Our Students & Quality

Get Involved

Listening to the student voice is a key part of our quality processes. We can do a better job of improving your experience if you get involved and let us know what might need improving. A few ways you can do this are listed below.

Students' Union

The Students' Union offers students a chance to get involved. This doesn't just mean with societies, events and activities - the Students' Union gives students a voice, allowing them to tell the University what they need for a better student experience. The rest of this page gives a basic introduction on how students can get involved.

School Forums

School Forums are regular meetings where key student issues can be discussed. The meetings are informal and held by the School Chairs. Any student can attend, but Academic Reps are expected to attend and SU Officers will also be in attendance.  Issues from School Forums can be taken to Senate in the form of change submissions, where they will be voted on and acted upon, if agreed.

Find out when your next School Forum is on the Students' Union website.

Student Partnership Plus Policy

Student partnership is a collaborative approach that recognises students as active and equal partners in shaping their educational experience and the broader university community. It acknowledges that students possess valuable insights, perspectives, and expertise that can contribute to the enhancement of teaching, learning, and the overall university environment. Student partnership is essential for fostering a sense of ownership, engagement, and shared responsibility among students, and staff, ultimately leading to the delivery of high-quality education and a supportive university community.

For more information, see our Student Partnership Plus Policy (PDF, 0.1 MB).

Your Student Representatives

SU Officers

The Students' Union Sabbatical team is made up of three full-time officers who are elected in cross-campus elections every February. Their responsibility is to represent students on all issues; they sit on a number of University committees and liaise with senior university staff members on a variety of academic matters. You can find out more about the current Sabbatical Officers.

School Chairs

Every year, around February, elections are held to choose a School Chair for each School. These Chairs run the School Forum meetings . If you want to find out who your School Chair is or want to run in the next election take a look at the Students' Union website, or visit the Students' Union.

Student Academic Representatives

Academic Reps are students on each programme who represent their cohort. Anyone can become an Academic Rep. To be elected, students simply enter their name for election and then the students on that course will vote for who they wish to be their Academic Rep.

Academic Reps help the University to ensure that the student voice is heard in making improvements to programmes.

National Student Survey (NSS)

The NSS provides information nationally on students' views of their experience. Information from the NSS is considered in detail by Schools and helps the University make improvements for future students. If you are in your third year, don’t miss the opportunity to leave feedback on your experience.

General Feedback

At any time students can email the University with feedback. Students can leave their feedback in the feedback box on the left-hand side of the MyYSJ portal.

The Students' Union also runs 'Tell Us What You Think'. This is an effort to improve the student experience and students can submit anything about the Union, University or the City. Green comment cards are available in a number of locations around the campus and students can also get involved by emailing su@yorksj.ac.uk.

How we Ensure Quality for You

York St John University prides itself on being a small and close-knit community. As such we can work together to enhance your experience and every student has the ability to make a difference. The information above explains ways that individual students can get involved and make a difference.

Checking and improving the quality standards and working to enhance your experience is an intrinsic part of all the work we do across the University. The information below picks out some small parts to show you how we do this for our students. 

Your Work and Fair Assessment

In line with the UK Higher Education sector, the University appoints External Examiners for every programme. These examiners are lecturers from other Universities/HEIs or professionals that work, in a quality role, to help York St John University ensure that our marking and academic standards are consistent with the sector. They also monitor procedures and School Assessment Panels to make sure that all programmes are following the York St John University regulations accurately. These people play an important part, so that you know that the quality of your programme, the way it is run and the way you are marked is fair and standard across the Higher Education Sector.

Committees Working to Help You

The quality and standards of our programmes and processes are monitored by the University's Quality and Standards Committee.

Enhancement opportunities and student experience issues are monitored and improved by the University's Learning and Teaching Committee.  Students' Union representatives sit on both University-level committees and this creates another forum for students to have their voice heard on key matters.