School of Social & Political Sciences

Class and PGR Representatives exist to represent the students in their class, course, programme, or subject. Schools/Research Institutes are expected to engage Class and PGR Representatives routinely in the decision-making committees and processes and to consult them, formally and informally, on decisions with an impact on the student experience. As a minimum, Class and PGR Representative should be invited to, attend and contribute to two Staff-Student Liaison Committee (SSLC) meetings per year.

Good practice indicates effective student representation will go further than this with an effective formal and informal partnership developed between the Schools/RIs and Class and PGR Representatives.

There is more information about the Class Rep system in the Code of Practice on Student Representation and on the Students’ Representative Council website.

To be an effective class rep, you will be expected to undertake the following tasks:

• Make yourself known to your classmates and peers who you represents as well as the best way to contact you with any issues they may have.
• Undertake Class Representative Training run by the Students’ Representative Council.
• Proactively collect feedback from your classmates throughout the year.
• Attend SSLC meetings, bringing items to the agenda based on student feedback.
• Work with other class representatives and School/RI staff to resolve any issues either at SSLCs or through communication throughout the year.
• Follow up on actions allocated to you and keep the students you represent in the loop with your progress.
• Liasise with your GUSRC School Representative or Convenor on any issues out of your remit or you need support in tackling.
• Support key GUSRC academic campaigns and activities such as the Student Teaching Awards.

Class representatives are chosen in School of Education through election within the first few weeks of teaching. Information on the role will be part of the class induction.

Being a class representative is a great way to:

• make positive changes in your subject or school for your fellow students
• find out more about the university’s structure for decision making
• develop skills such as communication and problem solving

Your role as a class rep can also be officially recognised by the university and added to your transcript, also known as your Higher Education Achievement Record (HEAR), when you graduate which can look great to potential employers.

Class representatives are elected into the role as stated in the Code of Practice for Student Representation. Elections will be held by secret paper ballot, normally in class.

Class Representative Training 

Training is available to all class representatives through the SRC. This two hour session will cover the role of the class representative at the University, how to collect feedback, how to feed this back to the University and how to convey changes made to students. Sessions are scheduled at various times during Semester 1 and 2 and can be signed up to via MyClassReps. Attending Class Representative Training is a requirement for your role to be recognised on your transcript, but you only need to attend the training once every four years so if you are studying a four year programme you only need to attend this once. 

Student Representation Toolkit 

This is an online resource, created by GUSRC and accessed through MyClassReps, which contains a variety of useful information to help you as a rep, and links to key University policies that are relevant to your role. 

MyClassReps 

This is an online portal where you can discuss issues with fellow class representatives, use as a tool to collect feedback from the students you represent and feed back any changes made. Relevant documents such as meeting minutes should also be uploaded to MyClassReps. 

Glasgow University Students’ Representative Council (GUSRC) 

GUSRC is the representative body for all students at the University of Glasgow and one of the four student bodies. Also known as the SRC, they exist to support all students as well as represent them at committees across the university on academic and welfare-based issues.  GUSRC also provides support via The Advice Centre, services such as the second-hand bookshop, printing and binding, and serves as a hub for extra-curricular activities through 300+ clubs and societies, four student media bodies and GU Volunteering. 

The SRC has a council made up of 47 student representatives, a mixture of academic and welfare/equalities positions. Each College has an undergraduate and postgraduate College Convenor and there is a Postgraduate Research Convenor for all PGR students. 

Each School has a School Representative whose role is to support Class Representatives by identifying key issues in their School and take these to School Learning and Teaching Committees to be addressed and acted upon. SRC School Representatives meet with class representatives at least once a semester and will normally contact class representatives via their student emails.