How to become an Academic Committee member

Elections

Student Academic Committee members are elected for a two year term. Elections normally take place in April, and the nomination process is overseen by the Western Sydney University Academic Secretariat.

Elections are now an online process, from nominations and voting to results. Requests for nominations are sent to your Western Sydney University student email account. Once the nominations are in, students vote online for their school representatives. When the results have been decided, you will be sent an email with the outcome to your student email account.

ยป Learn more about the Secretariat and the Academic Senate

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How do meetings work?

Committees have to meet a minimum of four times per year; however they usually meet more often. Members are provided with an agenda and relevant documentation before each meeting.

Before each meeting, all members are sent the agenda and other relevant documents. There is usually an opportunity for student members to sit down with someone and discuss these documents before the meeting. If you want to have an item placed on the agenda, you'll need to approach the Chair of the committee as early as possible.

An example of some of the issues discussed at committee meetings can include changes to courses and curriculum, policies regarding academic misconduct, progression and exclusion, assessment and wider academic issues.

Privacy policy means that student members can't be present when a committee is discussing individual student results, the Chair therefore may ask you to wait outside for some of the meeting.

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Support and networking

There are a range of ways student members are supported and many networking opportunities.

  • Training - all student members are invited to regular ongoing training events, including an induction at the start of your term of office
  • Student Academic Council - this is a forum for current Student Committee Members to come together and discuss issues and provide peer support
  • Student Organisation support - the student organisation has a staff member who is able to support you in understanding and preparing for meetings
  • Mentoring - your first point of contact for any issues with your committee is your committee chair. Ideally your committee chair should be able to connect you with a mentor from within the committee to discuss the agenda and documents prior to each meeting

Policies about Academic Committees

Find out about the rules that govern the activities and membership of the Academic Committees at Western Sydney University:

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Contact information

For information or questions, contact one of the following:

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