Legislative authority
Considers motions, passes resolutions, and sets the rules that guide association governance.
SCISA Senate
About the Senate
The parliamentary body of the Science Students' Association of KNUST. We legislate for science students, represent every constituency in the College, and hold executive action to account under the Constitution and Standing Orders.
The Chamber
What is the Senate?
SCISA Senate is where science students shape association policy. It exists so representation is real, rules are made with care, and power is exercised openly.
Representation
Members speak for departments, year groups, and international students in the Chamber.
Oversight
Reviews executive performance through sittings and committees so decisions serve students.
Accountability
Proceedings are recorded and bound by Standing Orders, with power exercised in good order.
Bound by the Constitution and Standing Orders, the Senate turns student concerns into deliberated, recorded decisions, not informal consensus.
Membership
Who makes up the Senate
The House is a representative chamber: leadership, departmental officers, year voices, and international students.
Composition
Who sits in the House
Senate Leadership
Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Clerk, Deputy Clerk, Marshal, and Protocol Head
Departmental Presidents
Heads of departmental societies sitting as Senators
Departmental General Secretaries
Society secretaries representing their departments
Year Representatives
Elected voices for Years 1 to 6 across the College of Science
International Students' Representative
A dedicated seat for international science students
Leadership structure
Officers who preside, record, and uphold order
Speaker
Presides over sittings, keeps order, and stewards the dignity of the House.
Deputy Speaker
Supports the Speaker and assumes the Chair when required.
Clerk
Keeps the official record, manages notices, and advises on procedure.
Deputy Clerk
Assists the Clerk in documentation and Chamber business.
Marshal
Upholds order, ceremony, and the security of Senate proceedings.
Protocol Head
Coordinates formal protocol and ceremonial standards.
Explore current officers and Senators on the Leadership & Senators page.
Procedure
How the Senate operates
Sittings follow published notice, structured debate, and recorded votes, with quorum rules that keep the House legitimate.
How the Senate works
Select a stage to learn what happens
From notice to resolution, every sitting follows a clear parliamentary path so decisions are deliberate, documented, and legitimate.
Notice
Members receive official notice with date, venue, time, and agenda.
Senate sessions
When and how the House meets
- Minimum sessions
- 2+
- Per tenure of the Senate
- Major sittings
- 2
- Required each session
- Emergency sittings
- As needed
- By the Speaker, or on requisition of 40% of members
- Official notice
- Required
- Date, venue, time, and agenda before every sitting
- Quorum
- ⅓
- One-third of members must be present
Principles
Core values
Affirmed in the Standing Orders: the standards that guide how Senators serve and how the House conducts its business.
Integrity
Accountability
Professionalism
Transparency
Teamwork
Responsiveness
Representation
Patriotism
Purpose
Mission & vision
Why the Senate exists, and what it aspires to be for every science student.
Mission
To legislate, represent, and oversee with fairness, advancing the welfare of science students through orderly debate, credible records, and decisions grounded in the Constitution and Standing Orders.
Vision
A Senate recognised for integrity, clarity, and student-centred leadership: the trusted parliamentary voice of science students at KNUST.
From concern to action
How decisions are made
A student issue becomes Senate business through motion, debate, and vote, then a resolution that can be implemented.
Student concern
An issue affecting science students is raised through a Senator or petition.
Motion
The matter is formally placed before the House for consideration.
Debate
Senators examine arguments for and against on the floor.
Committee review
Where needed, a committee studies evidence and reports back.
Vote
The Senate decides by the votes of its members.
Resolution
The decision is recorded as an official resolution of the House.
Implementation
Responsible officers and bodies carry the resolution into effect.
Visit the Senate
The SCISA Senate of KNUST is open to visitors on days of Senate sittings.
Visitors are welcome to watch proceedings from the public gallery. The gallery is usually open to the public when the House sits. On most sitting days, individuals may turn up and wait for entry to the public gallery. Advance written permission is not required for individuals who wish only to observe proceedings.
Those who wish to visit the Senate in groups, or to embark on educational tours, must put their request in writing to the Clerk of the Senate.
Rules for observing debates
Visitors are only allowed to observe the proceedings in the gallery. They are not to involve themselves in the business of the Chamber by means of loud commentary, clapping, demonstrations, or unruly behaviour.
Photographs may not be taken without permission.
Visitors are to refrain from any actions which may interrupt the proceedings in the Chamber, and to abide by any instructions to the gallery uttered by the Speaker. Visitors must also comply with any instructions given by security attendants.
Failure to observe these conditions may result in the removal of the visitor(s) from the gallery and referral of the incident to security agents for investigation.
Visitors are required to dress formally and in a manner befitting the dignity of the House.
Visitors in the galleries are required to rise to their feet each time the Speaker's procession enters or leaves the Chamber.
“Every resolution begins with dialogue, every decision is guided by the Constitution, and every action is taken in the interest of science students.”
SCISA Senate · KNUST