We recently held some workshops to get your feedback on the Students' Union, and we learned some valuable insights that we'd like to share with you. We spoke to a group of students who were already quite active in various SU activities. What we found interesting was that even though these students were involved in SU-related things, they didn't necessarily feel like they were a part of the SU. This tells us that we need to do a better job of making sure all students feel like they belong and that their contributions are valued.

We also realised that many students see us primarily as a go-between for students and the university, and they're not as familiar with the work we do in areas like social events, skills development, and representing your academic interests. While students generally have a positive impression of us, we understand that we need to be more vocal about all the ways we support you.

One of the key takeaways was that students aren't always aware of how much influence we have in improving your experiences at university. This points to a communication gap that we need to bridge. You told us you want to be more involved in shaping the SU, but you also want the freedom to focus on issues that matter to you. You're asking for more transparency, clearer communication, and easily accessible ways to get involved. We hear you!

You also highlighted the need for better communication about how decisions are made, how we use our funding, and how you can make your voice heard. You value a collaborative approach, particularly when it comes to electing representatives and being consulted on important issues. We're committed to exploring ways to make our decision-making processes more inclusive and transparent.

Finally, you stressed the importance of the SU addressing both academic and non-academic concerns. Having a single point of contact for all your concerns, regardless of what they are, came up as a key area for improvement. We're taking all of your feedback seriously as we work towards creating a Students' Union that truly represents you and empowers you to make the most of your time at university.

You can read a full breakdown of the results here. You can see all the proposals and the questions we still have here. To complete the Constulation, please complete the survey here.
 

Proposals

Based on the findings, a restructure of the Union’s democratic structure is proposed. It was important in the design of the new structures that we are clear about what we are aiming for, so a “Destination” statement was created.

Destination

Stirling Students' Union supports, develops and represents students throughout their time at Uni. We exist to help students...

1. Make friends and lifelong memories
2. Build skills for the future
3. With support and advice
4. Influence their learning

 The only way we can fully achieve this is if we allow students to tell us how they want their time at University to be better.

For decades, the model of students' unions has been to wait for students to come to us in heavily bureaucratic large open meetings - but from speaking to our members, from researching student behaviours, from looking at how we can be stronger, and from understanding trends in higher education, we don't think that works anymore.

Rather than waiting for students to come to us, coercing attendance at meetings to get a badge, and having inaccessible meetings at inconvenient times, we need to commit to going out and speaking to students where student communities exist already. Our entire democratic process will be based around a simple concept...

"Students are really busy, their issues or opinions are too complicated to capture in a one off meeting every four times a year, and as a students’ union our role is to support our Officers (and staff) to spend as much time with students as possible and to work on issues that matter to them."

This means no general meetings, where we desperately scramble for enough bums on seats to vote, no annual general meetings asking students to approve financial accounts that have already been signed off by the auditors and published a year ago, and no wasting time asking student to turn up to things they don’t care about.

We believe in student leadership, student experience and student action.

New Structure

The provided slides outline proposed new student leadership structures. There are two main student leadership groups: the Student Leadership Team (SLT) and the Student Experience Council (SEC).

The SLT is composed of the four Sabbatical Officers and meets every two weeks to discuss current issues, set plans based on manifestos and student feedback, and to refer strategic and political questions to the appropriate body.

The SEC is made up of the four Sabbatical Officers and 14* Volunteer Officers and is facilitated by an appointed Student Chair. The SEC meets three times each semester to discuss student ideas, political policy and opinion, and reports from Sabbatical Officers. The SEC also holds officers accountable and creates online ballots* for political policy or opinions as needed.

There are also Executive Committees (ECs) for Sports and Societies. The ECs include five Presidents/Chairs and three "regular" members. In addition, there is an Education Executive Committee made up of Faculty Officers, as well as Postgraduate Taught and Postgraduate Research Voluntary Officers.

ECs meet monthly to decide on funding, new groups, education issues, campaigns, and feedback relating to student activity. They are chaired by the relevant Sabbatical Officer.

Action Groups (AGs) are made up of relevant sabbatical, voluntary, and faculty officers, and any interested students. They are chaired by an attendee elected at the first meeting. AGs meet twice a semester to discuss and plan campaigns and issues relating to student experience and engagement, and to send issues needing further attention to one of the other bodies. In some cases, particularly for political or campaign issues, this is likely to be SEC. For urgent issues, this is more likely to be the SLT. There is also hoped to be a strong like between the ECs and the AGs. The Education AGs are actually 5 – one for each Faculty.

You can read a full breakdown of the results here. You can see all the proposals and the questions we still have here. To complete the Constulation, please complete the survey here.

If you have any questions, please email jeremy.harvey@stir.ac.uk.