► Introduction to Course Reps
Course Reps are students on a course or a depart
ment, who are elected by their peers to represent all students on their particular course of study. He/she is in post for one year but has the opportunity to be re-elected in the following years. A Course Representative provides consistent, well-informed opinion about the quality of teaching and learning within your college, and also on the overall student experience gained whilst studying your programme. Course Reps mostly represent the views of their peers at Programme Committee or Joint Board of Studies Meetings, and feedback from these meetings is passed on to the UPC Faculty Board. Course Representatives offer the college, and the University a unique insight into the academic experiences of students and ensure that students are represented at appropriate meetings.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS TO YOU?
The opportunity to become a representative of your peers allows you to gain excellent experience of formal meetings and representation skills. Being a course rep looks great on your CV, as well as providing a effective way for you to improve the quality of your education. It also gives you the chance to interact with academics and other students outside of the teaching environment. Support and training for Course Reps is provided by the University of Plymouth Students’ Union. CLICK HERE TO LOOK AT THE REP TRAINING RESOURCES ONLINE
WHAT’S THE NEXT STEP?
If your course has not yet elected a course representative, then you will need to do this. For each course, you need at least one person to stand as a representative, and other students need to have the chance to elect this student as their representative. Students can stand and work as representatives in pairs if this makes things easier.
It is then the responsibility of staff at your college to adequately inform reps of the dates and agendas of upcoming meetings, giving reps enough time to discuss the issues with their fellow students, and represent their views at the meetings.
COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR COURSE REP:
To ensure your Rep is effectively representing the views of students, you will need to communicate with each other. It is your course reps responsibility to actively speak to other students to find out their views on matters that are arising at forthcoming meetings. As a fellow student, you will need to speak up, to make your course rep aware of the issues affecting you.
GET IN TOUCH AND FIND OUT MORE:
CLICK HERE TO LOOK AT THE REP TRAINING RESOURCES ONLINE
Kassie Bath - UPSU Partner Colleges Co-ordinator07966 450214
Norbert Bonnet - UPSU Deputy President
(Norbert represents the views of UPC students at University level)
Katie Shaw - UPSU Education & Welfare Officer
