The Annual Students’ Union Elections are here, and once again, City students will be asked to elect who they want to represent them for the next year. As a Programme Rep, you’ve already had a taste of being a City Change Maker and can take your journey further by running to be your school’s next Assembly Member, or leading the Union as an SU Officer…

In a few weeks, students will elect 4 full-time SU Officers and 33 Assembly Members (some of which we hope are you!). ‘What’s the difference’ you ask..? Let me tell you.

Being an SU Officer

SU Officers lead City Students’ and represent all City students at the highest levels of the University. They campaign on issues that are important to them, plan and organise events to build community and work to make every day better for students. Being an SU Officer is a fantastic opportunity to develop key skills and springboard your career, as well as making some great change and supporting your peers.

The good news? As a Rep, you have a head-start as you’ve already developed many of the skills needed for this role. If you’ve ever spoken to students about their experiences, taken feedback forward and advocated to university staff for change, then congratulations - you already have some of the key experiences that would make you an excellent Officer. In addition to those skills, the SU Officer role does comes with comprehensive training throughout the summer to makes sure that you feel prepared and confident enough to represent your peers and drive forward change at City.

One of the portfolios that an SU Officer is responsible for is Education, which includes oversight of the Programme Rep System. If there’s more change and improvements you’d like to see at City which you don’t feel have been achieved during your time as a Rep, or are much bigger than programme-level, this could be your chance to work on them.

Being an Assembly Member

What if you’re not at the end of your degree, or you don’t want to take a year out, but you still want to have a bigger impact on the student experience? You can run to be an Assembly Member and represent your School. The SU Assembly sets the Union’s priorities for the year and carries them forward. There are 4 Assembly meetings each year, and Assembly Members will also be invited to school-level committees to represent students from their school.

As a Programme Rep, this is a natural step up – you’ve represented the students on your course and have worked to make positive change. Now it’s time to work to make the changes at school level. You are in the unique position of already being part of our community of Change Makers and clearly already have a passion for student representation.

What to do next

To find out more about the roles and what is expected throughout the year, click here. If you’re interested and want to talk to a member of our team further, you can book a chat with us through our Elections 2024 webpage. You can nominate yourself today here! Maybe all of this sounds great to you but you already have a graduate scheme lined up, you can tell us if you think someone would be good for the role by using our recommend a friend form.