SIFE Clubs

A SIFE club may be formed at any tertiary educational institution or at any discrete campus thereof. It is a group of students, whether undergraduate or postgraduate, who work together to execute one or more community outreach projects that have an educational purpose based on the students’ own learning objectives and curricula.
The club must be appropriately registered with the institution’s student association or union if such a body exists and must have whatever formal constitution is required, together with elected officers such as president, secretary, treasurer, etc., termed the student executive.

SIFE Chapters

A SIFE chapter consists of the student members of the club, together with at least one mentor, see below, drawn from the university’s academic or general staff, e.g., graduate careers advisors and also a Business Advisory Board (BAB), see also below.

SIFE Teams

A SIFE team is any individual student or group, including mentor(s) and/or members of the BAB, that undertakes the execution of one or more projects and is also the term used to describe the group chosen by the chapter to represent them in competition.

Number of members

The lower limit of student membership will usually be prescribed by the student association and is typically ten. Each chapter must have one staff mentor and a business advisory board with at least two external members. There is no upper size limit other than that imposed by issues of control.

Mentor or Faculty Advisor

The term ‘mentor’ means wise counsellor, friend and guide. The role of the mentor, who is called the SIFE Australia Faculty Advisor for that institution or campus, is to assist the activities of the chapter by encouragement and advice, not by taking or accepting responsibility for any executive direction or action to undertake activities. The Faculty Advisor should, however, facilitate interaction of the chapter with the hierarchy and bureaucracy of the institution and may also assist with managing the business of the BAB.

Business Advisory Board

An integral element of a sound SIFE program is that it involves members of the immediate business and general community to act as a sounding board, to monitor activities, to receive project and other reports, to criticise and give advice, to assist in the formulation of strategy and to act as a judging panel ahead of competition.

It is the job of the students, assisted by the Faculty Advisor, to approach and recruit suitable candidates, to arrange a schedule of meetings, to prepare agenda, take minutes and manage the affairs of the BAB. It is suggested that, while BAB meetings are open to all members of the Chapter and even the wider institutional community, student voting rights be restricted to members of the student executive.