What are Student Academic Reps (StARs)?
Student Academic Representatives (known as StARs) are students elected by their peers to represent the views and experiences of students on their programme at Student-Staff Liaison Committees (SSLCs) as part of a collaborative dialogue between students and staff that ensures course provision remains high-quality and student-focussed.
The StARs scheme plays a vital role in making sure that the student voice is heard and acted upon, and can make real change happen not only within programmes, but across the University of Winchester as a whole, as well. Some of the previous successful changes that have come about from SSLCs include: increasing contact time with teaching staff, altering assessment deadlines, creating regular informal feedback opportunities, provision of free blankets in library spaces, introducing ‘rest and prep’ weeks ahead of exams, and starting uniform swap shops for healthcare placement students.
How can I get involved?
There are two ways to get involved in the scheme – seeking out and providing feedback to your elected StARs, and becoming a StAR yourself!
StARs are elected at the beginning of Semester 1, typically as part of one of your timetabled sessions. You don’t need to worry about leading a campaign, but be prepared to say a sentence or two about why you think you’d make a good representative for your peers. Once duly elected, you’ll be invited to an induction, led by the Students’ Union’s Vice President, Education & Welfare (VPEW) and Student Voice Coordinator (SVC). This induction covers everything you’ll need to know in order to carry out your role – with the opportunity for additional training and support throughout the year.
How does the scheme work?
- As a StAR, you will collect feedback from your peers about their academic experience (e.g. what do they enjoy about the teaching? What would they like to see more of?), making sure to capture the views of a broad range of students.
- You take this feedback to your programme’s SSLC – of which there will be 3 per year. During the meeting, your and other StARs’ feedback will be discussed, and actions will be decided.
- The minutes from these meetings sent to the StARs team, and also shared back to your cohort so they can see what has been said, and what will be done.
- The VPEW and SVC collate all of the minutes from across the university into SSLC reports (you can find previous reports linked below), which identifies key themes, and also provides recommendations for action at a university-level.
- The recommendations from these reports are received by the university’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT), and shared with the student body.
- After attending SSLCs, StARs are eligible to claim a number of rewards. They can also engage in additional enrichment opportunities (e.g. wellbeing training, CV-building workshops).
- The cycle starts again.
Benefits
Being a StAR has a number of benefits, both for the institution, and your fellow students, but also for you as an individual.
These include:
• Opportunities to develop communication skills, and be a part of the decision-making process at the university
• Support and develop your student community, to bring about change and support good practices
• Receive additional, CV-boosting, training from experts in the sector
• Earn additional rewards for your time – including SU meal deal vouchers, exclusive merchandise, and entry to nighttime events
• Claim a FREE StARs hoodie upon completing your training
More information & Support:
If you would like to find out about more about the StARs scheme, including training dates, then please email StARs@winchester.ac.uk
SSLC Reports
Below you can find our previous SSLC Reports.
