Student representation
This matter of being run by students for students is part of students’ unions’ other main role — often just as important as providing services, indeed at some universities, even more so.
SUs are the representative voice of the students. In theory, at least — how representative they are in practice is another thing that varies from university to university.
Apart from electing the students to run the show, SUs try to get their student members to vote in ballots and at meetings on all sorts of matters — everything from political campaigns to whether to boycott Smarties from the union shop.
SUs have more elections than a man on Viagra in a Chinese takeaway, but at many the turn-out is so low they almost make Florida look democratic. But they (almost) all have complex proportional representation voting systems and some could teach the Government a thing or two about accountability.
At most universities, a few elected students are allowed to give up their studies for a year (often they take office just after finishing their degree) and are therefore called sabbaticals or ‘sabbs’. The sabbaticals are even paid to do their jobs (never more than a few thousand — much lower wages than any of the non-student staff).
Unions also have plenty of unpaid student officers who don’t get the year off, but who do it out of commitment, ambition or just for fun.
Traditionally, these elected jobs are political — like a students’ mini government — but increasingly, at many universities, students don’t even think of standing for election on a political party ticket. More often it’s a bring-a-bottle party ticket.
Political or not, as well as ultimately running the commercial business of the union, the officers (the sabbs especially) are on university committees voicing the opinions of the student body to the authorities on all manner of subjects. Anything from library opening hours to the level of rent in student housing, from giving honorary degrees to dodgy former dictators (such as Baroness Thatcher), to taking part in the job interviews when the university needs to appoint a new vice-chancellor.
The amount of say that students get in the running of their university varies from place to place and depends not only on whether the SU officers are involved in such committees, but on how seriously their views are taken.
Meanwhile, SUs represent students in other ways — to the outside world through campaigns and the media (usually only local papers and radio are interested) and to students up and down the country through the National Union of Students (NUS).
Last updated on: 01 May 2008