What we do
We provide advice, representation and activities for more than 25,000 members studying at our campuses in Docklands and Stratford. Our main goal is to help students to achieve the best outcomes they can.
Our values, in no particular order, are to be student-led, fun, inclusive, supportive and bold.
What school representatives do
School representatives are students who work to improve the academic experience of students in their schools on a part-time, paid basis.
As a school rep, you will work closely with relevant course reps and the student officers to make sure the voices of students are heard, and that the student academic experience is the best it can be.
You’ll have genuine influence over Students’ Union and University decision-making about students' academic experience, enabling you to improve things for yourself and others, now and in the future.
Along with the student officers, the school representatives are also members of the student leadership committee. This committee is responsible for deciding Students' Union policy on matters affecting students, and for working together to improve the University.
What’s in it for you?
Being a school representative is a great opportunity to gain and develop skills, as well as helping to improve education in the University.
If you’ve got the motivation to create change, we’ll be there to support you every step of the way. East London Students’ Union has a dedicated team of staff who will help you to make a success of your role.
This role will help you to develop loads of skills, including communication skills, negotiation capabilities, public speaking and presentation skills, and beyond. You will also meet all kinds of people, build your understanding of the sector, and get to grips with the professional world alongside your studies.
Unlike many off-campus jobs, we will try to work your hours around your timetable (though this can’t be guaranteed), making it a more flexible part-time work option. You’ll work a minimum of seven hours per week during semesters A (autumn) and B (spring).
What an effective school rep looks like
An effective school rep is someone with a passion to advocate for others, a desire to improve things for students, and the get-up-and-go to make change happen. We want school reps who are motivated, good communicators, and who care about making things better.
Who is eligible?
You must have completed one year as a course representative at level four or above. This must have been in a previous academic year (i.e. in 2024/25 or before) or you must be a current course representative who will complete an academic year in May 2026.
You must studying at level five (second year) or higher in 2026/27, on a course which lasts until at least May 2027.
You can only be a school representative in your own school.
Appointment process
These roles used to be elected, but are now appointed. This means you must submit an application which a panel will review. The panel will invite a small number of candidates from each school to interview. Insofar as is possible, this will be done anonymously. This means the panel won't be told the candidates' personal details. However, full anonymity will not be possible in all cases because, for example, if you mention that you are the president of ABC Society (which you should mention!) and panel members know who you are, there is no way to anonymise this.
The interview panel will make one recommendation per school on who should be appointed to the Student Leadership Committee.
Writing your application
You should treat this as you would any other job application. This means being honest about what you have done, what you have achieved, what you are good at, etc.
Read the role description and person specfication here. When writing your application, you should refer to the points in the person specificaton.
Read the questions on the application form carefully and take your time to answer them properly. The panel will review all the applications together after the deadline, so submitting an application immediately without thinking will do nothing to help your chances.
If a question says something like "you may write up to X words", this means we expect a good, evidenced answer to be around X words long. If your answer is one-third of X words long, you should consider rewriting it with better examples and evidence. However, you shouldn't just pad it out for the sake of it.
You should write your answers using something like Microsoft Word, so you can check and edit it before submission. Once you submit your application, you won't be able to edit it.
Don't use AI to write your application. It doesn't know anything about you or your experience; only know that. You will have to defend everything you say in your application in an interview, so getting AI to make up answers about you is counter-productive.
How to apply
You can apply using the form here. The deadline is 09:00 on Thursday 23 April.
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview by Friday 24 April. Interviews will take place on Wednesday 29 April.
Help
If you have any questions which are not answered above, email su.elections@uel.ac.uk .