Code of Practice for Staff/Student Liaison Committees

1. Each department shall have at least one formally constituted Staff/Student Committee (SSC) where staff and students may meet together for discussion and consultation about the Department's programmes of study and other matters relevant to the quality of students' academic experience. Departments may prefer to operate with separate SSCs for each programme and / or to have separate committees for consultation with postgraduates. 

2. Students from each year of each undergraduate programme shall be represented on the SSC, together with postgraduate programme and research students. Departments may wish to consider providing in addition representation on the SSC for minority groups amongst the students such as mature students, part-time students or international students. There should be at least one representative per programme per year. 

3. In the situation where large groups of students are being represented, arrangements should be made to ensure sufficient representation for the programme.

4. The Head of Department shall be a member of the SSC ex-officio. The Loughborough Students' Department Committee Chair shall also be made an ex-officio member. Relevant Programme Directors or Tutors may be included in the membership. Departments may also wish to consider whether teaching staff of other departments contributing to the Department's programmes should be represented. It is recommended that there should be significantly more students than members of staff present at all SSC meetings. 

5. Student members shall be elected by the year groups they stand to represent on an annual basis following procedures agreed by the SSC. Elections shall normally take place at the beginning of each academic year. Prior to the election of first year representatives the year group as a whole should be briefed on the role of the SSC and the responsibilities involved. A written handout summarising this information will be provided by Loughborough Students' Union. 

6. The SSC shall either be chaired by the Head of Department (HOD) or his /her nominee, normally a member of academic staff. The HOD or his/her nominee is responsible for any decisions reached by the committee and that specific action points from meetings are carried out. 

7. The secretary of the SSC shall either be nominated by the HOD (typically the Departmental Administrator) or be elected by the members of the SSC following procedures agreed by the committee. 

8. Reasonable and agreed expenses incurred by any member of the SSC should be fully reimbursed by the Department. Full access to relevant facilities(e.g. photocopier) should be available for members to ensure that they can keep the group that they represent informed of the decisions and actions of the SSC. 

9. A minimum of 3 meetings of the Committee should be called in each academic year. Meetings should be scheduled to allow full student participation. Meetings should be timetabled to avoid narrow time constraints where members do not have time to raise points deemed to be important. Mechanisms should be available to allow groups of members to have additional meetings called in case of need. 

10. In the case where there are a large number of members on any SSC there may be pre-meetings to determine a priority of discussion points. This may consist of the chair and any sub-committee deemed appropriate by the SSC. 

11. Contributions for the agenda should be called for two weeks prior to the meetings and an approved agenda should be circulated at least one week prior to the meeting. In the case where sub-committees are being used, the agenda should be viewed and agreed at pre-meetings prior to the main meeting of the SSC. Every member of the SSC shall have the right to submit items for inclusion on the agenda and to submit papers for discussion. 

12. Student members of the SSC will be expected to attend training sessions offered by LSU. 

13. Full minutes shall be kept of each meeting. It is suggested that these include a note of action required.

14. The minutes shall be circulated to every member of the SSC and forwarded to the next Departmental Staff Meeting. A copy shall also be sent to the Dean and to the Secretary of the relevant Faculty Board and the Vice-President (Education) of the Students' Union. It is suggested that a copy should also be displayed on a notice board in the Department for information, and put on the departmental intranet where they should remain accessible for five years. A copy should also be sent to appropriate staff in other departments contributing to the Department's programmes of study. 

15. The following minimum information should be made available to all student representatives:

  • Departmental Handbooks
  • Programme Handbooks
  • Programme Regulations and access to the module database *
  • University Regulations for Awards and associated matters *
  • Past Departmental SSC Minutes and papers
  • Briefing on the role of the departmental SSC and other academic decision-making bodies

* Available on University web pages: students should be made aware of appropriate links.

The Students' Union will provide all student representatives with a briefing on the role of student representatives and training in the skills required to perform this function.

16. The University encourages links between SSCs and Loughborough Students Committees in Departments (Annex)

Last amended by Senate - March 2009

Annex

Loughborough Students Committees in Departments

1. Loughborough Students’ Union, with the support of the University, seeks to establish a student committee within each department. This is known as ‘Loughborough Students [department name] Committee’ (the ‘student committee’ in what follows). It is made up of students from that department who have already served as programme representatives. Such student committees will be the responsibility of Loughborough Students’ Union and their members will be elected in accordance with procedures agreed by Loughborough Students’ Union Council.

2. Departments should include the student committee Chair in membership of the Staff/Student Committee. In departments that operate with more than one SSC, the HOD and the student committee Chair are encouraged to meet each summer to agree arrangements for the student committee Chair to keep in touch with the business of the SSCs in the year ahead (whether through membership or other means).

3. Departments are encouraged to discuss arrangements for the election of programme representatives to their SSC(s) with the student committee Chair before the beginning of the academic year, and to agree whether any input from the student committee would be helpful.

Annex approved by Senate - June 2006