Our Student Groups run regularly throughout the academic semester, and they are super important to improving life on campus! If you’re unsure about joining them, we have 5 (five!) fab reasons to take part:

  1. You’ll get to know your Full Time Officer team better
  2. They are completely non-committal so you can dip in and out as you please
  3. You can create positive change on your campus
  4. You can meet students that are interested in the same stuff as you
  5. You will get more out of your time at Heriot-Watt

They are open to everyone, and you can read about the individual ones below:

Academic Congress

Academic Congress is a group whose main focus is to improve academic life at Heriot-Watt. It is Chaired by the Vice President Academic and attended by Class Reps, Department Officers, School MPs and PGT Reps. This group meets twice a semester and is open for all students to attend.

Here the group discusses issues raised by students around academic topics and works to find solutions to these problems. The solutions to these problems can be implemented by the group directly and stops issues from being missed and avoided by bureaucracy. However, if the solution to the problem cannot be found or implemented the Academic Congress can raise the issue to Parliament.

The group doesn’t self-select any member to attend Parliament as both the Vice President Academic and elected School MPs attend to represent this Union Group. 

Societies Council

Societies Council is a group where representatives from each Society comes together to problem solve, troubleshoot issues, improve and grow the Union’s Societies, as well as secure funding and help kickstart new societies.

This group will meet monthly and is chaired by the VP Community. One member from Societies Council will be nominated to represent the group at Parliament, and be their voice.

Student Life  and wellbeing Group

Student Life and Wellbeing Group is where anyone can bring forward ideas for campaigns to improve student life, on issues such as housing, student finance, and physical & mental health.

So if you feel like there should be improvements in Halls, or there should be more fundraising around campus – this is the group for you. The Student Life and Wellbeing Group is the place to connect with other people who want to make an impact on what happens on Campus. The group meets monthly and is co-chaired by the VP Community and VP Wellbeing.

This is a group that is open to any Heriot-Watt student to attend, and you can attend just once, or every month, it’s totally up to you, there’s no requirement to sign up for a long term commitment. 

There are two members of parliament who represent the Student Life and Wellbeing Group.

eQUALITY, dIVERSITY AND iNCLUSION  (edi) GROUP

If you're interested in advocacy for underrepresented groups or you want to help solve an issue that is impacting students’ wellbeing, you should attend this group, and you can attend just once, or every month, it’s totally up to you, there’s no requirement to sign up for a long term commitment. This group elects one member of the group to attend Parliament to be their voice.

This group is open to any Heriot-Watt Student that has an interest in all issues surrounding student wellbeing and equality for groups including LGBT+, Women, International, Black Asian & Minority Ethnic and Disabled.

This Group meets monthly and is a great way for you to highlight EDI issues to your VP Wellbeing an EDI MP.

Galashiels Group

The Galashiels Group is the best place for you to go to if you’re interested in planning events, activities and wellbeing matters at the Scottish Borders Campus. This group meets every month and is chaired by the Student Union President.

You can attend just once, or every time, it’s totally up to you, there’s no requirement to sign up for a long term commitment. 

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