Want to represent the academic interests of students at the University of Bath? You can work with us and the University to help improve the academic experience.

You can find out more about becoming a Rep by reading below.


What do Reps do?

Reps are there to represent the student's voices in their course. They speak and listen to students' views on their academic experience, taking this feedback forward to...

  • Advocate for educational rights and student entitlement
  • Highlight positive and negative feedback on the student experience
  • Stand up against poor practice and treatment
  • Help with curriculum creation and development

This is done through meetings and collaboration with staff to come up with solutions to benefit all students. Here at the SU, we work with Reps to equip them with skills and knowledge to best complete their role.


Why should I become a Rep?

There are loads of brilliant reasons why you should become an Academic Rep. By becoming an Academic Rep you will...

  • Be the voice of all students on your Course
  • Make real decisions that make an impact on students' lives
  • Gain transferable skills including negotiation, meeting etiquette, presentation, communication, teamwork, and more!

This is without mentioning the reward and recognition efforts we make to thank Academic Reps for the work they do. Find out about Rep of the Month here.


How do I become a Rep?

You can become a Rep by standing in one of our elections. If there is a vacant position for representing your cohort and there are no impending elections, you can register your interest by emailing arc@bath.ac.uk. Please include the following details in your email:

  • Name
  • Year of Study
  • Programme/Course

You can find out the full details of Academic Rep elections through this page.


What Rep roles are available?

The Academic Representation system is a simple hierarchy system that allows your feedback to be fed up to our most influential representatives, our officers.  All academic representatives will have a key meeting where they will work with staff on the feedback they have received.

Please read below to decide which one you would like to nominate yourself for.

Academic Representatives/Doctoral Representatives

Academic Representatives are elected by their peers to represent them. These Reps ensure that student concerns, views, and opinions are heard and acted upon by the University and the Students' Union. By consulting students about their teaching and learning experience and taking these views to the University, Academic Reps help contribute to the continuous improvement of their academic experiences.

Placement/Study Year Abroad Reps

These are representatives of the many undergraduate students who partake in a placement or study year abroad during the third year of their degree. They represent other students who are currently away from campus and ensure that the voice of your cohort is still heard.

Faculty Representatives

Faculty Representatives are elected by students in their faculty/school. Each Faculty/School will have two undergraduate, one postgraduate taught, and one doctoral representative. 

It is the Faculty Reps' responsibility to represent students' views at a Faculty Level. As the Reps are members of a number of Faculty/School level committees they will attend these meetings to represent the student voice and share the feedback they have collected. 

Faculty Reps also make up the Exec Committees: Academic Exec, PGT Exec, and Doctoral Exec. As a member, they will work closely with your Officers and the SU’s Voice team to tackle university-wide issues and the SU’s Top Ten

Postgraduate Exec Representatives

Both the Postgraduate Taught Executive Committee and the Doctoral Executive Committee are run an elected Exec Chair, who is involved in setting the agenda and chairing the meeting. There are two Exec chairs, one postgraduate taught, and one doctoral.

In addtion to the Chair and the Faculty Reps, the Postgraduate Taught Executive and Doctoral Exective also have three open positions, which can be filled by students from any Faculty/School. 

Members of the Exec committees work closely with your Officers and the SU’s Voice team to tackle university-wide issues and the SU’s Top Ten

Senate Representative

You may notice that Senate Rep is not in the hierarchy diagram. The Senate Representative is elected by students to represent their voices on the Senate committee. Senate is responsible for directing and regulating the academic work of the University and is seen as the highest-level committee at Bath. To find out more about Senate, please click here.

This representative is also the chair of the SU's Academic Exec and liaises with the Undergraduate Faculty Representatives as well as the Education Officers on academic issues as appropriate.

SU Officer

An SU Officer is a student elected to work full-time (and paid) to represent the student voice in Bath. Each Officer has a specific area that they work on to make Bath the best it can be. Those that work closest with Reps are the SU Education Officer and the SU Postgraduate Officer. The role is a great opportunity to represent students at a University-wide level to ensure that Bath students' educational experience is high-quality and fair.


I still have questions. Who can answer them?

If the above FAQs have not been able to answer your questions, here are some key contacts to get in touch with...