Students’ Association

When you choose to study at North East Scotland College (and if you are over the age of 16) you will automatically become a member of the Students’ Association, unless you choose to opt out. You can decide your level of involvement – some students are very heavily involved in the SA, whereas others choose not to be. It’s entirely your choice.

You’ll find that throughout the year we organise a timetable of events and awareness raising activities, and helping to support these events or getting involved with the Association gives you the chance to learn new skills, gain work experience and boost your CV all whilst spending time with enthusiastic, like-minded people and forming lifelong friendships!

Getting involved in the Students’ Association is a fantastic way to meet new people, boost your CV and have a say in your educational and overall student experience at North East Scotland College.

If you do want to get involved, there are lots of ways you can do it.

Elections

The NESCol Students’ Association is run for students by students! This means we are led by the work of elected Sabbatical Officers, our Regional President and Depute President.

You can find out more about what they do by reading the job descriptions for the Regional President Role and Depute President Roles.

Voting takes place each year. In the 2022 elections Nicole Matthews was selected as President, with Carrie Beaton chosen for the Depute President role. The new officers took on their duties in July.

Class Representatives

Every class in the College has Class Reps. They are normally elected within the first few weeks of a class starting. Class Reps represent students by talking to their peers about all aspects of life on their course. They then attend meetings with key staff and provide them with feedback and also attend monthly themed meetings with the Association. Students are asked to suggest improvements or talk about what is working well and topics covered might include things like:

• Ideas from the class on how to improve life in the classroom
• Use of technology in class rooms
• Resources and facilities in College
• Comments on how courses are taught and content of courses
• …and much, much more!

Officer posts

Our Presidents are elected in March each year and take up their posts on 1 July before college begins. To support our Presidents we have a team of Officers who form our Executive. These are voluntary, part-time roles.

For 2022/23 the elected representatives are Nicole Matthews (President) and Carrie Beaton (Depute President). You can get in touch via the contact details at the foot of this page.

Executive Officers help make major decisions alongside the Presidents in the Students’ Association when it comes to shaping the direction, aims and ambitions of the Association. There are a number of positions that become available during elections, where you can become involved in areas that are of specific interest to you, such as:

• Communications
• Equality and Diversity
• Environment
• Health and Well Being
• Activities and Events

Executive Officers may help to organise events/campaigns to raise awareness of different issues. They can also represent students and various student issues via their membership on key College committees. Executive Officer posts will be advertised around September each year and posts will start in October. If you are interested we ask you to complete an Expression of Interest form.

Volunteering

You don’t have to be a Class Rep or an elected Officer to help with the Students’ Association. Volunteers are encouraged to come along on a regular basis to help out and support Officers at different one-off events, fundraising days, campaigns and initiatives. As an Association we are keen to benefit from the many different skills you are developing at College, as well as your motivation and enthusiasm! Please let us know if you feel you can help out or keep on Blackboard, My Nescol and social media sites for any opportunities that we might have – we’d be happy to have you on board.

Events and Activities

During the College year, the Students’ Association runs a range of events promoting Health and Welfare, Equality and Diversity and general social events – because you all deserve some fun!

We publish an Events Calendar each year so that you know what is on offer. Your first introduction to these will be through our Freshers’ activities in September. Freshers is an event to welcome you to campus, where you will find information on student support, health and wellbeing, catering on campus, volunteering and local entertainment/leisure facilities, among other things. We really hope that you can join us for this!

In 21/22 we plan to run our Calendar of events but some of these may be virtual events which will still provide lots of useful information and advice as well as any student offers and discounts.

The Students’ Association are always on the lookout for promotions and benefits for students, and these will generally be promoted on our social media channels, student Intranet pages or at our events and activities.

Clubs and Societies

As an Association it is important to us that students have a positive social experience at College and so we can support you in setting up and running a club or group on campus that reflects your interests. These groups are run by students for students and we have previously had Gaming Clubs, Music Clubs and a Socialist Society running on campus. If you are interested in getting a group together then get in touch with us and we will let you know how to go about it and support you in getting it up and running.

End of Year Meeting

We have Annual Meetings where we report to our members on our activities for the year and our work on your behalf. We encourage all members to attend this meeting so that we can hear more about what you want from us.

Partnership Agreement

North East Scotland College and the Students’ Association agree to work in partnership to achieve shared priorities outlined in the Partnership Agreement.

Both parties will work collaboratively to ensure that all students can get involved in actively shaping and influencing their College experiences.

We are currently reviewing this document, if you would like to provide us with your feedback on how we can improve our partnership working, please email nescolsa@nescol.ac.uk.