In this post, Emily Lee and Anne Desler showcase two initiatives that they have recently trialed at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) to organise and engage their large cohort of Programme Representatives: Student Rep Interest groups and an ECA Feedback From. Emily is the UG school representative in ECA for 2024-25 academic year, and Anne is Director of Quality Assurance and Curriculum Approval of ECA, and a Senior Lecturer in Music and Cultural Studies. This post belongs to the Student Voice in Practice series.
Ensuring the effectiveness of Student Voice in the Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is no easy task. ECA is the largest and most diverse School in the University, comprising five highly distinct Subject Areas (Art, Design, Architecture and Landscape Architecture, History of Art and Music), whose dozens of programmes are represented by over 100 Programme Representatives (Reps). In a bid to organise the large cohort of Reps, enable them to feed into the numerous aspects of ECA and promote continual engagement, we have refined an approach that has undergone a limited pilot last academic year – ‘Student Rep Interest Groups’. In addition, we trialed an ECA Feedback Form enabling students to offer feedback at any time to address concerns that Student-Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC) meetings are too infrequent for with regards time-sensitive matters.
Programme Rep Interest Groups
As part of the Programme Rep recruitment process, we asked prospective Reps to indicate their interest in one or more of the Interest Groups whose remits were modeled on those of the EUSA Vice-Presidents’: Community; Events and Activities; Education; Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; Materials, Buildings and Estates; Sustainability and Student Welfare. This was with a view towards alignment with existing ECA committees and governance structures. Emily then developed the groups.
Emily: My top priority was to ensure that all Reps understood the purpose of the group, so I utilised both the mailing list and ECA’s traditional Programme Rep Welcome Party to outline how the groups were going to work, support Reps in their role and enhance the Student Voice at ECA. I arranged meetings with all groups. Each Interest Group chose a Group Leader who led monthly group meetings, collated feedback and represented the group at ECA committees. The Group Leaders also had meetings with key staff in their area, enabling Group Leaders to close the feedback loop by reporting back the response or progress to the group members, which could then be delivered to appropriate parts of the ECA student body. Group Leaders also provided updates on their work at the ECA SSLC meetings. I frequently joined group meetings and maintained close connections with Group Leaders to take forward their feedback to College-level meetings and EUSA.
ECA’s Student Development Officers, Adam Humble and Sarah Taylor, supported the Group Leaders to work towards the Edinburgh Award. Additionally, Group Leaders received a voucher each semester in recognition of their work.
ECA Feedback Form
To enable all ECA students to offer feedback directly 24/7 without having to contact Programme Reps or wait for an SSLC or other feedback meeting, we created a Microsoft Form that students can access via a QR code on posters that are displayed across ECA’s many buildings. Students can choose to offer feedback anonymously or, if they wish to be contacted about their feedback or actions taken in response to it, can provide their e-mail address. The form asks them to identify the general area to which their feedback relates. The ECA Feedback mailbox is regularly monitored by the ECA School Representatives and Interest Group Leaders who can then take the feedback forward in their various remits and connect with relevant staff quickly and efficiently.
Reflections and Future Plans
Emily: Overall, the Interest Groups have been a successful strategy for organising ECA’s large cohort of Programme Reps. They have enabled Reps to work together across our diverse Subject Areas on topics they feel passionate about while working towards the Edinburgh Award. For me, as the School Representative (UG) of such a large and complex School, it has also been essential to have well-informed, proactive deputies who could represent the Student Voice in ECA-level meetings.
Nevertheless, there is room for improvement. In creating the Interest Groups, I prioritised Reps being able to join their preferred group over evening-out the membership, so the number of members varied between groups. While this may not be a problem when there is consistently high engagement, some groups (EDI and Sustainability) struggled more with engagement than others. To make sure that there are robust discussions and student input into these important and complex matters, in the future, EDI could be combined with the Student Welfare, and Sustainability with Materials, Buildings and Estates. Existing connections between the two areas in staff committees might also help encourage continuous engagement next year.
The ECA Feedback Form has worked very well as a system but not many students have used it. Maybe the reasons are positive: perhaps there are not many urgent issues that require reporting; or students feel they can raise them directly with academic, administrative and technical staff. However, perhaps we still need to communicate about it more. We could use the ECA Student Newsletter to draw their attention to it, especially early in the academic year when student engagement is at its highest, and ask Programme Reps to spread the word.
Anne: Deep integration of the Student Voice within ECA would not be possible without a very strong UG School Representative. Emily’s dedication, proactiveness, structured approach and admirable work ethic have been crucial in making this year’s pilot work. Supporting the Programme Rep Interest Groups has also required a great deal of support from administrative, technical and academic staff. Student participation in committees is not as easy as reading papers and attending meetings. For example, to enable Reps to participate in the ECA Education Committee and Board of Studies, I ran a training session with them to explain their purpose and remit, associated processes and essential policy. Contribution to strategic School-level work can be a fantastic learning experience for students, and staff have genuinely valued student input.
Emily Lee
Emily Yoongi Lee is the elected UG school representative in ECA for 2024-25 academic year. Her focus for this role was to improve on the Student Voice Matter scheme that was initiated before her: Interest Groups for Programme Reps.
Anne Desler
Anne Desler is a Senior Lecturer in Music and Cultural Studies in the Reid School of Music, Edinburgh College of Art (ECA). In her current role as ECA Director for Quality Assurance and Curriculum Approval, she has been working with ECA School and Programme Representatives to increase the effectiveness and engagement with the Student Voice among both students and staff.
