Course Rep Role Description
What are Course Reps?
Course Reps are a key link between the students within your class, cohort or year group to the academic staff within your department. They seek out students’ views and represent you at meetings, working in partnership with staff to improve your course, campaign for change, and resolve any course-related issues which may arise. Course Reps work closely with the Divisional Board Reps, Oxford SU, and its elected officers (both full and part-time) to improve students’ experience across the university.
What do I have to do?
Each department and course has their own way of listening to the views of students but most have what’s called a JCC (Joint Consultative Committee) or a GJCC (Graduate Joint Consultative Committee). Some departments may have a SSF (Staff Student Forum), or an Academic Forum/Assembly.
Your role requires you to do:
Regularly seek out the views and opinions of the students you represent on all matters concerning their student experience.
Bring course-level issues and concerns raised by the students you represent to meetings of the JCC/GJCC or equivalent.
Attend and contribute, as far as possible, to any other meetings with staff to which they are invited.
Ensure that you are prepared to present your own views and the views of those whom you represent effectively to meetings, having read all the necessary papers.
Provide feedback to the students they represent on the outcomes of meetings and liaise with other course representatives to form a picture of the views of the department student body.
Attend training for course representatives provided by Oxford SU.
There should be at least one meeting within the first two terms. As a rep you will be given the time and location of the meeting by either the lead Academic or by a Department administrator.
What happens in these meetings?
It’s your chance to feed back any thoughts, points, concerns or issues your peers have to the academic staff. The agenda is normally kept quite open and you don’t have to always find the negatives – feedback can also be about positive changes to the student experience.
How will Oxford SU support you?
Oxford SU are putting a big emphasis on supporting course reps. Throughout Michaelmas term we’ll be putting on specific training for course reps for each division. We’re offering a range of training slots from afternoon and evening sessions over a range of weeks to allow you to pick training that fits around your schedule. We will also offer training which is specific to departments, to ensure that you can do the best job you can.
Oxford SU will also be contacting you to find out how things are on your course throughout the year with a range of consultations, questions and advice.