Better Staffs Forum Briefing for Academic Board
Proposals
Any student can submit an idea online via:
http://www.staffsunion.com/betterstaffsforum/
at any time.
Students making a valid suggestion are contacted to clarify if necessary and asked to present their idea to the next Forum for discussion or offered an immediate resolution/response if appropriate.
Where a proposal has significant reputational or resource implications it would go to the Students’ Union trustees in the first instance.
Where a proposal is impractical/illegal or facetious it does not go forward and where appropriate the student is advised.
Panel
We have an experienced Student Chair, Alex Dyas, who facilitates the forums throughout the year but who does not himself have a vote. The panel is randomly selected by our marketing department:
‘For each forum we download a list of students from the relevant campus. I then use a RAND excel formula that randomises the list and then select the first 200 students to be contacted. This exercise is repeated each time, minus the previous random selections.’
Students can only sit on the panel once each academic year. They all receive an overview of how the process works prior to the start of the meeting and have a 30 minute briefing with the chair immediately before the meeting starts.
The maximum number of panel members is 16, quoracy is 12. If quoracy is not met, the forum goes ahead but the results are indicative rather than binding.
Format of Forums
The forum is open to all students and promoted in advance. The Chair updates on progress from earlier forums and the Officers provide an update of their work. There is an opportunity for those present to put questions to them.
The Chair is provided with all the students’ proposals prior to the meeting and agrees a running order. Normally we require the proposer or their nominee to put their case to the panel in person so they are present to answer questions and offer clarification. At the Chair’s discretion and with the permission of the Student, where attendance is not possible, the Chair will present on their behalf.
Running order:
Proposal outlined.
Questions invited from the Panel and the audience.
Student invited to summarise.
Chair asks Panel if they have enough information to make a decision.
NO YES
Specify what is needed and bring back Chair invites them to vote for or against
to next forum. (there are no abstentions).
For an idea to be taken forward 75% of the Panel must vote in favour.
For an idea to be dismissed 75% of the Panel must vote against it.
In the event that the majority of the panel (but less than 75%) vote in favour, the idea would be deemed to have enough merit to take it to the wider student body and we would investigate an online poll.
Any proposals that ‘fail’ cannot be resubmitted in the same academic year.
Next Steps
A key officer and/or staff member is allocated to take the lead.
Outcomes from the forum are published online:
http://www.staffsunion.com/betterstaffsforum/
and progress updated on a regular basis the Chair revisits progress at each subsequent meeting to ensure that nothing falls off the agenda.
Checks and Balances
Often the original proposal is changed during the course of the discussion and revisions agreed by the Panel prior to voting.
For example when the Art shop was under threat of closure a proposal was brought to the Forum to save it, after lengthy discussion what was actually voted on was to mandate the officers to establish the facts and then lobby the University on behalf of the students.
Where the practicality and/or cost implementation has not been established, rather than voting to mandate the officers to act e.g. set up a puppy room, re-establish Nightline they will be mandated to explore the possibilities and report back to the next Forum.
Cross campus issues often involve getting further feedback from the wider student population. We currently have two on line surveys running, directly relating to proposals brought to Forums, one around feedback, the other around access to software, the outcomes of which will inform the Officer’s next steps.
The proposal to lobby the university to keep Wednesday afternoon’s class free was taken to Forums at both Stoke and Stafford in consecutive months and then voted on at the AGM.