Why Should You Become A Student Voice Representative?

Student Voice Representatives (SVRs) are the eyes, ears and mouth of your course. Nominations are open until midday on Tuesday 10th October and you can apply here: https://keelesu.com/yourunion/stars/. If you're not sure about becoming a SVR I will do my best to convince you!

1. What does a Student Voice Representative do? (In Jumps Jeff)

Lee William Hughes

SVRs are required to gather feedback from students on their course, represent their peers at University meetings, support campaigns and liaise with Lead School Voice Representatives as well as the Education Officer and Student Voice team at KeeleSU.

2. Changes

For those of you who knew the 'StARs' we have made some changes and improvements for this year!

- StARs have now become Student Voice Representatives (SVRs)

- SVRs now attend Staff Student Voice Committees (SSVCs) as opposed to Staff Student Liaison Committees.

- This year we've introduced Green Student Voice Representatives! You can find out more about what they do at our Student Voice Conference on Saturday 21st October.

- Instead than 'Faculty StARs' we will now have 'Lead School Voice Representatives' who will represent the views of students within a whole school.

Sounds good, right?

Ps. Our URL hasn't changed yet we're working on it lol

3. Who?

Pretty much any taught student at Keele can become a SVR! You just have to nominate yourself here www.keelesu.com/stars by midday on 10th October.

4. How do I nominate myself?

1.) Go to www.keelesu.com/stars

2.) Log in to the website by clicking ‘log in’ then ‘login with your University Credentials’

3.) Click 'Post List' and it should give you options for what posts you can stand for eg. Politics Rep Year 3. Scroll to the 'Stand' tab and you can update your 'Status' by standing to be a SVR for your relevant subject. Please note if you are a Dual Honours student you can choose to run for both subjects or just one.

4.) You may be prompted to confirm your details at this stage.

5.) Your details will be confirmed by the Students’ Union shortly after nomination. You can then add a picture and your manifesto!

If you have any issues at this stage you should contact [e-mail] and they will be able to help you!

5. But Jeff, what even is a manifesto?

A manifesto is a way of informing potential voters about what you intend to do and why you think you would be a good SVR! If you have any questions about your manifesto or you're not sure where to begin then feel free to get in touch.

6. Voting

Some SVR roles may be contested. That means that your peers (and yourself!) can vote for who they feel will be their best representative

1) On polling days (11th – 16th October) go to keelesu.com/stars.

2) Log in to the KeeleSU website by clicking ‘log in’ then ‘login with your University Credentials’.

3) A box will then appear on the Student Voice Representatives Election page giving you the option to ‘Vote in Election’, click this link.

4) You will then either be taken directly to a voting page or prompted to confirm your details.

5) Once on the voting page you can select to vote for the SVR of your course. (or courses if you’re dual honours). If your course does not appear then this means that you do not need to vote as the correct amount of students nominated themselves to be SVRs or that the positions were not filled and will be elected within your school.

7. What do I get

Lee William Hughes

You get to improve your course and represent your peers, make new friends and gain advice from other students who do your course all whilst gaining multiple transferable skills. You can also gain accreditation on your HEAR alongside claiming volunteer hours for the work that you do! Your volunteering hours can help contribute towards your Volunteering Award. We have a big event at the end of the year to celebrate the hard work of our volunteers and SVRs at Keele Hall!

Oh and you get to work closely with myself and your fabulous Student Voice team!

8. What next

We will give you all the training you need at our Student Voice Conference on Saturday 21st October between 10am and 4pm!

We will also be holding top-up training and online training throughout the year.

9. Contacts

If you need anything, feel free to get in touch!