O U S AAbout O U S A in the region
There are 13 Regions based on the O U system, plus O U S A’s own extension of 3 Sub Regions. The Sub Regions cover students in the Republic of Ireland, and what the university call Continental Western Europe (C W E) which O U S A has split into two areas, Northern Europe and Southern Europe.
Each of these 16 geographic regions have their own representative on the O U S A Executive Committee
For each of the O U S A Regions and Sub-Regions there is a Regional Forum, whose main objectives are:
- to provide information, training, support and services to O U S A Branches within the Region and to assist such Branches in the pursuit of O U S A’s objectives;
- to provide a forum for liaison and co-ordination between the O U S A Branches in the Region;
- to provide a forum for communicating the views of O U S A members within the Region to their representatives on the Executive Committee of O U S A and within the University’s Government and Consultative Structure.
The membership of the Regional Forum is made up of delegates from every participating Branch in its Region. Where no formally constituted O U S A Branch exists, the Regional Forum may co-opt representatives from the respective Catchment Area(s).
The Regional Forum is led by a committee of elected officers: Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and Communications Officer. Other posts elected annually at the Regional Forum Annual General Meeting are: Student Support Link, Marketing and Information Co-ordinator and Disabled Students’ Link. In addition, where a residential school takes place within the region, a Residential School Co-ordinator and a Residential School Marketing Co-ordinator are elected each year by the Regional Forum.
Each Regional Forum is entitled to issue one Newsletter each year to its entire membership. This is a useful publication in which general information affecting students in the Region or in the wider O U community can be communicated, as well as details about any social events that have been planned.
If you are interested in finding out more about your Region, why not visit your Regional FirstClass Conference — access via the ‘Open University’ icon on your desktop, select ‘Open University Students Association’, then select ‘O U S A Live’, then select the ‘O U S A Regions’ icon, and finally click on the icon for R06.
The Regional Forum is there to co-ordinate regional activities and provide a forum for information interchange and contact in the Region. Without the “regional representative body”, there is absolutely nothing to formulate a collective opinion. The Regional Forum provides an opportunity for representatives to bring the opinions of all the Branches into one place, and to receive back information on the Student Support link, Student Academic Links, Executive Committee, etc. It is a two way path for the dissemination of information and support.
The RF is able to put forward motions to conference and send one Delegate, in addition to any delegates sent by branches.
