Committees

The role of Education and Welfare Officer is described as the most “committee heavy” sabbatical position in DCUSU, mainly because it encompasses both education and welfare. Here is a brief outline of all the committee’s and what each of them do:

• SU Executive – decides the short to medium-term plans for the SU, such as upcoming campaigns and events. Also receives updates from the other officers. Meets weekly.
• Union Council – the next level of Union governance up from exec. It’s a gathering of all Class Reps where they can voice their opinions and vote on Union issues and policy. They also bring up issues that are affecting students and give feedback on how the Union is working. Meets fortnightly.
• Academic Council – deals with major academic issues such as anon. marking. Any major academic decisions need to be passed by academic council. Meets every two months or so.
• Disciplinary Committee – where students or staff who have broken rules are disciplined. Meets on an ad hoc basis
• University Standards Committee – very specific academic issues are discussed here such as programme accreditation. Any decisions made here go to Academic Council for approval. Meets every 6 weeks.
• Learning Innovation Advisory Panel – discusses new ways of promoting good teaching and learning practices within DCU. Meets twice a semester.
• Appeals Board – deals with students’ appeals of their results. Meets after each diet of exams.
• Postgraduate Standing Committee – deals with postgraduate issues from a Union point of view. Meets two/three times per semester.
• Anonymous Marking Implementation Group – at this stage, it deals with ironing out the problems that have arisen with the university wide implementation of anon. marking.
• Student Experience Committee – generally deals with any and all student feedback and how the university can use this feedback to help make life better for students! Meets about once/twice a semester.
• Academic Framework for Innovation Steering Group – AFI deals with issues throughout the university that can help improve learning for students.
• Uaneen Committee – plans the direction of the Uaneen module and where it can be improved. Meets about 3/4 times a year.
• National Office for Suicide Prevention Steering Group – external group that deals with suicide prevention. Many different people from different mental health organisations sit on this. Meets about twice per semester

I also used to sit on Governing Authority. However, because this is the first year in a while where both the SU President and the Deputy President are both men, it created a gender imbalance on Governing Authority. So Melanie sits on it instead. That’s them all! I’m sure more will crop up as the year goes on!