Student Council

Involving Key Customers in Key Decisions

Matt CarterDirector: Organisational Development & Student Success

Profile

• 7,300 Students

• 4,004 EFTs

• 100+ - Programmes, Certificates to Postgraduate

• $64m revenue

• 3 Campuses – Dunedin, Central Otago and Auckland

• Experienced based education with a sustainability focus

• Ranked first equal in our sector for course and qualification completion

• Student Satisfaction rating is 93% overall

Purpose

• Post 2010 legislative change formal student representation lost

• How does Governance here the voice of the key customer – their priorities, expectations, needs?

• Formal Standing Committee• Input into key decisions

Strategic directionsLearning environmentMergers, acquisitions, divestmentsFees and levies

• Also have voice to management level via CEO and Director: Student Success

How it Works

• Monthly lunch time meetings (1 hour)

• Formal agenda, papers, minutes

• Held in OP Council Board Room

• Follows the cycle of OP Council

• We feed them but not paid

• Not elected (yet!)

• OP Council and Executive Representatives attend

• Representation from across OP

• Members sourced in any way possible (class reps, lecturer nomination etc)

• OPSA works alongside (contractual relationship)

Student Perspective

Student Council

Convener:

Jeremy Hall

2014 Focus

• Projects 

Student Communications

Learning Spaces

• Leadership Development Programme

• Consolidating membership and committee processes

• Increasing profile

Successes

• Certificate of Achievement / on transcript

• Free food!

• Recruitment of 2nd year students

• High calibre Student Convenors

• Excellent input into New strategic directions

Revised values & behaviours

fee and budget setting priorities

Campus Redevelopment

• Reviewed at end of 2013

• Last meeting …. (2013 AUSSE Results)

In hindsight

From the start we should have……

• Trained them (skill & confidence)

• Had projects / link to other initiatives

• Split the agenda into Governance / Management matters

• Linked benefits to programme of learning (relevance)

• Increased Executive Team drive behind this

Challenges

• Including Distance / Other Campus students

• Communication – Linked In / Facebook?

• Getting a Diverse Student Council (age, gender, programme of study, ethnicity etc)

• Being proactive instead of reactive

• Students “owning their council” and seeing “beyond their programme”

• Governance level discussion

• Selling benefit to the students

• Culture shift!

Thank you

How do you hear the Customer Voice at all levels of the Organisation?

Questions? Comments?

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