Representation

The York Graduate Students’ Association has been around campaigning for postgraduate rights and representing our members since 1965! We are one of only two postgraduate students’ unions in the UK and ensuring that your voice is heard both at the University of York, locally or nationally is our key priority. There are a number of ways that we represent you and many ways you can get involved yourself and create change! Check them out below!

Your Ideas

Do you have an idea about change you would like to see at the GSA or University? Do you have a suggestion about how we can improve our services and activities? Suggest an idea here!

Your Representatives

We have three elected Sabbatical Officers who represent your interests! You can find out more about your 2022/23 Sabbatical Team here!

Part-Time Officers 

Part-Time Officers are democratically elected each year by you! They hold a vote on Council and make decisions about what the GSA campaigns on, the policy it creates, and hold Sabbatical Officers to account.

Academic Reps

Academic Representatives are democratically elected each year by you! They represent your interests at the University of York. Academic Representatives work collaboratively with staff to improve their Course, campaign for change and help resolve any course-related matters that may arise. To find out who your Academic Representative is or to get involved, find out more here.

Accountability 

As a democratic organisation working to represent your interests, it is important that you can hold your elected representatives accountable. You can find out more about how you can hold them to account here.

Association Council & Policy

Association Council is the core policy and decision making body at the York GSA and is made up of a group of elected and appointed officers by GSA members to represent the membership as a whole. You can make change through Council, create policy, mandate Officers to take a stance and hold your elected/appointed representatives to account.

You can find out more about who sits on Council and what Council’s powers are below or read the minutes from previous Council meetings here.

Referenda & Petitions

Do you want to gather support for an issue or trigger a referendum? Then you can create a petition to help further your campaign! You can find out more about how to trigger a referendum here.