The major goal of the Student Representation (SR) is to look after the interests of the student body through representation on faculty and university level. They are an intermediary between students and the faculty personnel. The SR ensures an exchange of information and feedback between those bodies. This comes to expression in the evaluation, improvement proposals and guarding of the education’s quality at RSM Erasmus University, for both, the BA an IBA program.
The organization consists of different divisions: IBA/BA Representation, Program Advisory (Examination & Tutoring, General Studies, 7th Trimester), Marketing Committee and Internal Affairs Committee (Events, SR trip and Professor Awards). However, only three departments of the organizations are closely connected to the courses and their coordinators and thus, relevant to you.
Student Representation:
This is the core business of Student Representation. There is a team of two/three Student Representatives for each course in the IBA and BA programmes. They serve as a constant feedback channel between the students and the course coordinators/professors. Throughout the whole duration of the course the representatives will conduct surveys in order to collect students’ opinions/comments/ideas for improvement about different aspects of the course, i.e. lectures, blackboard, literature, workshops, assignments, exams, etc. From the beginning of the trimester, the Student Reps for your respective course will contact you in order to introduce themselves and request to make a short introduction presentation in front of the class in your first lecture, so the students know who to turn to if they have any feedback about the course; and for you to upload several documents on your blackboard channel. Constant communication between the Reps and the professors is encouraged. So, you can also turn to the Reps of your course if you want to have a specific topic included in the surveys, such as “Webcasts”, for example. There will be two meetings between the professors/coordinators of the course and the Student Representatives – in the middle of the academic curriculum of the course and at the end, where you can discuss all the feedback collected. After those meetings, reports about the course will be written including all topics discussed (best practices and fields of improvement) and the students’ and professors’ opinions on them. They will be sent to Programme Management and once approved uploaded on the SR Blackboard channel, which all students have access to. Thus, the organization works towards improving the various courses and the education in RSM as a whole.
Professor Awards Committee:
Every year in May, Student Representation organizes the so called RSM Professor Awards. The purpose of this is to express the students’ appreciation of the work of all course coordinators, lecturers and academic supporting staff. Every trimester IBA/BA and Premaster students vote for their favorite professor and academic staff. The ones that received the most votes for IBA/BA 1, IBA/BA 2, IBA/BA 3 and Premaster will be awarded with “Best Professor of the Year” or “Best Supporting Staff of the Year” award. Student Representation organizes this big event in order to thank you for all your work on behalf of all RSM students, who are also invited to attend.
Marketing Committee:
This committee organizes the so called “Lunch With Your Professor” which takes place every trimester. During this 1-2 hour event you can meet your students in an informal environment over a meal and talk to them on different academic/ non-academic topic. With this Student Representation wants to create a strong link between the faculty members and the student body. In addition, the marketing committee may contact you with requests for different promotions, such as posing for the Professor Awards posters, for example.