How it all Works

At our core we're a democratic organisation, we elect students to determine what we do and how we go about doing it. To make this work fairly and effectively we have our governance structures – Elections, Officers, the Articles of Association, and the Standing Orders. Alongside the Trustee Board these all work together to make sure we're doing the best we can for our members.

Students are involved in every aspect of our governance, either as participants or as change-makers. This way we ensure that what our membership wants is what we are doing (and how we are doing it).

Because what's important to us, is you.

The Ideas Forum

Any student may submit an idea for change through the Ideas Forum. Simply submit your Idea about what you want to change, and why, on the website for discussion. Ideas will remain live on the site for six months for upvoting purposes, before being removed and archived. If the idea reaches 25 votes it will be taken to the Executive Committee who will then decide the best course of action for the idea. This may mean actioning it as soon as possible or taking it to a further meeting to debate and/or obtain student backing.

All Student Meetings

An All Student Meeting can be called at any time. Students put proposals forward for changes to the Union's Standing Orders which are voted upon and passed by a simple majority. ASM's need a minimum of 50 students to attend in order to be valid.

Elections

To ensure our leadership is representing our members we elect students into officer and representative positions. The elections are organised so that any student can stand and vote for who they want to see represent them. Those elected then lead the Union of Students for the following year.

Scrutiny Panel

Scrutiny Panel is a meeting where our Elected Officers are held accountable for their work towards their manifesto aims. The officers go through their recent activity and explain their progress to a panel of students.

Referenda

A referendum is a vote on a single issue to do with how the Union is run, and may be called by any student with a secure petition of 200+ members. All members of the Union can then vote for or against. A minimum of 1,000 students must vote, and 66% must be in favour for the decision to be accepted.

Important Documents