Student leadership and representation

You can have your say and bring about change by voting in elections, attending meetings or standing for election in academic societies or Students' Union committees and roles.

Student representation within the University

It is important for the student voice to be recognised within the University and to be heard by those who are thinking about studying here. Have your voice heard through focus groups and feedback sessions with various departments within the University.

Student representation with Bristol SU

Bristol SU is a democracy, meaning that students elect their fellow students to lead the SU and represent the student body. Leadership and representation roles vary, from leading on student experience in halls of residence to full-time officers focusing on improving student experience at Bristol.

Course reps

Every single course and year group has its own course rep whose main responsibility is to collate and communicate the views of their coursemates at termly student academic representation forums

Acting as a course rep offers many opportunities:

• networking with other course reps
• gaining contacts and building relationships with University staff
• developing key employability skills such as negotiation, assertiveness, problem-solving, teamwork and project planning
• enhancing your CV and improving your confidence.

Elected course reps will receive training and support from the Students' Union.

Student representation on external networks

You are the experts on education because you are experiencing learning and teaching every day. As a result, you can be a useful voice and offer an interesting perspective to business and education strategies.

These opportunities have either involved infrequent face-to-face committee or network meetings, or have been remote opportunities where all interaction is done online via video conferencing or messaging services.

For example, you could become a board member to advise Jisc on their business strategy or search for opportunities to become a school governor.

Student representation in residences: JCRs 

Every undergraduate residence has a Junior Common Room Committee (JCR). JCRs are responsible for running events in their residence.  

The JCR consists of 3 people: a President, and two Vice-Presidents (Treasurer and Events). They work as a team to spend an allocated budget for events that students in their residence most want to see.

Each member of a JCR is a first year student living in that residence and elected by their peers.  

The role is yours to shape. Previous JCR's have led on events including:

• formals
• socials in the city centre
• inter-hall sports competitions
• pub quizzes and club nights
• picnics in local green spaces.

The Student Communities Team are here to support JCRs from start to finish during their time in post. Contact the team with any questions at student-communities@bristol.ac.uk. 

Being elected onto a JCR is a huge opportunity to create a great community in your halls.

You can self-nominate for the role from the 14 September 2026. Elections will follow shortly after.  

Your feedback

Making your views known is important as it can help to improve the university experience for you and for future students. The University seeks feedback from students in the following ways:

• feedback forms for individual teaching units
• surveys on specific topics
• academic representation, including:
  • course and faculty representatives
  • student academic representation forums (Taught students)
  • student-staff liaison committees (PGR students).