Step into leadership: Why you should consider nominating for the Guild Senate in the upcoming election

If you’re a student at Edith Cowan University, you already have a ready-made opportunity to influence your university experience: standing for election to the Guild Senate. This article explains, in clear terms, who makes up the Senate, what it does, and why nominating yourself could be a pivotal way to shape teaching, campus life, and student services for your peers.

The Guild and its Senate in context

The ECU Student Guild is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to representing students. It champions your interests, protects your rights, and strives to improve your education and campus life. It runs services and events, supports clubs and departments, and speaks up to the University and the wider community on your behalf. The Senate is the Guild’s governing body. It guides the Guild’s administrative, financial and strategic direction, sets policy, approves the annual budget, and ensures that the Guild’s activities and departments are working effectively for students. While the Senate sets priorities and policy, day-to-day management is carried out by operational staff who bring those priorities to life and keep services running smoothly.

 Who sits on the Senate

The Senate comprises 16 elected student leaders, including the President, the General Secretary, four Vice Presidents, and a range of Departmental Officers. Departmental Officers cover areas such as Social, Sports, Equity, International, Undergraduate, Postgraduate, First Nations, Environmental, and the South West. Senators serve for one year, with terms running from 1 December to 30 November. This structure ensures a broad mix of student voices and experiences are represented.

What the Senate does in practice

The Senate’s work falls into several interlinked areas. First, it champions student priorities with the University. It sets clear policy positions on issues affecting students and authorises representatives to meet with University executives, including the Vice-Chancellor and Senior Leadership. By doing so, it raises systemic concerns, such as teaching quality, assessment, placements, timetabling, fees and charges, campus safety, facilities, equity and inclusion and negotiates improvements. The Senate also coordinates student representation on University committees and bodies, ensuring advocacy is consistent and underpinned by robust student feedback.

Second, the Senate supports clubs and affiliated bodies. It establishes the policy and funding framework for club affiliation, grants, and support, aligned with the Guild’s purpose to support and co-ordinate the activities of Affiliated Bodies. It allocates the annual clubs budget and sets fair, transparent criteria for grants, events and sponsorships, with regular reporting to monitor outcomes. It approves club funding and Guild-supported events relevant to the department, and delegates day-to-day administration such as applications, payments, venue bookings, compliance and training to operational staff, while retaining policy oversight to adjust settings as needed.

Third, the Senate drives departmental initiatives and events. It sets strategic priorities and budgets for Departments (including Social, Sports, Equity, International, Undergraduate, Postgraduate, First Nations, Environmental, and South West). Departmental Chairpersons (the Vice Presidents) plan programmes and campaigns with Departmental Officers and report in writing to each scheduled Senate meeting on progress and impact. The Senate ensures policies such as risk, finance, equity and sustainability are followed. The Secretariat (President, General Secretary, and Vice Presidents) ensures implementation between meetings, while operational staff provide professional delivery in logistics, risk management, finance processing, contracts, marketing and on‑the‑day support, all within delegated authority and approved budgets.

How students shape the agenda

Students shape the Senate’s agenda by feeding in feedback from cohorts, Student Representatives, clubs and departments to inform priorities and policy. Importantly, students can formally direct the Senate via resolutions at General Meetings, keeping decision-making accountable and student-led. This means your ideas, concerns and proposals can become official policy and action

Why nominating matters

Stepping onto the Senate gives you a platform to drive real, tangible change. You could influence policies on teaching quality and timetabling, champion improvements to campus facilities, expand support for clubs and student activities, and advance issues you care about whether that’s equity, international opportunities, sustainability, or student safety. Being a Senator also gives you experience in governance, policy development, stakeholder engagement, budgeting, and project delivery, valuable skills for any future career.

The nomination and election process

If you’re considering nominating, start by clarifying your priorities: which student issues are most important to you and your peers? How would you gather feedback from your cohort and translate it into policy or programmes? Look at the roles within the Senate, President, General Secretary, Vice Presidents, and Departmental Officers, and consider where your skills and interests fit best. You’ll be part of a team that works across departments and clubs to deliver meaningful outcomes, with regular opportunities to report on progress and impact.

Support available

If you want to prepare for nomination, you can:

• Read more about the roles and responsibilities of Senators on the Guild Election Site: ecuguild.org.au/elections.
• Draft a short statement outlining your priorities and how you’d engage with peers to gather feedback.
• Plan how you’d communicate with clubs and departments to understand their needs and how you’d translate them into policy and action.
• Complete your nomination pack and submit your Candidate Statement and Photograph to the Returning Officer:
  • By Post: Returning Officer, ECU Student Guild, WA Electoral Commission, Reply Paid 71295, PERTH WA 6001
  • By Email: NPro_ECUStudentGuild@elections.wa.gov.au
  • In Person: In a sealed envelope marked Attn: Returning Officer, to Building 34 – Room 215

• A Completed Nomination Pack includes:
  • NP3_Nomination Form 2025
  • NP4_Fit and Proper Person Declaration
  • NP5_Candidate Obligations Declaration 2025, and
  • NP6_Candidate Consent to Disclose 2025
  • Election Statement Form & Photograph
  • ED4_Group and Agent Registration Form 2025 (If registering as an Agent or Group)

The above forms and other important information can be found on the Guild Election Site: ecuguild.org.au/elections.