There will be a major change to the course rep elections system from the start of the 2018/19 academic year - elections across all departments will be held online.
It gives me great pleasure to announce a major development with regards to the course rep elections system - from the start of the 2018/19 academic year, elections across all departments will be held online.
The mechanisms in place for selecting course reps at Royal Holloway was one of the most contentious aspects of the system, raised by students during our Academic Review this year. It is clear that the practice to date has varied significantly across the College, with some reps appointed and others elected, while the timing of selection has varied across the first two to eight weeks of term one.
Our external consultant for the review said that “whilst there is some good practice in some departments, there is also some practice which fundamentally undermines the effectiveness of the system”, particularly for joint honours students, where different methods have made the rep system seem haphazard and not part of a prioritised, institution-wide effort to improving the collective student experience.
Well, things are going to be different from now on…
As course representation is a joint endeavour between departments and the SU, we’ve agreed with the departments to host the elections on our website from autumn 2018, and have been busy working hard to set this up. This means course reps will now be elected with the same legitimacy as your sabbatical officers and student group committees. We’ve got nifty role descriptions already on our website, so if you are a returning student and thinking of running (or re-running) to be a course rep in your department, why not take a look ahead of elections next term?
Check out the role descriptions
CLEM JONES
VICE PRESIDENT, EDUCATION