What’s it all about?
As one of 23,000 students at BCU you have the opportunity to get involved in the Leadership Elections, by either standing for one of the SU Officer roles, or by voting to choose the SU Officer Team that leads your Students’ Union in 2018/2019.
The SU Officer Team is made up of ordinary students or recent graduates elected by the student body to lead your Students’ Union: they are the voice of students and represent your views. There are two ways to get involved:
- Paid full-time roles are open to any student and can be taken up on graduation or by taking a year out from your studies. You will be paid an annual salary of circa £17,064 including benefits and 40 days paid holiday, you will be contracted to work 35 hours per week.
- Voluntary part-time roles are open to any student and can be tailored to fit around your studies at BCU, dedicated staff support and a campaigns budget is provided, the usual commitment is roughly 4 hours per week.
You can also apply to become an NUS Delegate:
The National Union of Students represents you nationally as a student at BCU. Each year they hold a National Conference to find out from students like you, what their priorities should be for the coming year and is an opportunity to discuss current issues across the country. They also elect their national student leaders which any student can put themselves forward for.
We want to make sure your opinions are heard. Which is why we have five student places available to attend this conference where you can discuss and vote on what is important to you, on behalf of the 23,000 students here at BCU. Last year, NUS National Conference voted to have a fairer representation of women at Conference, for this reason we have three reserved positions for women as part of our delegate entitlement.
NUS National Conference will be held on Tuesday 27th April – Thursday 29st March in Glasgow. You will be provided with travel arrangements, accommodation and a daily food budget which will be reimbursed after the event. To find out more have a look at this link http://conference.nusconnect.org.uk/ or email voice@bcu.ac.uk
Part-time Students: Become a part-time Student Rep on the Academic Board (2 positions available)
Part-time students are a valuable part of our university community and we want to make sure your opinions are heard by the University. Academic Board is the committee responsible for the overall standards and quality of the University's programmes. There are two seats reserved for part-time students and getting involved in this committee will give you a valuable insight into how the University works and how its key decisions are made. This is an opportunity to make your time at university as beneficial and rewarding as possible.
Academic Board usually meets about 4 times a year and you'll be required to attend all 4 meetings.
Please note that the Student Rep on Academic Board positions are ONLY available to part-time students. Full-time students who apply for these positions will be removed from the election.
Election Timetable
- Applications & Nominations [ 02/01/2018 @ 9am - 9/02/2018 @ 12pm ]
If you are interested in becoming a BCUSU Officer or know someone who would be perfect for this role, it’s time to apply or nominate a friend. Remember, the roles are open to all BCU students!
- Candidate Training [ 12/02/2018 - 23/02/2018 ] ← TBC
All candidates MUST attend a compulsory one-to-one training session which you will be invited to once we receive your application (date, time and venue to be confirmed); this will prepare you for the elections process and provide you with everything you need to run a successful election campaign.
- Campaign Week [ 26/02/2018 - 02/03/2018 ]
It’s time to hit the campaign trail! Get amongst student voters and promote yourself and your manifesto. Ensure they vote when voting opens.
- Online Voting [ 03/03/2018 - 08/03/2018 ]
Run social media campaigns to encourage students to vote for you online.
- Voting [ 05/03/2018 - 08/03/2018 ]
Encourage fellow students to vote for you either online or at one of the polling stations on campus. Small Campus Voting (e.g. City North, Margaret Street, Vittoria Street, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire) will be on 2nd March.
Voting will close at 2pm on 8th March
Thinking about whether to stand?
Read our 5 reasons why you should!
SU Officer Roles
Each SU Officer has a unique role and a set of key responsibilities they must carry out.
Full-Time Roles Available
President
Tasked with leading your Students' Union, enhancing students' lives at BCU, and other Higher Education issues.
The President is responsible for ensuring that your Students’ Union positively impacts on and enhances the lives of every Birmingham City Student, providing student leadership and maintaining relationships and responsibility for organisational finances and human resources. N.B Candidates standing for Union President are also standing for University Board of Governors, Academic Board and NUS National Conference Delegate Leader 2018.
An effective candidate for this role should:
- Be organised
- Be confident
- Have strong communication skills
- Have good presentational skills
- Have excellent time management skills
- Be innovative
- Be a strong leader
- Have good liaison skills
Download full role description
VP Student Development
Tasked with increasing involvement in organised activity through your Students' Union, enabling students to fulfil their creative ideas and improving student's employability and life skills.
Create a personal sense of belonging by increasing involvement in student groups and Students’ Union organised activity and enable students to fulfil their creative ideas, whilst improving employability and life skills.
An effective candidate for this role should:
- Be creative
- Be enthusiastic
- Be organised
- Be confident
- Have good event management skills
- Have good liaison skills
- Be an 'ideas generator'
- Be interested in student groups
Download full role description
VP Student Engagement
Tasked with developing a bespoke presence on each campus and improving communication with students by removing barriers and improving engagement.
Develop and drive a communications strategy to raise awareness and build student involvement, ensuring reduction of communication barriers and development of a bespoke Students’ Union presence on each Campus.
An effective candidate for this role should:
- Have excellent communication skills
- Be able to engage students
- Be persuasive
- Be able to work as part of a team
- Have a keen interest in bringing together the various University campuses
- Be open minded
- Be creative
- Be confident
Download full role description
Please Note: Candidates standing for Vice President Student Engagement are also standing for University Board of Governers
VP Student Voice
Tasked with all aspects of student democracy, championing quality learning and teaching, student representatives and educational campaigns.
Vice President Student Voice Responsible for democracy and voicing student opinion through relevant educational campaigns and consistent student representatives who ensure quality learning and teaching.
An effective candidate for this role should:
- Have excellent communication skills
- Be eloquent
- Be informative
- Be reflective of the views of all students
- Be confident to deal with people at all levels
- Be persuasive
- Have good leadership skills
- Have good liaison skills
Download full role description
VP Student Experience
Tasked with enhancing student experience at BCU by creating new and improving accessiblity to services, welfare and rights.
Development of member services and investigation of the feasibility of new services to promote the welfare and rights of students and ensure all student services are accessible.
An effective candidate for this role should:
- Be creative
- Have a keen interest in welfare and rights
- Have innovative ideas
- Be dependable
- Be confident
- Be persuasive
- Be able to prioritise
- Be able to identify what students want
Download full role description
Part-Time Roles
Disabled Students' Officer
Tasked with ensuring the needs of disabled students are met and reflected through campaigns, identification of issues and to be aware of common problems and concerns.
An effective candidate for this role should:
- Be engaging
- Have an interest in equality policies
- Have good reporting skills
- Have a good understanding of disability issues
- Be able to build strong relationships with disabled students
Download full role description
Ethical and Environmental Officer
Tasked with identifying environmental and ethical issues within the Union and University through running campaigns to increase awareness and ensure correct policies are implemented.
An effective candidate for this role should:
- Have an interest and knowledge of environmental issues
- Encourage participation with Union activities
- Have confidence in running campaigns
- Have the ability to acknowledge and identify environmental issues in the Union and University
- Be creative and generate ideas of how to make the Union and University 'greener'!
Download full role description
Ethnic Minority Students’ Officer
Tasked with ensuring the needs of ethnic minority students are reflected through identifying relevant issues, canvassing opinion and implementation of campaigns.
An effective candidate for this role should:
- Have an interest in the views of ethnic minorities
- Be able to vocalise issues regarding ethnic minorities
- Have good communication skills and be able to communicate effectively with ethnic minority students to ensure they are aware of common problems
Download full role description
International Students' Officer
Tasked with working closely with international students to ensure awareness of issues and concerns and implement campaigns to ensure the needs of international students are met.
An effective candidate for this role should:
- Have a good knowledge of the issues and requirements of international students
- Have an interest in the equality policy to ensure minority groups can play a full role in student life
- Be creative and generate ideas for how international students can be made welcome at BCU
- Be able to communicate with international students
- Have a keen interest in other cultures
Download full role description
LGBT Officer
Tasked with implementing campaigns and canvassing student opinion, whilst working closely with the Vice President Voice and Vice President Development to ensure that the social, educational and welfare needs of LGBT students are met.
An effective candidate for this role should:
- Have an awareness and a keen interest in issues relevant to LGBT students
- Be confident to ensure common issues and problems are addressed
- Have an interest in ensuring social, educational and welfare needs of LGBT students are met
Download full role description
Mature & Postgrad Students’ Officer
Tasked with leading all matters relating to mature students; ensuring awareness of common problems, identifying issues and implementation of relevant campaigns.
An effective candidate for this role should:
- Have a good knowledge of what it is like to be a mature or postgrad student
- Be able to liaise with mature students on a regular basis
- Be creative and generate ideas to ensure fulfilment of mature students’ lives
- Have a good knowledge of issues affecting mature students
Download full role description
Women's Officer
Tasked with ensuring the needs of women students are reflected in everything the Union does, by canvassing student opinion.
An effective candidate for this role should:
- Have a good knowledge of the issues affecting women students
- Have confidence in running campaigns
- Be able to capture problems and opinions and be comfortable to voice these to improve the lives of women students at BCU
Download full role description
Please Note: Candidates standing for part-time roles also have the potential to be a member of the University's Board of Governors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Considering standing for a position but have a few queries? You may find the answers you're looking for below...
What is a SU Officer?
The SU Officer Team is made up of ordinary students or recent graduates elected by the student body to lead your Students’ Union: they are the voice of students and represent your views. There are two ways to get involved...
- Paid full-time roles are open to any student and can be taken up on graduation or by taking a year out from your studies, you will contracted to work 35 hours per week
- Voluntary part-time roles are open to any student and can be tailored to fit around your studies, the usual commitment is roughly 4 hours per week
NOTE: SU Officers may also be referred to as Exec, Executive Officers, Sabbatical Officers or Vice Presidents (VPs).
How does the election process work?
- Applications & Nominations [ 02/01/2018 @ 9am - 9/02/2018 @ 12pm ]
If you are interested in becoming a BCUSU Officer or know someone who would be perfect for this role, it’s time to apply or nominate a friend. Remember, the roles are open to all BCU students!
- Candidate Training [ 12/02/2018 - 23/02/2018 ] ← TBC
All candidates MUST attend a compulsory one-to-one training session which you will be invited to once we receive your application (date, time and venue to be confirmed); this will prepare you for the elections process and provide you with everything you need to run a successful election campaign.
- Campaign Week [ 26/02/2018 - 02/03/2018 ]
It’s time to hit the campaign trail! Get amongst student voters and promote yourself and your manifesto. Ensure they vote when voting opens.
- Online Voting [ 03/03/2018 - 08/03/2018 ]
Run social media campaigns to encourage students to vote for you online.
- Voting [ 05/03/2018 - 08/03/2018 ]
Encourage fellow students to vote for you either online or at one of the polling stations on campus. Small Campus Voting (e.g. City North, Margaret Street, Vittoria Street, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire) will be on 2nd March.
Voting will close at 2pm on 8th March
Why should I stand for the position of Executive Officer?
There are many reasons to become an Executive Officer. You will:
- Have an unforgettable, exciting year, full of challenges Every day is different; one day you could be helping a student with a problem, leading a national campaign or heading up a BCU Tigers Bar Crawl. The next day you could be listening to students in a Student Group or at Student Council, attending a high-level BCU meeting or sitting in a meeting with the Vice Chancellor.
- Improve your employability This is a fantastic opportunity to build a very impressive CV that will make you really stand out to employers. You will have real experience of making senior level decisions as well as managing budgets, events, meetings, projects, teams and your time! In one year, you will have worked with the media, interviewed staff, done public speaking, written reports and negotiated change.
- Make a difference You can make a positive impact on students’ lives by influencing the decision makers. There are many changes and developments at your Students' Union, the University and in the local community that that have been driven through by an SU Officer.
What are Executive Officers responsible for?
- The direction of a charity with a 2 million pound turnover. Your Students’ Union is an entirely not-for-profit organisation and a registered charity, completely independent from Birmingham City University. It exists to act on your voices for better student life, by offering services which include: representation, advice, support, development, opportunities and entertainment.
- Representing 23,000 members to the University as well as locally and nationally. SU Officers represent the concerns and views of individuals, groups or the whole student body on issues such as welfare, academic, social and financial.
- Making up the majority of the Students' Union Board of Trustees SU Officers are members of the Students' Union's Board of Trustees and also have legal and financial responsibilities.
- Developing the strategic direction of the Union The Board of Trustees is responsible for the broad direction of the Union and works with the Chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executives and SU Finance Director to ensure a successful long term approach to the government of the Union.
What position should I stand for?
Choose a role that’s important to you! It’s important to understand what each position involves and which position is right for you. Full job descriptions of each role can be found in the roles section.
How many roles can I stand for?
You can only stand for one Executive Officer position, so choose the one you are most suited to. Full job descriptions of each role can be found in the roles section.
Can I stand for any of the part time roles?
The only part time Officer position that all students can stand for is the Ethical & Environmental Officer. As all other part time Officer positions are classed as specific to certain liberation groups e.g. LGBT, International Students' etc. you would need to self define as a member of the particular liberation group that a part time Officer role represents e.g. you will need to self-define as female to be able to stand for the Women's Officer role.
How much will I get paid?
Full-time roles are paid an annual salary of circa £17,064, plus benefits and 40 days paid holiday. Part-time roles are voluntary roles and where out-of-pocket, expenses are covered. A Students’ Union hoodie, dedicated staff support and a campaigns budget is provided.
I am an international student; can I stand for post as a SU Officer?
Yes. If you are going to hold post as an SU Officer, you can get an extension of your Tier 4 visa without having to return home. You can get further information and advice from the Students’ Union Advice Centre or the University’s International Office.
How do I write a manifesto?
- Think of it like a job application (answer the questions concisely, remember there is a word count for each). Point out to other students why they should vote for you and why you’re the best person for the job.
- Make sure that what you write is concise and relevant to the post that you’re standing for. Don’t waffle. But make sure you write more than one line. You should aim to reach the word allowance.
- Don’t be overly modest, you’re trying to sell yourself, but don’t over compensate either.
- Don’t make untrue claims.
- Make sure you spell check what you’ve written.
How will I run a successful election campaign?
Don't worry, you'll be briefed during the candidate training sessions where we'll give you everything you need to know to run a successful campaign. Here is a short video to get you thinking...
The deadline for nominations for 2017 are now closed!
Thanks to everyone for nominating a candidate, Student Voice will be contacting everyone over the coming week and preparing them for the campaign trail later in the month.
Nominate A Student
The deadline for nominations for 2018 are now closed!
Thanks to everyone for nominating a candidate, Student Voice will be contacting everyone over the coming week and preparing them for the campaign trail later in the month.
If you know someone who you think would be an ideal candidate for our Leadership Elections, why not tell us here!
Nomination Form
Apply Now
The deadline for applications for 2018 are now closed!
Thanks to everyone who applied, Student Voice will be contacting everyone over the coming week and preparing them for the campaign trail later in the month.
Think you've got what it takes to become one of our next Executive Officers? Then apply now!
Application Form