Union Council

• To find out who's representing you on Union Council, click here
• To see the agendas and minutes of Union Council, click here
• To find out about joining Union Council, contact the Communications Officer or the Academic Officer

Union Council is the Union’s governing body. Recent decisions made at Union Council meetings include the Hive redevelopment, the Union’s support of lecturers who went on strike and student's views on the restructuring of the University. Issues such as the lighting at Colney Lane playing fields and timetabling of lectures were also discussed. Council must meet 8 times a year, but can meet more if it decides to.

Union Council's potential membership is over 200 students, representing each School of Study and each Union club, society and peer support group. The Executive Committee and the Faculty Convenors also sit on Union Council.

The Union offers training to council representatives. All our trainers are certified by the National Student Learning Programme (NSLP) Contact the Academic Officer if you want to find out more.

Union Council has a number of key functions:

• Debate and decide the policy of the Union
• Determine the direction of Union campaigns
• Appoint student representatives to University committees
• Keep the Executive Committee to account
• Raise issues that affect students in the University
• Review and amend the Union’s constitution
• Approve the constitutions of new Union clubs and societies
• Approve the annual accounts and budget for the Union
• Approve any affiliations to external organisations – including NUS and BUSA .

Who sits on Union Council?

Union Council is potentially made up of over 200 representatives who represent students within each School of Study and from each Union Club, Society and Peer Support Group.

Each School of Study is entitled to up to five representatives. These are:

• One 1st Year Undergraduate
• One 2nd Year Undergraduate
• One Final Year Undergraduate
• One Postgraduate
• One Student member of the School Committees

There are currently 23 School of study at UEA, so there can be a maximum of 115 members of Union Council representing Schools. To find out who your Union Council representative is click here.

The four Faculty Convenors also sit on Union Council. The post of Faculty Convenor is a relatively new one, whose role is to oversee the reps within their relevant Faculty.

The Convenors for 2007-8 are:

• FOH - Ian Pope (MED)
• HUM - David Sheppard (LIT)
• SCI - Tilly Mumford (CAP)

Each Union club, society or peer support group may also have one representative on Union Council. There are currently over 100 clubs and societies.

The 12 members of the Executive Committee also sit on Union Council.

The Chair of Union Council is elected at the first session to run the meetings. They do not have to be a Council rep, but in practice usually are.

Anyone who is a member of the Union (ie: all UEA students) can attend Union Council, and may speak on a certain issue with the permission of the chair, but they do not have voting rights, as they are not elected members of Council.

The Union’s General Manager, Andy Pott, also attends Union Council, to record the minutes. The Council may choose to seek his advice on particular issues, for example when the issue is an ongoing one and he may have some historical knowledge of what’s happened so far.