Participating parties, standpoints and candidates

Lijst Calimero is one of the parties in the University Council and it focuses on the most important issues arising in the life of a student:  best quality of education, well-being, inclusion, sustainability, interdisciplinarity and social safety. Moreover, we came up with different proposals such as offering free menstruation products in all university buildings or lowering the BSA in 2021. Quality is a choice, so make yours!

solliciteren@lijstcalimero.nl

www.lijstcalimero.nl/solliciteren/

The SOG is the oldest and biggest student party in the Council and wants to make sure that students in Groningen have ample opportunities to develop themselves, both within and outside their studies. We cooperate closely with Groninger student organisations and give special attention to promoting entrepreneurship, making the University more sustainable, and giving you more flexibility to plan your own studies.

sollicitatie@studentenorganisatie.nl

The Independent Student is the broadest student party in Groningen and we stand for a university where you are in control. You as a student must be able to organise your studies as you see fit, whether that means a board year or an internship. In addition to the U-Council list, you can also apply for The Independent Student lists of the faculties Arts, Law and FEB.

soco dvs-groningen.nl

www.dvs-groningen.nl

Characteristic of our Personnel Faction - with nine members the largest faction in the university council - is the diversity of its members; scientific staff as well as support staff and Phd's working in many different Faculties and Departments. Therefore we can combine our knowledge and experience and represent all layers of our organization. There is ample opportunity for a diversity of opinions but on a common base.

Like us, do you have a passion for education and research? Then don't forget to vote in the upcoming university council elections.

As Science Faction, we stand for the following 10 points:

1. Less bureaucracy: Professional autonomy for teacher and researcher.
2. Working at a university where core academic values come into their own.
3. A robust budget where resources go to education and research in a sustainable way.
4. Protection of employee privacy. We oppose the proposed use of AI to start monitoring employees' online behaviour.
5. Not scheduling classes and exams during autumn and spring breaks.
6. A pleasant workplace: Sustainability and greening of the office environment.
7. Less workload: Sustainable improvement of the student-staff ratio.
8. More job security: In terms of career prospects and working conditions, employees should receive equal treatment.
9. R&O interviews should be done in the presence of an independent HR officer.
10. Less abuse of positions: Give promotion rights to experienced UDs and UHDs.

The quality of research, education and private life is under pressure from:

• the large number of students,
• the overproduction of publications,
• the long time spent on acquiring subsidies,
• the abundance of work email and
• the excessive use of social media.

Strive for high quality!

Make work a source of positive emotions and experiences!

1. Nicolai Petkov

1. How should the RUG contribute to the fight against climate change?

We believe our university has a responsibility to ensure a sustainable future for their students. We have identified some key issues that the university should take care of for improving its sustainable character: For example, ensuring more sustainable canteens, less single use materials and avoiding as much food waste as possible. In general, the university should stop wasteful production of written materials.

2. What should the university do to ensure academic freedom and social safety?

We ask the university to take measures for guaranteeing social safety within the university environment. Students and staff often are not sufficiently listened to with regards to the problems or questions they have. The university should provide accessible resources for students and staff to voice their concerns. Making processes for reporting easier and accessible is necessary to guarantee social safety. Furthermore, the university should encourage existing initiatives and take more responsibility in addressing current issues. Moreover, we believe that academic freedom is a central element of a socially safe university; researchers should be able to conduct critical research without the interference from supervisors.

3. What is the most important aspect to improve student and staff well-being? What would you want to change?

The university should clearly communicate the wellbeing resources that it has. To provide a healthier environment for both students and staff, the available resources offered by the SSC and the university should be centrally communicated better to students. Features like a central wellbeing portal and a flowchart are examples to ensure this centralized communication. Faculties can learn from each other about decentralized well-being resources, they should make use of grassroots initiatives started by students. We believe that student-wellbeing is elementary to a healthy university experience, therefore the university should enable a healthy work-life balance for students.

4. To what extent should the RUG enable flex-study? And what would that look like in practice?

We don’t believe the flex-study measure to be beneficial for the development of students in their academic abilities. However, giving students more freedom within their programme and incorporating more interdisciplinary educational opportunities could allow for more accessible education. 

1. How should the UG contribute to the fight against climate change? 

Climate change should be discussed at a central level and included in all decision-making. The UG can do this now by working towards achieving the goals and ambitions outlined in the Sustainability Roadmap 2021-2026. Before the current Sustainability Roadmap expires, preparations must be made for a new, even more, ambitious Sustainability Roadmap for the period from 2026 onwards.  

As part of its social responsibility and role model function, the UG should choose sustainable research partners and avoid/terminate cooperation with non-sustainable partners.  

Besides formulating and committing to new ambitions and goals, the UG, in the coming years, can work on raising awareness around sustainability by organising activities and sharing knowledge and information. Projects the RUG can pursue are making canteens and catering more sustainable and technological innovations such as smart buildings.   

In the field of education and research, the RUG must be aware of its impact: we educate students and researchers who are aware of sustainability issues and have the capacity to think and work in an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary way.

2. What should the university do to ensure academic freedom and social safety?

The RUG should change its power structures and relations, such that there is more balance in the relationship between employee on the one hand and employer/manager on the other. 

The RUG should strive for research autonomy: under no circumstances should a line manager alone determine a researcher's research theme for current and future research. Within a research group, the research agenda can be set by consensus. 

The RUG should ensure that evaluations depend less on external exposure and more on internal matters (should be about intrinsic quality of the work done and not on extrinsic successes (publications, grants).

3. What is the most important aspect to improve student and staff well-being? What would you want to change?

The RUG should ensure clear and unambiguous points of contact within faculties. RUG-wide confidants sometimes feel far away, especially for students. 

Wherever possible, the RUG should optimally facilitate students in their studies and encourage mutual community-building. 

The RUG should strive to make employees feel more secure by balancing power structures (see also 2).

4. What can be done about workload within the university?

The RUG should increase the teaching time staff members receive for lectures.

The RUG should include funding as a separate task, for which task hours are also given by default. 

The RUG should take on more permanent staff: constantly appointing temporary staff means a huge extra effort in terms of training, drawing up contracts, constant supervision of new staff, etc. Permanent staff only need to be trained once.  

The RUG should ensure that extra funds for lecturers (and/or researchers) end up there, and not disappear into bureaucracy; towards a flatter organisation with more horizontal career paths. At the same time, the RUG should make the job structure more transparent: offering a clear view of the possibilities within that career and more permanent appointments after obtaining a PhD or BKO.

1. How should the RUG contribute to the fight against climate change?

The Independent Student stands for a sustainable and green university. We believe that the RUG, in addition to its great expertise, should also contribute to solving the climate problem. That is why we propose the following action points: more solar panels where possible, more trees on location, a less energy-wasting heating system, leaving fewer unnecessary lamps and computers on and finally, we want a discount on coffee for people who bring their own mug.

2. What should the university do to ensure academic freedom and social safety?

The university has several places where students and staff can go if they need help after experiencing undesirable behavior from others. Nevertheless, there has been a lot of unrest among students and staff recently about the theme of social safety and academic freedom. That is why students, staff and the board must talk to each other about what can be done better. The Independent Student also thinks that the aid agencies should also become more visible. We also need to enter into a discussion about the culture at our university, which can often lead to undesirable behaviour.

3. What is the most important aspect to improve student and staff well-being? What would you want to change?

The Independent Student believes that the sense of community is one of the most important aspects that ensures well-being among students and staff. The university is a place where you make friends and learn from each other. That is why The Independent Student is in favor of strengthening the first-year mentorship. It would also be nice if there was a small bar in the new harmony building.

4. To what extent should the RUG enable flex-study? And what would that look like in practice?

The Independent Student is the party for a more flexible university. That is why we believe that the university should make flexible studying possible as much as possible. Students experience a lot of stress because they feel obliged to earn extra money and because they are busy building a CV for after their studies. That is why flexible studying must be possible. In our opinion, for example, the university should offer courses separately. This means that you pay per subject and not per (half) year. We also believe that compulsory homework should be abolished and that all lectures should be uploaded just before the exam period.

1. How should the RUG contribute to the fight against climate change? 

Climate change should be discussed at a central level and included in all decision-making. The UGcan do this now by working towards achieving the goals and ambitions outlined inthe Sustainability Roadmap 2021-2026. Before the current Sustainability Roadmap expires, preparations must be made for a new, even more, ambitious Sustainability Roadmap for the period from 2026 onwards. 

 As part of its social responsibility and role model function, the UG should choose sustainable research partners and avoid/terminate cooperation with non-sustainable partners. 

 Besides formulating and committing to new ambitions and goals, the UG, in the coming years, can work on raising awareness around sustainability by organising activities and sharing knowledge and information. Projects the RUG can pursue are making canteens and catering more sustainable and technological innovations such as smart buildings.  

 In the field of education and research, the RUG must be aware of its impact: we educate students and researchers who are aware of sustainability issues and have the capacity to think and work in an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary way.

 2. What should the university do to ensure academic freedom and social safety?

The RUG should change its power structures and relations, such that there is more balance in the relationship between employee on the one hand and employer/manager on the other.

The RUG should strive for research autonomy: under no circumstances should a line manager alone determine a researcher's research theme for current and future research. Within a research group, the research agenda can be set by consensus.

The RUG should ensure that evaluations depend less on external exposure and more on internal matters (should be about intrinsic quality of the work done and not on extrinsic successes (publications, grants).

3. What is the most important aspect to improve student and staff well-being? What would you like to change?

The RUG should ensure clear and unambiguous points of contact within faculties. RUG-wide confidants sometimes feel far away, especially for students.

Wherever possible, the RUG should optimally facilitate students in their studies and encourage mutual community-building.

The RUG should strive to make employees feel more secure by balancing power structures (see also 2).

4. What can be done about workload within the university?

The RUG should increase the teaching time staff members receive for lectures.

The RUG should include funding as a separate task, for which task hours are also given by default.

The RUG should take on more permanent staff: constantly appointing temporary staff means a huge extra effort in terms of training, drawing up contracts, constant supervision of new staff, etc. Permanent staff only need to be trained once. 

The RUG should ensure that extra funds for lecturers (and/or researchers) end up there, and not disappear into bureaucracy; towards a flatter organisation with more horizontal career paths. At the same time, the RUG should make the job structure more transparent: offering a clear view of the possibilities within that career and more permanent appointments after obtaining a PhD or BKO.

1. How should the RUG contribute to the fight against climate change?  

The RuG needs to insulate its buildings better, heat smartly, use grey water for flushing toilets, generate its own energy, and use energy economically.  Unfortunately, we also have to consider the effects of extreme weather: heat, drought and extra precipitation. The RuG should therefore green roofs, install sunshades, and replace paving with gardens with trees.

2. What should the university do to ensure academic freedom and social safety?

Academic freedom, according to UNESCO, is the right of teachers and researchers to enjoy, without restriction by prescribed doctrine, the freedom to teach, discuss, conduct research, disseminate and publish its results, express their opinions about the institution or system within which they work, remain immune from institutional censorship, and participate in professional and representative academic bodies. Unfortunately, there is a lack of proper legislation to guarantee this right. The right is structurally under pressure due to short-term contracts and dependency on a supervisor or promoter.  Problems surrounding the exercise of academic freedom therefore sometimes seamlessly spill over into misconduct or integrity issues in practice. To address this, we propose the following:

• More job security: In terms of career prospects and working conditions, employees should receive equal treatment.

• R&O interviews should be done in the presence of an independent HR officer.

• Less misuse of positions: Give promotion rights to experienced UDs and UHDs.

3. What is the most important aspect to improve student and staff welfare? What would you like to change?

Less bureaucracy for teachers and researchers. They are professionals and should be able to work in an organisation where core academic values come into their own. 

4. What can be done about the workload within the university? 

The university needs to sustainably improve the number of available lecturers in relation to the number of students. The academic year should be shorter and no classes or exams should be scheduled during autumn and spring holidays.

1. How should the RUG contribute to the fight against climate change?

By means of relevant research and development of appropriate technologies, as well as relevant courses and outreach to society in this area.

2. What should the university do to ensure academic freedom and social safety?

There is a need for information and examples of what these concepts actually mean en what the good practices are. The university can initiate discussions and organise workshops guided by experts.

3. What is the most important aspect to improve student and staff welfare? What would you like to change?

Regarding employees:

• We do not need more students, we need better students.

• The quality of research publications is more important than their number.

• Over time research success will be measured by the quality of achieved results, not by the amount of obtained funding.

• Work is just one aspect of the overall balance sheet of quality of life. Do not forget family, friends hobbies and holidays!

• We urgently need a digital detox. Stop the flood of work email, limit the social media use!

• Make work a source of positive emotions and experiences!

4. What can be done about the workload within the university?

Here are some urgently needed actions:

• We do not need more students, we need better students.

• The quality of research publications is more important than their number.

• Over time research success will be measured by the quality of achieved results, not by the amount of obtained funding.

• Work is just one aspect of the overall balance sheet of quality of life. Do not forget family, friends hobbies and holidays!

• We urgently need a digital detox. Stop the flood of work email, limit the social media use!

• Make work a source of positive emotions and experiences!

From April 18, 2023 you will find information about the candidates below.

From March 23 to April 12, 2023, candidates can complete their candidate profile.