What is the Future of University Student Representation?
Introduction
In this Brighter Beacon article, we are exploring the future of university student representation. We have reached unprecedented times where more people are going to university. In addition, student voice has become an important matter at universities to ensure students are happy being there to study, live, and thrive.
With this increase in student population in our universities, student representation has become a challenge where the name of the game is to push as much of the student voice to the university administration and students' union so that they can improve the student experience for all.
For this article, we are using the University of Edinburgh as our benchmark. Other universities may be mentioned to highlight unfamiliar ideas.
Status Quo on Representative Democracy
Part 1: Sabbatical Officers
Virtually all students' unions have student representatives, elected by the student population. The best example of these people is Sabbatical Officers. They are full-time officers, usually trustees of their students' union in its capacity as a charity, and may also sit on the board of directors of the union.
They are generally elected every year for a 1-year term. Some students' unions, such as the Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA), allow their sabbatical officers stand for re-election for a second year. Terms of more than 2 years are not permitted in the UK, under the Education Act 1994.
Sabbatical years are either taken in between years of study or immediately after graduation. They are almost always paid positions, with funds coming from the students' union itself, or directly from the university. The officer generally retains student status during their time in office.
A students' union may have at least 1 sabbatical officer. The highest count is 8 sabbatical officers of the Cambridge Students' Union. Each of them generally has a specific job description and title, such as President, Education Officer, Societies Officer, Services Officer, Welfare Officer, or Communications Officer. Together they form the executive. They are generally supported by unpaid part-time officers who fulfill their roles while continuing their studies.
Part 2: Liberation Officers
In students' unions such as the Edinburgh University Students' Association, Liberation Officers are representatives of the several marginalized communities of students. Our categories are:
For comparison, Newcastle University Students' Union has these categories:
Check out Imperial College Union's Liberation & Community Officers:
The categories of "International Students" and "Parent, Carers & Guardians" fall under Section Representatives in EUSA which we will cover soon. The category of "Working Class" will be covered in the section named New Student Representatives. Students' unions can decide what categories of students are suitable for Liberation Officers.
Besides representing their constituencies, Liberation Officers coordinate events and campaigns, create thriving community spaces, and push forward change on everything from student support to curriculum diversity. This is the case with EUSA and ICU.
Part 3: Section Representatives
It seems like EUSA is the only students' union with Section Representatives. AUSA, i.e the Aberdeen University Students' Association, has something similar called Section Forums. So, let's cover both concepts.
Section Representatives are representatives of the several underrepresented and non-traditional student sections. Our sections are:
Meanwhile, Section Forums are best described as like Representative Committees for each Student Section. Each Section Forum consists of a Convener, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and Liaison Officer - functioning similar to a student society. There are these following Section Forums in AUSA:
AUSA's Section Forums cover almost all of EUSA's Section Representatives.
Part 4: School Representatives
School Representatives are the heart of student representation on the education front. Some of us have a broader scope where we also focus on community and student support. EUSA has probably the most comprehensive School Representatives with all of the 20 Schools represented in every level of study (UG, PGT, PGR) - we are excluding the Deaneries of the Edinburgh Medical School (It is like splitting up the School of Engineering to its 4 departments and giving them its own Department Representative for all three levels of study). Besides that tangent, let's perform some comparisons with other students' unions.
The Dundee University Students' Association (DUSA) has School Presidents. They function similarly to our School Representatives - working with their school on student issues, attending important School meetings, and voting in their Students’ Representative Council (SRC). In addition, they have School Vice Presidents. Below is the Academic Schools of the University of Dundee:
It seems not a lot, but their School of Science and Engineering has Mathematics, Physics, 3 Engineering Disciplines, Computing, and 3 other sub-schools all-in-one. By our Edinburgh logic, their Science and Engineering should be a College yet the University of Dundee is a moderate-sized university of 25,838 total students as of 2022/23.
As a side note, the Glasgow University Students' Representative Council (GUSRC) has 2 School of Engineering Undergraduate Representatives.
Part 5: Other Elected Representatives
Students' unions may have other Elected Representatives. For example, some have a Sports Officer such as Strath Union. The University of Edinburgh has its Sports Union with an Executive Committee of 10 people, elected independently from the Students' Association.
Strath Union has something called Action Groups, student-led groups on planning campaigns, performing research, and getting organised to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing students. They have 4 groups:
We have similar entities such as Slurp: Students for Action on Homelessness.
Strath Union has these interesting representatives:
In addition, their non-Executive Officers receive an honorarium payment normally held for 12 months. EUSA has a few things to catch up on such as honoraria and Widening Participation Liberation Officer, however we are ahead on a few things such as Student Voice Forums and representation for commuter students, student parents, and student carers compared to some students' unions.
DUSA has these interesting representatives:
New Student Representatives
With the rising student population across many universities, there is a case to be made for the expansion of the Student Representative System through the consolidation or shuffling of existing roles, and the creation of new roles, given that any gaps in the representation of certain student sections or interests will be filled.
What Can Be Consolidated or Added?
See the next subsection.
We have the New King's Buildings Union for now, but if its leader cannot find a successor then the NKBU collapses. In the ever-growing University of Edinburgh with its 50,000 students and the debut of the cross-disciplinary Challenge Courses, there is a case to be made for Campus Representatives for Central Area, King's Buildings, and BioQuarter. Even though I am in favour of Campus Representatives introduced after my graduation, I am worried of a few problems:
1) Duplication of Interests - potential clashes with School Representatives, Student Opportunities Representatives, Campaign Representatives, and Student Society Bearers
2) Toxic Colleagues - repeated harassment from hostile student leaders
1) Sustainability
I have a slight criticism with the term "Sustainability". When most people think about sustainability, they usually refer to environmental sustainability. There are at least 2 more types of sustainability that are overlooked: economic sustainability and social sustainability.
This is my message for students' unions, especially our Students' Association:
At this point, I am finding and reviewing the manifestos of our Sustainability Representatives and Nominees to see if they are either focused on environmental sustainability or made some effort to push forward the other types of sustainability.
1a) Environmental Issues / Climate Emergency
2) Mental Health
3) Housing and Living
4) Ethics and Human Rights
We are inspired by Imperial College Union's Liberation & Community Officers to include "Ethics & Environment" and "Mental Health", so we decide to adapt them for our Students' Association. We also found out DUSA has similar representatives for Housing and "Environment & Sustainability".
I think replacing the current style of Campaign Representatives completely with Intersectional Issues Representatives is outlandish. There is still room for students choose a topic of their interest such as Affordability, Plant-Based Catering, or Interfaith Relations, including niche ones within the 4 proposed Intersectional Issues such as Tenant Rights, Bullying, or Islamophobia.
领英推荐
Case Study: The University of Edinburgh
Widening Participation Liberation Officer
The 93% Club Edinburgh is a group for UK state-educated students at the University of Edinburgh. During the March 2024 EUSA Elections, some candidates took their pledge. One of the goals is about campaigning and supporting the introduction of a Widening Participation Liberation Officer by the 2025 Elections.
I am not a Widening Participation student, but I support the idea. Here is my reasons:
There is one concern I have which I have faced as Engineering Undergraduate School Representative that can be relevant to the Widening Participation Liberation Officer. This concern is called "Toxic Colleagues". The Toxic Colleagues concern is essentially repeated harassment from hostile student leaders. I still have some toxic colleagues, especially with some leaders of a few engineering societies - hostile by default. Having toxic colleagues can impair your mental health and disrupt your studies. I do not want the Widening Participation Liberation Officer to have toxic colleagues and face them daily - imagine if one of them is your classmate, it rubs you the wrong way.
This is why the introduction of the Widening Participation Liberation Officer (WPLO) role should require a pact between the WPLO, 93% Club Edinburgh, Tackling Elitism and other parties to refrain from hostility towards each other and work together on the common goal of making the University of Edinburgh an excellent university for Widening Participation students.
Town Hall Meetings
Town Hall Meetings are events organized by the students' union where members of the student body have the opportunity to engage directly with senior university staff and administrators. These meetings typically serve as a forum for open dialogue, discussion, and exchange of ideas between students and university leadership on a wide range of topics, including assessment and feedback, student experience, cost of living and housing crisis, and institutional priorities.
Town Hall Meetings are often structured to allow students to pose questions, raise concerns, and share feedback with university officials in a public setting. They provide a platform for students to voice their opinions, express their perspectives, and advocate for changes or improvements within the university community. Additionally, town hall meetings may feature presentations or updates from university administrators on key initiatives, policies, or developments affecting students.
Case Study: The University of Edinburgh
The Edinburgh University Students' Association has running semesterly Town Hall Meetings under the name, Student Voice Forum: University Senior Leadership Q&A, with the same concept as previously described above. Its inaugural meeting is on 3rd April 2023. I went to that meeting before I was officially a student representative. During these meetings, I was mainly watching and listening the discussions. I had reserve questions just in case no one else is willing to ask a question. I went to these following Student Voice Forums:
Benefits
Town Hall Meetings help bridge ordinary students with the senior university leadership. Usually these staff members meet with the Sabbatical Officers at least monthly, so students, including non-Senate-seating elected student representatives like myself, are asking questions and listening along the discussions.
With the Student Voice Forums' section on open questions, there were great back-and-forth dialogue between the students and staff. I remembered the dialogues on transgender students' safety [3 April 2023], university investment on white phosphorus manufacturers [14 November 2023], and the safety of Palestinian and Jewish students [12 March 2024]. Those forums bring the best of my fellow students to serve the university leaders difficult questions.
Drawbacks
Town Hall Meetings are not suitable for difficult thorough single issues such as university divestment from adversarial parties. There are student groups who are willing to engage with the senior university staff, but these staff members seem to dodge the opportunities to have respectful discussions with these students. I recall a time during the March 2024 Student Voice Forum where a student representing the interests of a marginalized ethnic group of students was told by the university to raise their concerns there rather than a direct two-party meeting.
With the Student Voice Forums, the senior university leaders need to be held accountable every meeting to ensure if they worked further on the issues raised by students in the previous forum. Or else there is no point with these forums if they are slacking on the work and causing more turmoil and rift in our university.
Participatory Democracy and Self-Organization (PDSO)
Participatory Democracy and Self-Organization are two concepts that are being experimented by students at a few universities such as the University of Edinburgh. Direct Action is usually associated with Self-Organization, but we will cover Direct Action in our article on student opportunities.
Participatory Democracy
Participatory Democracy is a governance model where all members of the students' union have a direct role in decision-making processes. It fosters inclusivity, transparency, and collective decision-making by empowering students to engage in discussions, propose initiatives, and vote on important matters. This approach ensures that the union's direction and activities represent the diverse interests and perspectives of its membership. Thus, it leads to the promotion of a sense of ownership and accountability among students.
In the Edinburgh University Students' Association, we already have the Student Council, however there is room for improvement. One of the things I have thoughts about are Special Interest Groups or Working Groups, under participatory principles, that are aligned to the remits of our Sabbatical Officers. The Nucleus Special Interest Group is one of the best example - I joined it for the purpose of allowing the Nucleus Building to used by students for recreations and socialization. Entities such as the Activities Executive, Student-Staff Liaison Committees, Liberation Campaign Committees requires designation (invite-only) and holding a relevant representative role. I have been forming new entities that adhere to Participatory Democracy and Self-Organization such as:
Self-Organization
Self-Organization is the coordination of activities and initiatives by students outside the control and influence of the students' union. It involves a bottom-up approach to decision-making and planning. This allows the students to take ownership of their activities and advocate for the issues that matter to them. Through self-organization, students form small groups such as committees and special interest groups to tackle specific concerns or pursue shared goals. This leads to fostering a culture of collaboration, like-mindedness, and promptness among the students. Another name for Self-Organization is Autonomous Student-Led Initiatives (ASLI).
Let's use the New King's Buildings Union as an example of self-organization.
Briefly, the New King's Buildings Union is the successor to the original King's Buildings Union. It was founded by Bintang Dirya in January 2023. Their current reason for this organization is to create a space for novel campus-wide activities and be a leader in using the Nucleus Building in novel ways. Their plan includes:
Campus-wide entities used to exist in the University of Edinburgh before the Students' Association annexed them over time. This led to the infamous forced merger with the original King's Buildings Union in 1994 orchestrated by the university administration. After 1994, King's Buildings Campus has become fractured with various activities by different student groups. Everything changes with March 2024 where the New King's Buildings Union (NKBU) has a chance to be successful. These points are:
For context, John Rappa is not a King's Buildings student. The NKBU had discussions with the incumbent VPAS, a KB student, in September 2023 about sober events and spaces, but nothing comes to fruition. Secondly, John's manifesto covers Mixers and Socials, Cultural and Arts Societies Showcases, and Farmer’s Markets on Campus.
Therefore, the NKBU is soon to be negotiating with John Rappa, the incoming EUSA VP Activities and Services, on co-hosting socials and mixers at King's Buildings House twice a semester. The NKBU would like to provide a helping hand to them in these initiatives.
The NKBU can apply for some money from the College of Science and Engineering to run costly events in the Nucleus Building and the front lawn. They are likely to use that money to start-up the Cultural/Media Festivals and Tech Conferences.
There are other funding sources such as the Student Experience Grants, Student Partnership Agreement, and the upcoming Cross-College Fund - spearheaded by the CSE Dean of Student Experience that the NKBU could apply for their projects.
Self-Organization is better than Student Societies in terms of its broader scope, flexible structures, and safer cooperation.
Sam Marks and Our Students' Association
I want to dedicate a section to my respected colleague, Sam Marks, this year's History, Classics, and Archaeology Undergraduate School Representative. He intended to stand for EUSA President, however his approach to the role was in conflict with the Students' Association's Rules. His contentious points were:
Compared to Representative Democracy: Part 1 - Sabbatical Officers, Sam Marks essentially rejected the core of the Sabbatical Officer role, then refused to comply with the Students' Association and dropped out from the nomination process. He did these rejections in good faith.
He wanted to stand for the presidency, because he did not believe that the Students' Association is aligned with the voice, perspectives, and feelings of the student body. He wanted to hold the senior University management more accountable to the students' voice and transform the Students' Association student government from an afterthought in the heads of most students into a pillar of the community that all Edinburgh students can rally behind.
He argued that the Students' Association's Rules were not designed in the students' best interests and the student government should be made of actual students.
Our Opinions
"If we have to compromise our ability to be students in order to be a part of EUSA, there needs to be some serious change to the way we elect our student government and the expectations we have of it." - Sam Marks
We love Sam Marks, but there is a sense of vagueness with his conviction on a student government reform. We can only fill the blanks and throw a variety of ideas. Therefore, we can try to understand his conviction and come up with our solutions, but it is our interpretation - not reflective of his truth.
Our Solutions:
This action includes having an accountability report akin to the ones of Sabbatical Officers, so that students can hold them responsible on their work.
As Engineering Undergraduate School Representative, I was not strict with my votes on Student Council matters. The only time I was strict is on November 2023 where there were accountability concerns with 4 out of the 5 Sabbatical Officers and the motion on campaigning Student Housing Cooperatives. This led to abstain votes, not against votes.
I do not know the increase of student participation on Student Council Meetings could lead to a student voice gridlock where students vote against on everything, including motions, as votes of no confidence and protest against the Students' Association's supposed weakness to urge the university to cooperate with them to fast-track progress on the safety of transgender students, divestment from the military industrial complex, and the elimination of hate crimes. So, heed my warning!
A Part 2, Perhaps?
We decided to make at least a Part 2. It may cover:
An update for this article may be made to add back the section on "Student Council Meetings", if not it will be covered in the Part 2 or a future article.
Conclusion
The landscape of university student representation is evolving rapidly, driven by the increasing diversity and size of student populations, and the changing needs and expectations of students. Traditional models of representative democracy, exemplified by Sabbatical Officers, Liberation Officers, Section Representatives, and School Representatives, remain essential but are being supplemented by new roles and initiatives to better address the diverse interests and concerns of students.
The consideration of new positions such as Widening Participation Liberation Officer, Campus Representatives, and Intersectional Issues Representatives at the University of Edinburgh reflects a growing recognition of the need for more inclusive and responsive forms of representation. Additionally, participatory democracy and self-organization are being explored as alternative models that empower students to directly engage in decision-making and activism within their unions.
However, challenges remain, including ensuring sufficient representation for all student demographics, fostering meaningful student engagement, and addressing issues of accountability and effectiveness within student governance structures. Moving forward, it is essential for universities and students' unions to continue innovating and adapting their approaches to student representation to ensure that all voices are heard and that the student experience is continually improved. By embracing diversity, inclusivity, and democratic principles, universities can build stronger and more vibrant communities that empower students to thrive academically, socially, and personally.