The Open University Students Association (OUSA)
in the West Midlands


Branches

From the OUSA Constitution

5a. STRUCTURES

(i). OUSA shall have branches which may be based on a single catchment area or on more than one catchment area.

(ii). Whether a branch is based on one or more catchment areas will be decided by a majority vote at a meeting of registered student members of OUSA allocated to the catchment area(s) concerned. The meeting shall be called for the purpose of resolving a motion to become or remain constituted as a branch based on a single catchment area, or a motion to become or remain part of a branch based on more than one catchment area.

Catchment Areas

The Open University have Study Centres to which students are allocated when they first begin their studies. Theoretically, they are close to the students home and easily accessable. The OUSA Branches are based on those Study Centres - the area that a Study Centre covers is called a catchment area in the OUSA Constitution. Students may change from one Study Centre and another (and thereby, their OUSA branch) by applying to their OU Regional Centre.

Branch Officers

The branch has elected officers who administer the affairs of the branch between general meetings. This means that a Chair, Secretary and Treasurer are elected at an Annual General Meeting and a committee formed. There must be at least one other committee member other than these officers.

 

Voting in Brief

What do Branches do?

Branches are points of contact for local students enabling them to meet other students. Normal university's are campus based and you cannot avoid meeting other students whereas the OU students are invisible apart from tutorials, day schools or residential schools. This can create problems for many students who like social contact, like to bounce ideas of others, etc.Officers of the branch usually know their way around OUSA and the OU.

Very importantly, branches provide much better access for students interested in playing a part in the OUSA decision making process - from electing representatives to sending motions and delegates to OUSA's annual Conference


Briefly, in no particular order, branches are...

  1. a local point of contact for OU students
  2. communicators. Pass along information to the students and, from them, to OUSA and the OU.
  3. organisers of social events
  4. organisers of academic related events or visits/trips
  5. there to provide help, advice and guidance to students
  6. able to take up any grievences on behalf of students - with the OU or OUSA
  7. able to produce Motions to alter OUSA's Constitution or Policy
  8. able to send a representative to the OU's regional committee
  9. an ideal place to start learning about OUSA
  10. able to nominate a representative to sit on the OU regional consultative committee's
  11. run by human beings who are also OU students

Beyond the Branches

1. The Regional Forum (RF)
One representative goes to the RF. See the Regional Forum page.

2. The OU in the West Midlands Committee
One representative attends the Open University regional consultative committee which meets at the Regional Centre in Harborne, Birmingham. The OU Regional Director and other OU staff, Associate Lecturers and students representing the Branches are present. In addition, the OUSA Regional Executive Committee Member also attends.

3. Conference
Branches can send delegates to conference to represent their views. The number of delegates depend on the student population in the catchment area. An Observer can also attend.

Students in catchment area
Delegate entitlement
1 - 1000
1
1001 - 2000
2
2001 - 3000
3
3001 +
4

Conference

4. Stepping stone to...
Senate, central committees Student Academic Link, Student Support Link and other roles. Not absolutely essential to be an active Branch committee member but a good starting place to begin understanding OUSA before progressing to other things.

OUSA Structures
Top