University of Salford Students' Union - Governance and Representation

Governance and Representation

Following in the footsteps of King's College London Students' Union, the Union transformed its governance prior to achieving registered charity status, as required by the Charities Act 2006. Presently it is an un-incorporated association and an exempt charity under the Education Act 1994. Charity registration took place in September 2010.

The new structure, which took effect on 2 July 2007, created a board of trustees to govern the union. This is made up of four sabbatical officers (President and 3 Vice Presidents), four student trustees, and four external non-student trustees. The board is responsible for setting the strategic direction of the Union and monitoring its long term performance and achievements. It is also responsible for the Union's financial performance, directing its staff, and ensuring that the Union's members are involved and consulted on the organisation's work. The Sabbatical Trustees are responsible for delivering effective student representation on a day-to-day basis, and their representation work is supported and monitored by the Union's Student Council. Council's agenda is split between holding the Sabbatical Officers to account for their representation work, and discussing policy motions for the Union as a whole. To assist the officers in focusing on representation work, the Union changed the role descriptions for the three Vice Presidents. Instead of having traditional service based portfolios such as Activities, Communications or Welfare, the VPs are now responsible for being the lead student representative in each of the University's academic Colleges. The officers are expected to work closely with other student representatives and University staff in their Colleges to take action on the academic related issues that matter most to students. Each of the VPs is expected to be a champion for the Union and its activities within their College, and to that end need to have a degree of understanding about most of the Union's activities and services.

The Union recruits School and programme level Student Representatives to co ordinate the educational feedback for the University, and has an Advice Centre that people can just drop into for academic casework support.