Student voice and how to get involved

Graduate Student Staff Liaison Committee

The MRes/PhD GSSLC (Graduate Student-Staff Liaison Committee) is an important platform for you to have your say and provide feedback to us. Students get together with Departmental staff to discuss issues that concern their learning and teaching experiences. The GSSLC is made up of elected representatives (known as course reps) and members of staff, but the GSSLC is student led with the course reps taking on the roles of Chair and Secretary in the meetings. Even in the best departments, there are always some issues that need to be discussed and addressed. Yet the GSSLC is more than a ‘complaint box’. The Committee has also been very useful in the past to simply ask questions that were unclear to many students. This makes the GSSLC a good opportunity for students and the Department to communicate. An email account has been set up to make it easier for you to communicate with GSSLC representatives (economics.pgrsslc@warwick.ac.uk ). This is only accessible by GSSLC reps and not by members of faculty or administrative staff.

Issues that have been raised in the past include access to material in the Library, questions concerning IT facilities as well as aspects of your learning experience and examination and some issues addressing more long-term matters such as curriculum development. At the same time, the GSSLC is not intended to address special problems that concern only one individual student. Often these issues can be more efficiently resolved if the student speaks to the Postgraduate Office or to the module teacher concerned.

GSSLC agenda items should be those which concern the general population of Economics postgraduates, and not generally not be a channel for evaluation of individual modules. This should be done via the module evaluation process. However, if course reps feel that there are some issues about individual modules that have been raised with the module leader which have not been addressed, they are free to raise these in the GSSLC meetings.

During the academic year, GSSLC representatives will meet with staff from the Department four times. It is important to make good use of the meeting time by being full prepared with an agenda that can be circulated to all student and staff members in advance. This will allow staff members to investigate your issues prior to the meeting and to hopefully be able to provide help and clarification during the meeting.

How GSSLC representatives are elected:

1. All students are asked to submit a candidacy.
2. The Department hosts online voting.
3. Elected representatives agree on Chair and Vice-Chair.

Some useful things to know if you become a GSSLC representative:

• There will be up to six representatives from the MRes/PhD programme.
• Out of these a Chairperson will be chosen, whose main task is to chair the GSSLC meetings.
• The Vice-Chair/Secretary has to take minutes of the meetings and replaces the Chair in her/his absence. The minutes are circulated to all students so they know what’s going on.
• The first thing to do for the representatives is to look at last year’s GSSLC annual report to get a feel for what has been discussed.
• It is also useful to begin each meeting with an update on how the issues of the last meeting have been addressed since then.
• Before each meeting, the MRes/PhD Office will ask you to prepare a list of items to be discussed. All the representatives, and the Chair/ Vice-Chair in particular, are responsible for collecting these issues and sending them in on time.
  
• Ask your fellow students what they think about the courses.
• The Chair and Secretary are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and submitting this to the Student Union.
• Your job is to help the students and the Department to communicate. If you are willing to carefully listen to both, and if you like to communicate and to analyse problems, you will be able to make a great contribution indeed.

The Warwick Students' Union provide training and a handbook for all course representatives and there is a code of practiceLink opens in a new window, which all course reps should be familiar with.

Economics Society

Warwick Economics SocietyLink opens in a new window is one of the longest standing academic Students' Union societies and one of the largest on campus with more than 2800 members from 130 degree programmes. WES offers you the opportunity to build a network with other students with professional and intellectual interests in economics. The society hosts a wide range of events to support your academic and career development. Sponsors several of the top economics consultancies and the society hosts some excellent careers events and talks. The Economics Society has growing links with public policy organisations and the third sector. The Society puts on some of the most talked about socials on campus, and boasts some of the strongest sports teams at Warwick. There are opportunities to get involved with football and netball in the earlier terms and cricket and rounders later on. The Society produces Assumptions magazine, and runs an annual debating competition where the winners are able to debate in a larger competition against students from other top universities.

Warwick Economics Summit

Warwick Economics SummitLink opens in a new window is one of the largest student-run academic conferences in Europe, featuring world-renowned figures, engaging debates and educational workshops. The Summit covers a range of global issues including politics, development, finance and psychology. It provides an opportunity for anyone with an interest in economic affairs and politics to discuss the latest worldwide developments. In the past, the Summit has hosted Nobel Prize-winning academics such as George Akerlof and John Nash, along with key policy makers such as Andrew Bailey. The weekend offers the chance to meet and learn from a truly diverse group of students, and to socialise and network with delegates from around the world.

Warwick Women in Economics Society

The Warwick Womenin Economics SocietyLink opens in a new window (WWiE Soc) was launched after the successful Women in Economics Student-led workshop was held at the University of Warwick in January 2020. WWiE Soc is the UK’s first student society dedicated to supporting female economics students at university and further down the economics career track. The society not only provides a safe and welcoming space for female students but a space in which everyone can come together to discuss important topics related to gender equality. The society welcomes all students to join them.

Rethink Economics Warwick

The Rethink Economics WarwickLink opens in a new window student society is part of 'Rethinking Economics,' which is an international network of students, academics, and professionals aiming to build a better economics in society and in the classroom. As students, academics, and policy-makers, the society want answers to the fundamental questions of economics and of the economy itself, such as the nature of money, the role of the state, and the behaviour of households and individuals, among other such questions. The society would like to open up the discourse to different approaches, different models with different methods, making different assumptions. Whether it is different schools of thought within economics, or even fields outside of economics such as political science and anthropology, rethink economics wants to ignite debate within the discipline.

Would you like to become a student blogger?

Our Student Blogs are all written by current students, studying and often living on campus. We do not edit the posts or tell our bloggers what to say. These are their thoughts, opinions and insights and based on their own personal experiences of their time at Warwick.

If you would like to become a blogger please email our Marketing and Communications Team: economics.news@warwick.ac.ukLink opens in a new window