Participation TU Delft

The Central Student Council (CSC) is the official representation of all TUD students. Every month the CSC has a formal meeting with the Executive Board. The CSC consists of 10 students who put one full time year of their effort in defending student rights. Every year in May, elections take place to divide the 10 seats over the two parties. This year ORAS has 7 out of the 10 seats in the CSC.

Elections

In the end of May two weeks of campaign are followed by two days of elections. Any party can take part in the elections, but in the last years only two parties do: ORAS and Lijst Bèta. This intensive campaign is very important to show students what the Student Council does. Furthermore a high show-up percentage gives a better representation, which is useful in discussions with the Executive Board. The average show-up percentage is around 40%, which is quite high for Student Council elections compared domestically.

All parties have a list with 30 people on it. The maximum seats available in the Council is ten, so at least 20 people are not on the list to be elected themselves, but rather to show support towards the parties ideas and vision. Then, in September of the new academic year, the new elected members officially start their year in the CSC.

Na de verkiezingen is de zetelverdeling duidelijk en worden de nieuwe raadsleden ingewerkt voor het komende jaar. In het nieuwe academische jaar nemen zij dan zitting in de studentenraad.

Organisation Chart

Participation has a certain structure and hierarchy, which is displayed in the following chart. All terms are in dutch.

Executive Board and Supervisory Board

Het college van bestuur bestuurt de universiteit. Dit wordt gedaan door 3 mensen; Tim van der Hagen (Rector Magnificus), Rob Mudde (Vice President for Education and Operations) en Nicoly Vermeulen (Vice President Operations). Het college legt verantwoording af aan de Raad van Toezicht.

Central Student Council

The Central Student Council is the formal representation of all students at the EB. On this central level there are two official representations. The Works Council (for employees) and the Student Council (for students).

The CSC gives advice to the EB about certain decisions. This could be about regulations, facilities or changes in education. In some cases the CSC has a veto right. For example the ‘’Student Charter’’ or the institutional plan.

Facultary Student Councils

Next to the CSC there are Facultary Student Councils at every faculty. They have a monthly formal meeting with the dean of the faculty about the curriculum, the language of the study etc.

Rights and duties

According to the ‘’Higher Education and Scientific Research Act’’ Central Student Council have certain rights and duties:

Veto Right

The CSC has a veto right about:

The institutional plan (long term vision of DUT for 4 years)
Way in which education quality control is being carried out
Central part of the Student Charter
Executive and Management Regulations
Regulations about safety, health and well-being
Choice between separated councils (Student- and Works Council) or a joint University Council
Graduation Regulations (RPF etc.)

Right of Advice

The CSC has the Right of Advice about:

General issues concerning the university
The university budget
The tuition fees
Code of conduct for education in other languages than Dutch
Binding Recommendations on continuation of studies
Regulations about selection
Examination Appeals Board Regulations
Student Facilities
Scientific Personnel Policies
In general all student issues are part of the Right of Advice

Right of Initiative

The CSC has the right to plant ideas or plans. The EB has to take these seriously and give a formal reaction within 3 months. Otherwise the initiative is considered to be approved. These vary from a “student portal” to “RAS for international students”.

Om zo goed mogelijk gebruik te maken van het initiatiefrecht, dienen beide partijen initiatieven in. Dit zijn ideeën die de partijen uitwerken en vervolgens als initiatief indienen. Deze initiatieven gaan als ze verder uitgewerkt zijn als voorstel naar het College van Bestuur.

History Faction

De vorm van de medezeggenschap zoals we die nu al jaren kennen is niet altijd zo geweest op de TU Delft. In de afgelopen 47 jaar is er veel veranderd. In het stuk hieronder staat beschreven welke acties en wetgevingen geleid hebben tot de huidige vorm van medezeggenschap en het ontstaan van de Organisatie RAtionele Studenten.

Occupation of 'Het Maagdenhuis'

In the early 60's of the previous century, students had no say whatsoever in the decision-making at the then called Institute of Technology in Delft. All the rules and regulations were created by the teachers and staff and students should just do as they are told. The students were obviously in discontent and as the decade progressed, more and more demonstrations were held to appose the system.

The up-rise was concluded by the occupation of 'Het Maagdenhuis'. Over 700 students joined together in a strike, occupying 'het maagdenhuis' in Amsterdam.
The goal was to change the current system of higher education and introduce a more democratic system where students had a say in determining the form and content of their study. The police locked down the building for over five days, hoping that the students would give up due to starvation or thirst, but, as clever as they were, the students managed to smuggle in food and supplies by creating an air-bridge to the library.
At 9 AM on the 21st of May 1969 the police brutally ended the occupation. However, the message that the students wanted to send out was clear. One year later student participation on the higher education policy was recorded in national law.

Act of Administrative Reform(WUB) in 1970 and the Student Centrum Groep (SCG)

After the Occupation of 'Het Maagdenhuis', an amendment was made to the national law on higher education. This resulted in the following board structure at the Institute of Technology in Delft:

The University Council, consisting of 1/3 students, 1/3 academic staff and 1/3 supporting staff
The Executive Board, executing the decisions made by the University Council.

Through the years, more and more parties within the council started to form. On september 15th in 1973 the party 'Centrum Groep' was founded to be a counterpart to the already existing 'Afdeling Actie Groepen'(AAG). Later, in 1975, the Centrum Groep was renamed to Student Centrum Groep(SCG).

As the time progressed, it became clear that the system, introduced in 1970, was inefficient and unwieldy. Additionally, amendments to the Act of Administrative Reform, gave the Executive Board more influence and power, creating a discontent in the University Council. This resulted in a lot of frustrations between council members and the Council and the Executive Board.

Founding of ORAS

In 1989 SCG started losing votes and eventually ended up with only 4 seats on the council. In that period, the most of the party's occupation consisted of organisational aspects. Promotion, organizing the political campaign and finding successors took most of the effort leaving only little time for the political tasks. Fortuntately, an Intertim Board, lead by Ludo Bergkamp, investigated what had to change. They introduces a board and a political association that could concern themselves with party affairs, allowing the council faction to focus on their political obligations. To emphasize these changes, the name of the party changed to the Organisation of RAtional Students (ORAS).

Ook wegens het opkomen van een politieke partij waarmee SCG niet geïdentificeerd wilde worden, werd de naam SCG veranderd in Organisatie Rationele Studenten (ORAS). Rationeel en pragmatisch waren altijd al termen die binnen de partij gevoerd werden en nu kwam dat ook terug in de naam.

University Government Modernisation Act

In the late nineties, the national government considered the ability of dutch universities to act as insufficient en ineffective. Therefore, the University Government Modernisation Act(MUB) was introduced.
This changed the administrative organisation drastically: the Executive Board became the governmental body of the organisation and the University Council was split up into the Works Council, representing both the academic and the support staff, and the Student Council. The role of the Council changed from governing to participation in decision-making. This structure is maintained up to this day.

The Technical University of Delft still works with a (part-time) Works Council, and a (full-time) Student Council

The downfall of AAG and the foundation of a new Student Council Party

Around 2008, the situation for ORAS was very successful. However, the situation for the other party, AAG, went from bad to worse. With only 2 or 3 seats on the council, AAG faced the same issues as SGC had in 1989, and finally they decided not to participate in the elections in 2008. The party used next year to reorganize and prepare for the elections of 2009. The Student Union 'VSSD' therefore decided to set up the party 'Het Principe', based on the idea that there must be at least two parties in a democratic party system. That year, Het Principe got 2 seats.

In 2009, AAG rejoined the elections. Unfortunately, they once again ended up with 2 seats. The party decided to complete in the year, but not to run the next year. Therefore, the Student Council of 2010/2011 consisted solely of ORAS members. During that year, the council put a lot of effort in encouraging students to create a new party. By spreading a lot of controversial statements and strongly profiling the vision of ORAS, the council hoped to find students that would disagree with the posed statements and that a new party would emerge and they succeeded. As a result, the party Lijst Bèta was founded in the spring of 2011.

The Elections of 2011 and after

Sinds 2011 bestaat de studentenraad dus weer uit twee partijen, ORAS en Lijst Bèta. Het eerste jaar met de nieuwe partij (2011/2012) behaalde ORAS 7 van de 10 zetels en het jaar daarna werd er een zetel verloren. Tijdens de campagne in 2013 werd deze zetel weer teruggewonnen en dit is sindsdien (2013-2017) de verdeling binnen de raad: 7 zetels voor ORAS en 3 voor Lijst Bèta.

Want to know the members of the current faction? Click Here.

Meeting cycle

Within the student council the preparations for the meeting with the executive board (OV) can be seen as a cycle. In total there are 4 parts of the cycle all with a duration of 1 week.

Week 1: The agenda meeting (AO)

Het agendaoverleg (AO) is een informeel verleg met Rob Mudde (Vice President for Education and Operations van het CvB), dit is de vaste gesprekspartner van de SR. In dit overleg wordt de agenda van de overlegvergadering (OV) opgesteld. Punten kunnen aangedragen worden door de SR en door Rob Mudde. De aanwezigen zijn de voorzitter en secretaris van de SR, Rob Mudde, ambtelijk secretaris van de SR en de technisch vergaderleider van de SR.

Week 2: Committee meeting

If applicable, there can be a committee within the university council (Working Council + Central Student Council) and/or the CSC to further discuss the points of the agenda in depth. The person with the right portfolio, corresponding to the topics, will take part in these discussions.

Week 3: Internal meeting (IV)

The internal meeting is a formal meeting between the parties in the CSC. The technical meeting counselor and the formal secretary of the CSC are also present at these discussions. At the IV the points on the agenda for the OV will be further discussed and finalised. The strategy and vision for each points will be finalised by the first and second speaker of said point.

Week 4: General meeting (OV)

De overlegvergadering is een formele vergadering tussen de SR en het CvB (Rob Mudde). De vergadering is open voor toeschouwers. In de OV wil je toezeggingen van Rob Mudde over bepaalde punten en als studentenraad gevraagd én ongevraagd advies geven. Behalve Rob Mudde en de SR zijn hier ook weer de ambtelijk secretaris en de technisch vergaderleider aanwezig. Daarnaast kunnen nog mensen van de staf worden uitgenodigd om een toelichting of presentatie te geven bij bepaalde onderwerpen. Onder te toeschouwers vallen vaak FSR-leden, Studieverenigingen, Studentenverenigingen en de Delta (universiteitskrant). De Delta gebruikt regelmatig punten van de OV voor hun artikelen.