Student Representation Policy

To deliver its strategic policy aims of excellence in Learning, Teaching and Assessment and the Student Experience, Results Consortium Ltd. (thereafter the College) has a policy of complying with the Office for Students Standards and Conditions for ongoing registration. This policy particularly relates to:

B1 The provider must ensure that the students registered on each higher education course receive a high-quality academic experience.

B2 The provider must take all reasonable steps to engage with each cohort of students and provide resources, support and effective engagement that ensures:

i. a high-quality academic experience

ii. students succeed in and beyond higher education.

1.2 Students have a crucial role within the College, and this policy outlines how the College endeavours to engage students in the quality of their educational experience. The views, ideas and feedback of our students, both positive and developmental, are at the heart of what the College does and will be used to make short and longer term improvements, both to the experience of current students, but also for future students.

1.3 The student representative system is designed to ensure that:

• all students will have an opportunity to inform and contribute to College processes formally and informally, through a variety of opportunities.
• all students are informed about the purpose and benefits of student representation
• all students will be encouraged to engage, either as representatives or in collaboration with their representatives
• contributions are respected and highly valued and will contribute to the development and enhancement of the College

1.4 Student representatives will be selected by their cohort, through a transparent and fair process and will be supported to fulfil their roles and responsibilities through:

• training and support
• sharing of information

1.5 The student representation system will be reviewed and enhanced in the light of feedback from student representatives.

1.6 Normally there will be a student representative from each cohort of students. These representatives will be elected by their cohort of students through fair and transparent processes.

1.7 Student representatives will represent their cohort at student focus groups, programme committee meetings, and via other formal feedback mechanisms.

1.8 If a student representative feels they can no longer fulfil the role, they should inform the chair of representative meetings, who should subsequently inform the relevant department(s) and begin the process to recruit

1.9 If a student representative fails to meet the requirements of the role, they may be removed and a replacement sought by the relevant department(s).

2 Roles and Responsibilities

2.1 The College will:

2.1.1 Provide the opportunity for all students to participate at the appropriate decision-making structures of the College.

2.2.2 Be approachable and receptive to the views of student representatives and will encourage appropriate actions in response to student feedback.

2.2.3 Inform students about their roles and promote student engagement and involvement in student representative opportunities.

2.2.4 Treat all student representatives with respect, recognising the value of their role in representing their fellow students.

2.2.5 Support the student representative system by running the election process, providing training to student representatives, and through ongoing support.

2.2.6 Ensure student representatives get ample notice of meetings, with agenda, information, and data in advance to enable them to take an effective role in discussions and meetings and offer the opportunity to request agenda items and raise issues for discussions

2.2 Student representatives have the responsibility to:

2.2.1 Attend all mandatory training to ensure they are prepared to represent their fellow students in meetings and other activities.

2.2.2 Proactively engage with their fellow students to seek their views and represent those views fairly at the appropriate level.

2.2.3 Attend and contribute to Programme Committee, or equivalent, meetings. In cases where this is not possible student representatives should ensure that feedback will be provided to the Chair in advance of the meeting.

2.2.4 Disseminating information and decisions to their fellow students.

3 Elections

3.1 Student Representative opportunities will be advertised to all students in the start of the academic year.

3.3 Student representatives will be identified through a formal nomination and election process.

3.4 Nominations shall be sought from all cohort students in a period of not less than fifteen working days.

3.5 Candidates must nominate themselves, but they can be nominated by fellow students. In such cases candidates must confirm their willingness to stand for election.

3.6 Candidates may provide a supporting statement describing why they would like to be a representative and what they would hope to achieve. These statements will be shared with all students, either in writing or verbally.

3.7 Where the number of candidates is equal to the number of vacancies, the candidates shall be duly elected. Where the number of candidates exceeds the number of vacancies, there will be an election.

3.8 Elections shall be by secret ballot undertaken electronically and will be held at the start of the year, given that start dates are different for different cohorts.

3.9 Student representatives will be elected within the classroom (virtual or inperson) with the visit of the Higher Education Manager or a member of the Student Welfare Team to facilitate the nomination and election process.

3.10 Elections will normally take place in week 3 at the start of each academic year and the outcome will be announced to those students that are represented.