As well as our upcoming “Meet your Rep” events, we are asking all student Reps to tell us more about about why they became a Rep, and what they hope to achieve in the role.<\/p>\n
This month, Postgraduate Research Rep Jordan Cowell answers our questions.<\/p>\n
1. What does a Course Rep do? <\/strong><\/p>\n A Course Rep or in my case a Research Group Rep are a focal point for student comments and concerns, which we are then able to pass on to academics and management through semi-regular meetings throughout they year.<\/p>\n 2. Why did you become a Course Rep? <\/strong><\/p>\n I think its important that students have a group of people with a strong voice who will make sure that their voices are being heard and I think I am one of those strong voices.<\/p>\n 3. How do you engage with students to encourage feedback, discussions and suggestions? <\/strong><\/p>\n Direct conversation is usually the easiest but thankfully with regular meetings as a research group it is possible to engage with all of the students together and debate issues or comments that need to be raised.<\/p>\n 4. Do you have any success stories of your own where you\u2019ve helped students, or brought about a change?<\/strong><\/p>\n Unfortunately I have only been in the role a couple of months but have consistently campaigned for better training for PhD students who teach. I certainly felt that I was thrown in at the deep end when I started and I don\u2019t want others to feel that.<\/p>\n 5. We rely on Course Reps to inform the school the recommendations students have proposed for changes to benefit them in their course. Can you tell uswhy that\u2019s important to students? <\/strong><\/p>\n Student satisfaction should and is one of the top priorities of the school. If students are satisfied with the course they perform and understand better.<\/p>\n 6. As a School Rep have you seen changes take place over the last couple of years? <\/strong><\/p>\n There have been several changes over my last couple of years as a PhD student but even more over my previous six that I have been here as an undergraduate also. I do still think there needs to be some more radical changes in the modules that I supervise but its something we are working towards for the benefit of the students.<\/p>\n 7. Any other thoughts or feedback on what it means to be a Course Rep, or why it\u2019s important?<\/strong><\/p>\n I wanted to put back in something for the school for all of the time I\u2019ve been here so its satisfying to be able to help as a Group Rep. It definitely is important because without a student voice we cannot find solutions to the problems that you may have. I would therefore insist on raising any concerns with your student representative; we really can make a difference!<\/p>\n