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:

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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 Education and attended by Class Reps, Department Officers, School MPs and PGT Reps. This group meets twice a semester and is open for other members of the Student Union to attend. 

Here the group discuss issues raised by students around academic topics and work to find solutions to these problems. The solutions to these problems can be implemented by the group directly and stops problems 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 President and elected School MPs attend to represent this Union Group. 

More information on Academic Congress and the next meeting is here.

Societies Council

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

This group will meet monthly and will be limited to the societies chosen rep, however, it is open to anyone to attend should they want to observe or highlight an issue they see as important. The Societies Council is chaired by the VP Community. As a group, one member will be nominated to represent the Societies Council at Parliament and be their voice.

Student Life  and wellbeing Group

Student Life and Wellbeing Group is where anyone can bring forward ideas for events and activities, both recreational and volunteering/charity based that they would like to see run by the Union. This is also the place to put forward ideas for campaigns to improve student life, on issues such as housing, student finance and physical and mental health.

So if you feel like there should be more happening 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

Whether you're interested is 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. The EDI Group meets monthly and is chaired by VP Wellbeing. This group elects 2 members 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, 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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