What are PCMs?
Programme Committee Meetings (PCMs) are the principal meeting for Student Reps and the main forum in which you can give feedback gathered from your peers directly to the staff within your department.
There are two PCMs a year, in term 1 and term 2, and these are the meetings that you must attend to qualify for the Rep reward payment. All Student Reps and academic staff in your department will be invited to these meetings, as well as a member of the Students’ Union.
What is Your Voice Feedback?
Prior to your PCM, you must submit 'Your Voice' feedback. ‘Your Voice’ feedback is the feedback you collect from your peers before your Programme Committee Meetings take place. Collecting and submitting 'Your Voice' feedback is one of the most important parts of your role as Student Rep, and the feedback you submit can create real meaningful change for your course, so it’s important you understand this fully.
As a Student Rep, you are the voice for your course. It’s important that the feedback you submit is not only your personal views, but also reflective of your peers’ views too. There are several ways in which you can collect feedback. Previous Student Reps have used the following methods:
- Surveys - Creating a survey (on Google Forms) and sharing this link with their peers
- In class - Printing out the ‘Your Voice Feedback form' and handing this out to their peers in class or getting their peers to scan a QR code linking to a survey.
- Group chats - Sending the categories/ prompt questions in WhatsApp groups or other group chats
- Word of mouth - Asking the prompt questions to their peers informally and recording their views
Click here to download the Your Voice Feedback sheet.
Submitting your Voice Feedback
If you are a January or February or April cohort Student Rep both of your Progeamme Committee Meeting / Cohort Meetings are completed for this academic year.
This allows academics enough time to read through your feedback and come prepared with solutions for the PCM. Once you have collected 'Your Voice' feedback from your peers, you must then compile this information and submit this at the link below by the deadline (to be confirmed). You do not need to submit each response you have gathered individually, please just complete the online form once, with a summary of all the feedback you have collected from your peers.
This form has been designed to gather an understanding of the overall experience of the entire cohort you are responsible for. However, if there are any isolated significant issues, this form can also be used to identify these and taken forward as feedback.
Additionally, this form is an opportunity for students to suggest any ideas for improvement in relation to any negative feedback they may have raised.
Finally, this form should also be used to highlight areas of good practice and please give examples of where this has taken place if possible
If you need to refer to a lecturer, please do not mention them by name, use the module name or code instead.
Submitting PCM Apologies
If you are unable to attend a PCM, you must submit your apologies at least 48 hours in advance of your PCM taking place using the survey on this page or emailing the PCM organiser and surepresentation@bnu.ac.uk. Please be aware that you may be required to provide evidence of the reason given in this form for your absence. The Students’ Union will not normally accept the persistent submission of apologies, although we do appreciate that there may be exceptional circumstances in a small number of cases.
If you cannot attend your PCM, to still receive payment, you must submit both 'Your Voice' feedback and an apologies form.
If you would like more information on PCMs and submitting Your Voice, please read pages 15 and 18 in the Student Rep Handbook.