University meetings – student staff partnership forum.

2. Union meetings - you might be asked to attend a meeting in place of your school rep e.g. Better University Forums. These feed into Union democracy and allow you to work with your Education Officer.

Qualities you should have:

• Passionate about your course/programme and keen to be involved in its development.

• Willingness to learn new things and personally develop in the role.

• Able to work as part of a team.

Qualities you should be trying to develop:

• Able to communicate effectively with a range of students and staff.

• Understanding the importance of working and representing the views of others fairly, respectfully, confidently and without bias.

• Able to communicate effectively through written and verbal methods.

• Able to raise concerns on behalf of others, identifying any common ground and possible solutions.

• Awareness of diversity and ability to respond to the diverse needs of students in your school.

Qualities you should be willing to develop:

• An interest to develop your leadership skills.

• Able to manage own time and workload, to work with self motivation and to use own initiative.

• Able to motivate and work with others towards common goals.

• Experience of project planning, including event management.

• An interest in issues relating to and affecting higher education.