NUS Rep of the year

14 June 2012

BU student wins NUS Rep of the Year Award at the NUS conference in Nottingham.

BA Communication and Media student John Gusman won the NUS (National Union of Students) Rep of the Year Award at the NUS conference in Nottingham.

The award exists to recognise excellence in representing students in Higher Education and making a positive impact on the students they represent, the staff they work with and the institutions they work in.

The week included interactive polls, opinion boards and concluded with a ‘talk out’ between Vice Chancellor John Vinney, staff and students.

John has also set up and is president of the Rep Society, a social group for student reps.

On winning the award, he said: “I think that winning the award is just as much of a reflection of the great work that all our Reps, the SU staff and the engaged BU staff put in to ensure representation is effective and accessible at Bournemouth. I think it has also set a benchmark in terms of our expectations of ourselves which can only be a positive thing, and I hope that this encourages Reps to engage as fully as I have tried to this year.”

Student reps are elected by their peers to voice the opinion of their school or course through their work with the Students’ Union representation team.

In 2011-12 the student rep system expanded and now has over 712 registered student reps promoting the student voice throughout BU.

John worked closely with Kate Jones, Vice President of Education, on campaigns including ‘speak week’, highlighting the role of the student reps and bringing them to the forefront of the University.

She said “John Gusman is the most incredible Student Representative and truly deserves the accolade of NUS Course Rep of the Year 2012. He is a true inspiration to all Student Reps up and down the country, most notably his fellow Reps at Bournemouth University. We, at SUBU, could not be prouder, and this is a true reflection of our developments in Representation at the Union. Well done John, you absolute star!”