► Support

Throughout your time as a student rep, the Students’ Union will be on hand to provide assistance and support through its dedicated team of staff and sabbatical officers. As well as access by phone, email or appointment to the Representation Team. As a student rep, you can expect to receive:

Training

All new reps will be invited to an introductory training session, to give them all of the information and resources that they require for the upcoming year. This session forms part of your payment criteria. If you have not yet received an invite or attended a training session, please contact your student engagement coordinator as soon as possible.

E-newsletters and student reps on Blackboard

We send out regular e-newsletters with key updates to help keep you informed as a rep, covering all of our current campaigns (and victories!), any national campaigns you might be interested in, upcoming training opportunities and other paid opportunities within the Union. We also maintain an organisation on Blackboard, providing you with a space to share ideas and best practice with other reps, coordinate with reps in your areas, and retrieve key documents. This organisation also houses our research library, which is full of information produced especially to help reps lobby for change. Visit blackboard.bucks.ac.uk for more information.

Help with your research 

Alongside our online research library, our in-house research coordinator provides help and guidance for reps who want to carry out research to provide an evidence base for their campaigns. This could be assistance producing surveys or carrying out focus groups to gather feedback from your course mates, or guidance on gathering secondary evidence from existing reports. For more information or to book an appointment, contact Gemma Heath, Research Coordinator - email: gemma.heath@bucks.ac.uk.

Additional skills training

We also offer a diverse range of opportunities to develop your transferable skills through our additional skills training programme. View the sessions available this academic year in our training guide. We try to make sure there is something for everyone with all sessions being completely free. So get involved and gain a new skill to put on your CV. To see what sessions we have available, check out our what's on section.

Mentoring

The Students’ Union is offering mentoring sessions to every student who gives up their time to help make life better for students at Bucks. We hope that through mentoring, student reps will be able to access the necessary support needed to make the most of their time in office and that their graduate prospects are improved as a result. Each rep will be given the opportunity to have three meetings each academic year with a member of Union staff, at times that are convenient for you. This will give you the chance to discuss personal objectives, progress and the support that you are receiving. Get in touch with our staff team to arrange an appointment, or email: sumentoring@bucks.ac.uk.