Student Representatives FASoS

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Your Representatives at FASoS!

Geschiedenis

Committees within the Student Representatives:

Faculty Council

Once elected to the position of Faculty Council member by fellow students, Faculty Council members work hard to ensure (along with the student advisor to the Board) that the students’ voice is heard when making key decisions about Faculty policy. Along with the staff’s co-chair, they are allowed to set part of the agenda of Faculty Council meetings. Officially they have the right to consent and advice on Faculty decisions. Faculty Council members maintain close contact with the students and the rest of the Student Representatives to decide whether a Faculty decision should be approved or not. Furthermore, they scrutinize the decision-making process during the Council meetings, and submit proposals that can improve the quality of student life.


Program Committees

The Arts and Culture Program Committee and the European Studies Program Committee are each appointed bodies, made up of students and staff, which work to improve the content and structure of the study programs they respectively represent. Student members are expected to set forth the perspective of their fellow students during regular committee meetings which cover such matters as the evaluation of courses, the planning of curricula, possible changes to the Education and Examination Regulations, and any other pertinent issues which arise during the course of the year. These meetings are collegial, with students and staff working together to find common solutions. Alongside these duties, members of the program committees work closely with the other Student Representatives to pursue an agenda, which represents the students’ interest at every level of the Faculty administration. Finally, as members of the Student Representatives, program committee members work with their fellow representatives to come up with, and conduct, a wide variety of extra-curricular initiatives in and around the faculty. Ideas are always valued at our weekly meetings.


OMT – Education Management Team

The OMT’s mandate is to discuss and find solutions to Faculty-wide Bachelor-level problems concerning the organization and level of education. It consists of the Associate Dean of Education, the Directors of Studies of European Studies and Arts &Culture, a secretary and two Student Representatives. In addition to this, relevant employees from the Faculty are invited to individual meetings to give their input concerning their field of interest. As opposed to the Program Committee, the OMT is responsible for overarching issues such as entrance requirements, the overall continuity of the study programs, and structural problems in the Faculty. The OMT is a working group that seeks to find solutions through the sharing of ideas and perspectives. The opinions of the Student Representatives are respected and taken into account when formulating action points. The Student Representatives also bring up concerns relevant to the scope of the OMT on behalf of students at the Faculty.

The Student Advisor to the Faculty Board

The student advisor to the Faculty Board takes part in the biweekly meetings of the Faculty Board (FB), the highest raking decision-making body in the Faculty, which is composed of the Dean and two Associate Deans. The administrative director of the Faculty and the deputy secretary to the Board are also present during the meeting in an advisory capacity. The FB oversees the management of the Faculty and takes the most important decisions with regard to education, research and budget allocations.

While the student advisor is not formally part of the Board and has therefore no voting rights, he/she has a strong influence on the decisions taken by the FB. This is mainly because most decisions are made by consensus, and formal votes are a rare exception. The student advisor represents all BA and MA students in the Faculty and he/she is hence well acquainted with all the programs offered at the Faculty. While he/she may in principle also put forward suggestions regarding research issues, the student advisor usually restricts his/her comments to matters relating to education. With regard to the latter, he/she is key in the drafting of the changes to the Education and Examination Regulations (OERs, in Dutch), which contain the descriptions of all courses part of the numerous BA and MA programs offered at FASoS. He/she moreover plays a big role in supporting proposals submitted by the Student Representatives as a whole and by student associations, including those requesting the Board for financial support.

The student advisor works in close cooperation with the student members of the Faculty Council(FC). In principle, the student advisor represents the view of the FC members, since they are democratically elected. He/she uses his/her connection to the Board to facilitate the FC members’ proposals and to make the decision-making process as smooth as possible. The student advisor is crucial in ensuring that the Board is aware of the position of the student members of the FC and it takes it into due account. In order to do this, he/she suggests compromise decisions already incorporating the opinion of the FC members.