Course Reps work closely with staff in your School to share your views about your course and report on whether anything needs to be changed or improved.

Course Representatives

Each year of each course has at least one Course Representative. Course Reps are the key link between students and staff in their school.

They seek out students' views and represent them at Staff Student Liaison Committee (SSLC) meetings, work in partnership with staff to improve their course and resolve any course-related issues as they arise throughout the year. Course Reps work closely with the Students' Union to campaign for change and make things better for students.

Find my rep

What if I want to be a Course Rep?

How do I nominate myself?

By nominating yourself online when the annual course rep election takes place: see the Course Rep Elections web page for the latest information.

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What positions are available?

Undergraduate: Every year of your course will be represented by at least one Course Rep. Smaller courses may share a Rep between them; larger courses such as Medicine have more than one Rep per year of study.

Postgraduate Taught: Larger courses will have at least one Course Rep. Smaller courses may be grouped by subject area, and these Reps will represent several PGT courses.

Postgraduate Research: Most departments have one PGR Rep per subject/research group. A minority of these are elected through QMSU, with many departments running their own procedures. If your department is not listed, contact your department to find out more about student representation at PGR level.

Online/Distance Learning: Most online/distance learning programmes will have course reps. The practicalities of the role will differ but there is an opportunity to undertake the role.

I’m a joint honours student – what position am I eligible to stand for?

Larger joint honours courses have a dedicated Course Rep. An example of this type of joint honours Course Rep would be for History and Politics, who only represents this degree but may attend both departments’ committees. If you are on a course with a dedicated Rep, you will only be eligible to stand for this position.

Other departments with smaller joint honours courses may have one Course Rep for a group of courses. Examples of this type of Rep would include the joint honours Rep in Economics and Finance, who represents all joint honours students in the School, and the Reps in SLLF who represent all students studying their subject modules (e.g. French, Linguistics).

If you are on a really small course, there may not be specific joint honours provision. In this case, you would be eligible to stand to be the single honours Course Rep in your department. For example, Computer Science with Multimedia students could stand to be the Computer Science Rep.

If you have any questions or aren't sure which position you can stand for, contact the representation team at su-coursereps@qmul.ac.uk.

What's in it for me?

Making a Difference

This is your chance to make a real difference to yours and your fellow students’ lives and experience at QMUL.

Developing Networks

Being a Course Rep is a great opportunity to meet the staff and students in your School or Department and also students from across the University at Course Rep social events.

Gaining New Skills

As a Course Rep you will develop and learn transferable skills that will help improve your employability.

Reward and Recognition

All Course Reps receive recognition and will be invited to take part in an awards ceremony at the end of the year where they will receive a certificate for their hard work.

What skills will I gain?

Being a Course Rep is all about making a difference to students’ lives, but it will also allow you to develop a range of skills that will make you more employable. Better still, it will show you to be the sort of person willing to go the extra mile to support others.

Some of the skills you’ll have the chance to develop during your time as a Course Rep include:

Communication
Public Speaking
Interpersonal Skills
Problem Solving
Presentation
Negotiation
Teamwork
Leadership, and more

We run training sessions throughout the year on all of the above.

What would be expected of me?

What is expected from me if I am elected as a Course Rep?

The Course Rep role is what you make of it, but there is a minimum time commitment we expect that you should be willing and able to fulfil when you put yourself forward for election. The role is likely to take a couple of hours of work per week, covering the following:

Representing the views of students at departmental committee meetings, which are between once per semester and once per month
Seeking the opinion of all the students on your course by holding meetings, using social media and designing surveys
Giving information to students through a variety of methods
Preparing for meetings and following up actions after meetings
Attending Students’ Union Forums together with the other Reps from your School or Department
Attending training sessions, including the introductory ‘Effective Representation' session

Full training and support is provided throughout the year - see the Course Rep Training web page for the latest information.

Course Rep Role Descriptions

To view the descriptions, please click the links below to download the PDFs.

Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught Postgraduate Research

For any questions regarding how to be a course rep or support whilst in the role, please contact: su-coursereps@qmul.ac.uk.

Course rep elections Training & resources Rewards & recognition

Your Voice

Contact Us

Course Reps

Contact your Students’ Union with any questions you may have.

su-coursereps@qmul.ac.uk