In this section you get tips on how to go about gathering your fellow students' views, and what you can raise in various councils.
As a student representative, you are expected to put forward the students' perspective on the issues being discussed as well as raise your own issues that are considered important for the student body. An important part of the role is therefore to report back and discuss with your fellow students before and after meetings.
It is also good to think from as broad a perspective as possible. For example, how does the decision in question affect a student with children? Or someone whose first language is not Swedish? Representatives are thus expected to put forward all students' perspectives in the matters being discussed and raise what fellow students consider to be important.
Collect opinions
There is no fixed approach for how you, as a student representative, should gather feedback from your fellow students. Different programmes vary; some have 20 students on a programme, while others study a course with over 100 students.
You can also be a student representative for a programme that includes several semesters. Consequently, there are various conditions and opportunities for gathering feedback, meaning that you as a student representative often know best what works within your education!
Below are some general tips on how you can proceed.
A shared chat forum
You might be studying in a programme or a course that has already created a chat forum where everyone is included? Then that channel can be a good way to reach out! Remember to include and update students who may have chosen not to participate in such a forum through another contact channel.
Canvas
One approach is that when beginning one's assignment, one writes a post on Canvas and introduces oneself as a student representative. It is also fine to encourage students to get in touch with feedback ahead of a meeting and/or start a discussion thread before a meeting.
A seminar/lecture
Take advantage of the opportunity when students are gathered in one place! One idea is therefore to ask a teacher for ten minutes in connection with a seminar or lecture. Also remember that the higher education institution must facilitate your carrying out of the assignment as a student representative; a good argument for borrowing a little teaching time!
Google Chat for student representatives
The chat is here to assist you in your educational surveillance work and to provide an opportunity to exchange experiences and discuss issues with other student representatives. As a student representative at department level or at a central body, you can use the chat to gather feedback from student representatives on various courses and programmes.
What do the students think?
Here are some questions you can ask yourself when reading meeting documents or when wanting to gather what your fellow students think.
Course syllabuses and course manuals
How does the education work? Are the learning objectives clear and how are different educational components assessed?
Course readings
Is the course literature relevant? Is there enough time to read all the literature or is it too little? Is any perspective missing?
Study environment
What is your workload like? Are the teaching rooms good? Do you experience any disturbances during lectures?
Course content
How do the different learning activities work? Is the content varied? Does it correspond to the learning outcomes?
Course evaluations
Have you been able to complete a course evaluation after each course? Have the students had access to the results of the course evaluations? Has the higher education institution followed up on feedback and taken action based on it? Are the questions in the course evaluations perceived as relevant?
Course evaluations as a tool for influence
Each course must conclude with a course evaluation where all students are given the opportunity to express their experiences of and views on the course. These must always be answered anonymously. The higher education institution also has a responsibility to compile the course evaluations and inform you, the students, as well as make the results available to you.
In your educational monitoring work as a student representative, we want to encourage you to urge all students to respond to the course evaluations that are sent out. The responses in the course evaluations can also be used as a basis for your work in influencing and developing the education. A large number of missing responses can also serve as a basis for influence work and be sufficient reason to raise the issue in a council to highlight the university's responsibility.
Remember!
Personal experiences are important to draw upon in your role; however, you must not drive a personal agenda, but rather safeguard the interests of all students. As a student representative, you represent the interests of the wider student body and not individual students.
As a student representative, you should never have to help other students with individual matters. If a student feels they have been treated unfairly by the university, you should refer them to the student and doctoral student ombudsmen. See “Support and advice” for guidance on how to proceed with individual cases..
