Student Staff Partnership Forums

Each school must have a Student Staff Partnership Forum which meets at least twice a semester and membership should represent all students and staff on taught programmes.

All students, and not just course and school reps, will have the opportunity for their voice to be heard and their views represented, and the SSPF should ensure that mechanisms for obtaining student feedback are relevant and effective.    

It may be appropriate for some departments/schools to have a separate undergraduate and postgraduate forum but where this is the case there should be some mechanism in place for sharing information e.g. cross membership. Cross membership will also need to be considered to take account of the joint honours student experience.

Each department/school should identify a staff member to liaise with the Student Engagement Coordinator in LUU on issues relating to the SSPF.

Terms of reference

  1. To review, annually, how students and staff will work collaboratively to meet the expectations of the Leeds Partnership;
  2. To work in partnership to develop and implement the School’s Action Plan, specifically in identifying key priorities and in working on solutions to address those priorities identified;
  3. To consider and respond to issues arising from student feedback, ensuring closure of the feedback loop;
  4. To contribute to the programme review process, by considering and providing input into the recommendations and actions proposed through programme review; 
  5. To provide perspectives and suggestions on how the School can foster an inclusive learning community and sense of belonging amongst all students. 

Reporting

The Chair of the SSPF should report to the School Taught Student Education Committee and to other Departmental/School meetings as appropriate.
The SSPF should report regularly to all students and staff and action taken in response to SSPF discussions should be clearly reported.
Membership
The SSPF should normally be chaired by a student representative, often the LUU appointed School Representative(s). The Forum may be co-chaired by a student representative and a member of staff. The Chair(s) should be elected at the first meeting of each session.

Student membership on the SSPF should include:

  • Students representing each year of each programme of study, including postgraduate taught programmes;
  • Students representing Joint Honours and part-time programmes, as appropriate. 
  • Students should be consulted regularly on the appropriateness of the representation.

Staff membership of the Forum should include:

  • Head of School;
  • Director of Student Education;
  • At least one representative member of teaching staff
  • A representative of the Student Education Service

The organisation of the meetings, and the recording of key points and actions arising from meeting, should be the responsibility of a member/s of staff. 

Meetings

  1. The Forum will meet at least twice each semester.
  2. Items for the agenda can be submitted by both students and staff.
  3. The dates of the meetings will be publicised at the start of the year throughout the Department/School. The papers for each meeting should be circulated at least 10 days in advance of the meeting to allow the representatives to consult as necessary.
  4. Meetings can be held more often as the need arises and can be called by a group of either staff or student members. At least 2 weeks’ notice should be given for any additional meetings.
  5. Responsibility for ensuring that meetings are held should lie with the Head of Department/School or his/her nominee.

Communications

The Head of Department/School or their nominee is responsible for ensuring opportunities are provided for feeding back business and decisions from the School Taught Student Education Committee or other School committees to the Forum as appropriate.

SSPF notes will be written in such a way as to ensure that no student or member of staff can be identified from them and should be made widely available to staff and students in accessible formats.
A brief summary of outcomes from the meeting should be communicated to students and staff with actions followed up appropriately.

Action taken in response to SSPF business should be reported to the members at the next meeting and recorded in the notes. 

Arbitration

Students may seek advice and representation from the University Union if they feel the guidelines have been unreasonably broken or if they are unable to resolve a problem through the SSPF.

The University Union will attempt to resolve the problem within the Department/School. If this does not prove successful approaches will be made to the relevant Pro Dean for Student Education.

The University Union will monitor the effectiveness of the SSPF and make recommendations to the Taught Student Education Board as necessary.