Apppointing a student representative

Responsibility for appointment

The students’ unions are responsible for appointing student representatives. They can do this themselves or delegate it to other student associations at Uppsala University. Uppsala University supports the students’ unions in their work by ensuring that students are informed about the possibility of student influence and why it is important.

Provide information about the assignment

Uppsala University needs to facilitate the students’ unions understanding of what is required for different assignments. The responsibility for these information initiatives lies with people in senior positions. In order to coordinate the information initiatives, a department can, for example, appoint a person who has special responsibility for student influence.

Fostering interest for student influence assignments

An active dialogue about collaboration with relevant students’ unions is encouraged, to create interest in assignments involving student influence. It is a good idea to highlight

the initiative to which the person getting involved is contributing
why it may be an advantage
that compensation is usually given
that it creates a network of contacts both at and beyond the University
that it can provide skills which complement education and which can be attractive to future employers
that some assignments are beneficial when applying for studies abroad
that the student can request a certificate of the work undertaken.

Inform students that they can be given the opportunity to adapt their study route when this is financially and practically feasible. Try to find solutions when meetings clash with teaching and provide the opportunity to make up for compulsory teaching components in an alternative way, or implement major adjustments such as extended study time.

Appointment procedure

When a request is sent to relevant students’ unions, it is a good idea for it to contain:

a description of the body’s role and context.
who the contact person is at the body (or an organisational email address).
how many student representatives are needed, including any alternates and what expectations are placed on an alternate.
if there is a desire for the representative to have a specific level of education; for example, it may be appropriate to have a student at doctoral level for bodies relating to doctoral education.
how many meetings are involved and their typical length.
how much time the student representative needs to plan to spend on preparation and follow-up. Are there expectations of participation in preparatory work/groups between the meetings?
when the assignment will begin and end.
which language is mainly spoken at the meetings, based on the language policy for Uppsala University.
information about remuneration.
other important information about the assignment, such as the expectations placed on the student representative, whether it includes travel, whether it is possible to participate digitally, or other practical issues that are important to know.

Try to coordinate the assignment requests if many occur at the same time and be sure to send out the requests in good time.

In the case of bodies that regularly appoint student representatives, it is a good idea to have a dialogue with relevant students’ unions about how the process of appointing representatives can be carried out in a smooth manner.

If no representative is able to be appointed

If the students’ unions are unable to appoint a student representative to the assignment, they are responsible for notifying the body’s chair or equivalent. The students’ union can also describe whether it wishes to monitor the work in any other way, for example by being summoned and/or minutes being sent to a special address. The chair of the body decides whether it is possible to meet such wishes.