Policy: Class Representatives

Purpose

To standardise the practice of appointing student class representatives by Colleges and Schools and ensure Course Convenors engage and respond to student feedback.

Overview

The policy sets out the role of student class representatives.

Scope

This policy applies to all students and staff of a College or School where there is no suitable alternative class-specific or course-specific feedback mechanism, approved by the College Associate Dean (Education).

Definitions

Course Convenor A course convenor is responsible for the administration of the course, including the finalisation of marks and the submission of marks and grades to the Chair of Examiners; ensuring that the class summary and other course materials comply with University policy and college and school requirements; and student issues relating to the Discipline Rules and Academic Misconduct Rules. A course convenor may or may not teach part or all of the course.

Class Representative is a student who is enrolled in a class and who is responsible for representing the cohort of that class.

Policy statement

Class Representatives are an important part of the student consultation mechanism that ensures student feedback is sought and incorporated into the ongoing development of the University’s courses.
Course Convenors, lecturers and all teaching staff act in good faith to take on student feedback and respond in an appropriate and timely manner.
Course Convenors are responsible for publicising the contact information of Class Representatives and acknowledging them as a formal means of providing feedback on University courses.
The relevant Students’ Association may offer training to Class Representatives on the relevant skills required in this role as well as the referral networks available to them.
A Class Representative’s role is to provide constructive feedback on issues affecting the entire student cohort, or a subset of the student cohort.
A Class Representative’s role is not to advocate on behalf of themselves or an individual student within the cohort. An individual student who has a complaint or grievance is referred to the Student grievance and complaint resolution procedure. In accordance with Clause 5 of this policy, an issue raised by one student may be considered to affect an entire student cohort, or subsection of the student cohort if the impact is structural rather than specific to the student.
Class Representatives hold their role for the duration of the teaching period in which they are enrolled in the relevant class unless they are no longer able to serve per any reason, including those given in the Class Representative Procedure. Depending on their capacity, they may also make themselves available for consultation concerning the results from the Student Experience of Learning and Teaching Survey. This consultation can occur regarding either SELT results from the previous teaching period in which the course ran and/or for the SELT results during which the Class Representatives were enrolled in said course, at the discretion and capacity of the Course Convenor and Class Representative(s).
Class Representatives cease to function in their roles should they withdraw from a course, and Class Representatives communicate this to their relevant Course Convenors.
Under this policy, a class has at least one Class Representative noting that only one Class Representative is required for co-taught classes. However, this policy does not apply where a College or School has provided a suitable alternative class-specific or course-specific feedback mechanism, approved by the College Associate Dean (Education). Students can request of their Course Convenors that there be Class Representatives appointed in their course in these circumstances. For a group of postgraduate classes with the same cohort in the same teaching period where each class has very low student enrolments making it impractical to have an individual class representative for each class, the Associate Dean (Education) may, by exception, allow students to elect a postgraduate representative for the entire student cohort for that teaching period or the year. In the case that the Associate Dean (Education) allows students to elect a postgraduate representative for the entire student cohort for that course or program for that teaching period or the year. The timelines for appointing the course or program representative and the responsibilities of each party are the same as for class representatives.

Information	Printable version (PDF)
Title	Class representatives
Document Type	Policy
Document Number	ANUP_6495490
Version
Purpose	To standardise the practice of appointing student class representatives by Colleges and Schools and ensure Course Conveners engage and respond to student feedback.
Audience	Students, Staff
Category	Academic
Topic/ SubTopic	Students - Student and University Experience

Effective Date	29 Nov 2022
Next Review Date	29 Nov 2027

Responsible Officer:	Registrar, Student Administration
Approved By:	Academic Board
Contact Area	Division of Student Administration and Academic Services
Authority:	Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021 Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000
Delegations	0
Information generated and received by ANU staff in the course of conducting business on behalf of ANU is a record and should be captured by an authorised recordkeeping system. To learn more about University records and recordkeeping practice at ANU, see ANU recordkeeping and Policy: Records and archives management.

Policy Library