Part of a sabbatical officer’s role involves representing students at internal boards and committees across SRUC.

Here is the structure of some of the committees within SRUC:

Just some of the committees that SRUCSA and other students are involved in!

There are 3 key roles to being a committee member: representation, campaigning for change, and listening.

Representation

The Co-Presidents use their expertise as an officer – homing in on their personal student experience, the experiences of the students they represent, and the training they have received – to represent SRUC students to the best of their abilities.

Sometimes, this looks like answering vague questions like “what do students think about this?” when given a topic to consider, or it can mean questioning if SRUC’s strategic plans and ways of working align with the needs and wants of the student body.

Co-Presidents are expected to comment on plans and policies proposed by SRUC. In doing so, they not only have to consider the experience of students within their own faculty, but students across SRUC – be that full-time/part-time, distance learners, postgraduate/undergraduate or work-based learners. To add to this, it’s important that our officers are able to consider how changes might affect students on another level – for example, student parents/carers, disabled students and other protected characteristics (INSERT LINK TO DEFINITION).

Campaigning for change

A great part of having access to these spaces means that officers are able to campaign for change. These are often the small (but big!) wins that we don’t always communicate to students. For example, we pushed SRUC to hold an online graduation ceremony for 2021 graduates as opposed to redoing what was done in the previous year. We feel this was a great alternative in the circumstances we were in (you can see the videos here!).

Being Present

This may sound obvious, but it’s really important for the officers attending meetings to be present and actively listen to what is going on. These are opportunities to scope what is happening  in certain areas of the organisation (or even the whole organisation!) and to gain understanding of stances towards situations. Taking a mental note of department or staff opinions on certain issues is a good way of working out who/where/why/how you should tackle and approach an issue in future. On the other hand,  it is a really great way to network with staff and build relationships. Meeting spaces are also a great opportunity to discover the interests of other staff members and to find supporters for projects you want to work on.

So, who goes where?

The new 21/22 team are just beginning the process of deciding what committees they will be part of. We hope to make this information available on our website. If you have any issue/feedback relating to student experience, we are here to listen! We may put you in touch with someone from the team who is working directly on a project/committee linked to your comments, that way we can take it to the places it needs to go. The SRUCSA team are here to support and listen to you regardless of whether they are your designated faculty Co-President or not!

We are always here to listen and be the voice of our students. If you would like to chat to an officer about something you think they can help with, get in touch and we will see what we can do Talk with us (srucsa.org.uk).