Formal student involvement

The Staff and Student Community Forum

The staff student community forum (SSCF) plays a key part in helping to connect staff and students from these different communities. This link between staff and students helps to enhance the quality of learning and formation for all. The SSCF plays a key part in enabling student engagement so that Queen’s can be attentive to student voices in our decision making processes. Through the SSCF, we can consult with representatives and through them with the wider communities.

The SSCF complements work undertaken by other bodies that have student representation such as the Academic Management Group, Governors, and the student views that are gathered in other processes such as module feedback and library surveys. The SSCF is constituted to include representations from as many different types of student as possible, along with representation from and links to the Partners' group. Members volunteer for the SSCF, as does the student co-chair; if more than one nomination is received then an election is held to confirm this position.

Community Meetings

Community meetings take place during terms 1 and 2 across daytime, weekend and weeknight evenings, covering a wide range of matters. There is a regular student-only section to allow student representatives from the SSCF and the other groups outlined below to discuss matters with their cohorts and seek feedback.

Governors

As the Foundation’s governors are constituted, one student and one staff member attends each governor’s meeting, not as a full visiting member but as a contributor to the debate and often the presenter of information.

Academic Management Group (AMG)

The AMG deals with all matters relating to academic programmes and university matters at Queen’s and has a number of student representatives. This group covers business such as scrutinising module content and Module Tutors’ reports.

In order to ensure that student participation on the AMG is inclusive of the wide range of student, academic cohorts and pathways, students from the following groups choose one of their number to represent them/to join the AMG:

• One student from each year of the Full time Cert/Dip/BA programme
• One student from each of the three years of the evening/weekend Part Time Cert/DipHE/BA programme
• One student from the respective cohorts of Reader training
• One student drawn from the Queen's Digital Learning pathway
• One student from the MA programme pathway
• One student focusing on disability and access issues

From those representatives we will also seek a range of different types of sponsored and non-sponsored students. Where student representation is lacking in specific ways – e.g. ethnicity or gender, the AMG will seek additional participants.

Students can also be elected to the national Common Awards Management Committee, where Queen’s representatives can liaise with national representatives. (See https://www.dur.ac.uk/common.a...).

Sub-Groups of Academic Management Group with student involvement:

• Academic Quality and Standards Group (AQSG) evaluates all of our quality and enhancement processes and has student representatives from the respective pathway cohorts.
• Participation and Access Group (PAG) is a joint student and staff group looking across college at access issues, both physical and learning-related, that affect us all. It reviews all student policy and training issues and recommends actions.