Agenda item

Report of the President of the Student Union.

The Board considered a report of the Students’ Union President regarding amendments to the Students’ Union Constitution. 

The Students’ Union President highlighted the main changes to the Constitution, the principal one being the restructuring of the Executive Committee with each of the positions on the Committee now being paid (£1,700 p.a. for the Vice-President (Academic Affairs) and £1,500 p.a. for the other three Vice-Presidents). He stated that this had efficiently addressed the balance of work and had also reduced any overlap in certain areas. He added that other notable changes included the introduction of Re-Open Nominations and a Vote of No Confidence.

Finally, the President drew attention to the proposal that he should now present a report on the work of the Students’ Union at two Board meetings each year and welcomed Governors views as to which two meetings would be best suited for this.

In response to a question from the Chairman regarding legal advice sought on the proposed changes, the President reported that the amendments had been approved by the Academic Registrar & Director of the Student Experience, the School’s Senior Management Team and the Student Parliament. The Academic Registrar & Director of the Student Experience clarified that the Students’ Union was an unincorporated body with no legal status.

The Chairman noted that the President also felt it would be useful to have a nominated Governor to regularly liaise with the Students’ Union and that this would be considered at the next Governance and Effectiveness Committee.

In response to further questions, the Academic Registrar & Director of the Student Experience reported that the School had looked at the possibility of the Student’s Union becoming a charity but it was felt that it was not a large enough body to warrant the bureaucracy that this would entail.

A Co-opted Governor suggested that, under ‘Section 2’ paragraph 1.1 of the amended constitution, there ought to be more clarity around who was responsible for appointing the Returning Officer. He also suggested that paragraph 1.13 of this section ought to specify the number of Student Representatives there could/should be. On this point, the Academic Registrar & Director of the Student Experience reported that the number of student representatives related to the programmes and years within programmes and so the number often varied. For this reason there was no fixed number specified in the constitution although the School did define a maximum permissible number of student representatives – however, this could also change year by year.

Another Governor suggested that he had a number of questions and suggested amendments for the President of the Students’ Union. The Chairman requested that he liaise directly with the President on these points outside of the meeting.

Governors congratulated the President on a very impressive and comprehensive document.

One Governor questioned the decision to now pay all positions on the Executive Committee. He pointed to the fact that this seemed to have led to an increase in applications for these positions and questioned the motive of applicants.  The Governor was informed that this was standard practice within other Students’ Unions and that it was usual for at least one person to work for the SU full time and to therefore be paid for this work. The Academic Governor added that she would like to commend the work that the Students’ Union and its President were doing. She stated that she found their work invaluable to the School and ensuring that students were fully engaged. It was also highlighted the individuals on the Executive Committee undertook a great deal of work for very little remuneration, particularly given the level of student debt they were often carrying and the high costs associated with living in central London.

In response to a question concerning whether or not the School were able to exercise any control over the Students’ Union, the President reported that he sat on all of the School’s internal Committees and also met regularly with the SMT in order to ensure a joined up approach. He acknowledged that other, larger institutions, operated differently and that this could therefore lead to more of a disconnect between Universities and their Students’ Unions. With regard to national issues affecting Students’ Unions, the President reported that the National Union of Students had coordinated a boycott of the 2017 National Student Survey on the basis that the results of this would be used to justify a further increase in tuition fees from September 2017. The GSMD Students’ Union had, however, decided not to boycott the NSS or challenge any submission to Phase 2 of the Teaching Excellence Framework.

RESOLVED – That, subject to the proposed amendments above and those to be raised directly with the President of the Students’ Union, the Board approve the amendments to the Students’ Union constitution for implementation for 2017/18 and the elections of officers for 2017/18 taking place in the Summer term 2017.