What is Academic Representation & Why Does it Matter? 

As your Students' Union, we understand the importance of the quality of your education. Our Academic Representation System -which includes our Subject Area Reps, School Reps and our Vice-President Education- is here to provide you with the tools to influence the change you want to see at Roehampton. 

The main purpose of the RSU is to act as your representative channel and support you in having the best student experience during your time at Roehampton. Academic Representation is important, because YOUR feedback directly shapes your student experience, by telling the RSU what changes you want to see on campus. We then work with the University to create these improvements.  

Academic Representation System Overview: 

To ensure you have the power to create the change you'd like to see, the RSU has worked in partnership with the University to create a new digitised model of Student Academic Representation, so you can submit feedback effectively and easily. You can find out more about each part of the Academic Representation System below: 

1. Digital Rep  

Digital Rep is used to collect the student voice on the issues that matter most to you about your academic experiences here at Roehampton, with your comments going straight to your Subject Area Reps and School Reps to use when working with schools on your behalf. Digital Rep asks you what works well, what doesn’t work well and what could be improved, so that we can celebrate the best parts of your experiences and find ways to continually make it better. 

Through this tool, your reps are able to make change in the short term as opposed to the long term, and we have seen several successes already across schools that are receiving lots of feedback. 

How can I give feedback?  

You can click here to anonymously send your rep some feedback that they can use to represent your voice about your academic experiences.   

2. Subject Area Representatives:  

To support the digitisation of feedback gathering, the new Student Academic Representation System will include the introduction of Subject Area Representatives, and the removal of Programme Representatives. These new reps will cover subject areas within schools, as opposed to covering specific programmes. 

Subject Area Representatives exist to lead on collecting and representing views and opinions of peers on all matters related to learning and teaching across each School. This role will work within RSU and the University to engage students and collecting feedback through the Digital rep to represent the academic interests of students.  

3. School Representatives: 

School Reps are a critical part of academic representation at the University of Roehampton, and they exist to lead on and represent views, opinions and academic interest of peers on all matters related to learning and teaching across each School. School Reps will work within RSU and the University to help build a striving academic community through democratic engagement, co-creation of solutions, and improvements based on student feedback to enhance the university experience.    

Not sure who your Student Academic Rep is or want to find out more about the Student Academic Representation System? Have a look at the RSU Representation Hub to find out more