The Officer Role Review: what's changing and why it matters to you
The SU is run by students, for students. At the top of The SU are your full-time Officers: students elected by you to represent you, lead The SU, and advocate to the University and beyond to make student life better.
Every so often, we step back and ask a simple question: is this setup still the best way to represent 22,000+ students? Starting last year, we reviewed our officer structure, and we've come back with proposed changes. Now we want to hear what you think.
What is the Officer Role Review?
The Officer Role Review is a look at how your officer team is structured, what each role does, and whether we can reach more students, more effectively. The main proposals are:
- A team of five officers instead of six. We're proposing to bring the officer team together into five roles, creating the resource for new student jobs, better linking to student communities.
- More student jobs, in the form of eight to ten paid, part-time Student Community Organiser roles. Community Organisers are students who work alongside the officers and focus on specific communities and areas of student life. Having Community Organisers means more students involved in representation.
- Clearer roles for every officer. Each officer will have a shared set of responsibilities that all officers carry, plus a clear, specific focus of their own.
The five proposed officer roles are:
- President: leads The SU's Board of Trustees, sits on the University's governing bodies, and represents students locally and nationally.
- Community Officer: focuses on student rights and wellbeing, including housing, health, the cost of living, and equality, diversity and inclusion.
- Postgraduate Education Officer: represents all taught and research postgraduates and leads the Postgraduate Academic Rep system.
- Undergraduate Education Officer: represents undergraduates' academic interests and leads the Undergraduate Academic Rep system.
- Student Development Officer: champions extracurricular opportunities, employability, student groups, and sport and physical wellbeing.
View the full proposals
Community Organisers could cover areas such as:
- Sport
- Postgraduate students
- International students
- Civic engagement
- Each faculty and school (Engineering & Design, Humanities & Social Sciences, Science, and the School of Management)
- Liberation and EDI
Why are we doing this?
We're always reviewing and improving how The SU represents you. One officer can only be in so many places at once, and some students, such as international, postgraduate and liberation communities haven't always been reached as well as they should be.
By moving from six officers to five, we can fund a wider network of paid Community Organisers who are closer to the communities they represent. Put simply:
- More students involved: eight to ten paid student roles instead of one.
- Wider reach: dedicated people focused on specific faculties, communities and areas of student life.
- Stronger engagement: Community Organisers will be central to how The SU listens to and works with students going forward.
- A clearer officer team: five officers with well-defined roles, so you know exactly who to go to and what they're responsible for.
Nothing changes without you
The SU belongs to its members, and that's you. Changes like these can't just be signed off behind closed doors; they need to be approved by students at a members meeting, which every student at Bath is invited to attend.
Here's how it will work:
- 15 October: the full draft proposals are published for every student to read.
- Over the following weeks: your officers will be out across campus with stalls and drop-ins, so you can ask them directly what's changing and why. Expect them to be easy to find (and probably holding free snacks).
- Have your say: any student can submit questions, feedback, or their own proposals. Want changes? Let us know. We’ll see if it is possible to bring forward an amendment. The Feedback From closes on 12 November at 23:59 - Submit Feedback.
- The Members’ Meeting will be held on Tuesday 24 November: you'll see the final proposals, including any amendments, hear from the officers, and vote on the outcome. More information about the Members’ Meeting can be found on its event page.
This is your SU and your representation. Come along, engage with your SU, and help decide what it looks like next.