The NSA Executive Committee
The Executive is the Board of Trustees of NSA and its governing body. The “NSA Exec” is made up of 3 full time and 9 part time student officers, elected by the students. It meets regularly during term time and focuses the energy and resources of the students’ association towards progressing issues and strategy on behalf of the student body as a whole.
The 3 full time officers put themselves up for election by the students across campus. The successful ones either take a year out of their degree or add a year’s term of office on to the end of their studies to spend working for Napier students through the students’ association. They get paid and receive training for this. At the end of it they either go back to being students again, or they go onto a career.
Recent student leaders have gone on to careers in public relations management and consultancy, financial portfolio management, teaching, sports promotion and organisation, social work, engineering management and some to postgraduate study. Being a full time elected officer and making the most of that opportunity is seen positively by prospective employers. The experience gives these students an edge on some of their more academic colleagues. So, it might be something you want to consider yourself during your time at Napier.
NSA’s student leaders meet regularly with senior university management, academic staff and service providers to negotiate improvements on behalf of the students, as well as help the university develop in a more student-responsive way. They also act as official spokespeople for Napier Students’ Association in the wider community, such as the Scottish Exec and UK Parliament, local government, NUS, and higher education quality forums.
In addition to the 3 full-time paid officers, there are another 9 students who continue on course while volunteering to be part of the Executive. They too are Trustees of the union, but they have specific constituencies of students to represent: either all of the students in a specific faculty or a group such as mature or postgraduate students or students from outside the European Union.
The Exec is elected every year – and all students on a Napier course, regardless of experience, can be an Exec Member as long as they get the support of the students. Time commitment for the 3 full time officers is a standard Monday to Friday week for a full year, with some evenings and weekends thrown in, but for part timers, it’s closer to 3-4 hours per week during term time.
