Our latest and possibly our greatest blog, (so far) is about the Governing Student Bodies at Campus Fryslân. Sometimes, when trying to understand university or faculty politics, it can be very confusing and not so transparent regarding who is responsible for what. Thus, the governing bodies themselves wanted to write a blog to explain to you all, who they are and what they are responsible for doing at Campus Fryslân. 

Being a member of two of the student bodies, I wanted to help share our main goal; to make things more transparent for students, helping them to understand better and become more easily involved. We hope this helps you in understanding who we are and what functions we have.

Student Assessor 

The student assessor for the academic year 2020 to 2021 is Hannah Huber. This means she is working as an advisor to the Faculty Board. The Faculty Board consists of the Dean - Andrej Zwitter, the Managing Director - Piet Bouma, the Secretaries - Juliette Wiersma and Paula Schuit  and a student member - the student assessor. They all meet on a weekly basis. Hannah keeps the Faculty Board up to date about Campus Fryslân’s students needs, challenges and wishes but also gives advice on policymaking or other student related matters. Simultaneously she communicates and explains decisions, strategies and policies to the other student bodies and student population. Essentially, the student assessor is the bridge between students and the Faculty Board. 

Hannah not only joins the Faculty Board meetings but also many of their other meetings. Such as formal and informal meetings where the Faculty Board is expected to be present, or where the insight of a student assessor on student affairs and/or educational policy is necessary. As student assessor she also meets with other bodies, such as the study association, the programme director or educational policy advisor. The student assessor is also part of the Committee of Assessors (CvA), which consists of all faculties' student assessor which meets weekly to discuss University of Groningen related topics and to keep each other informed. As one of Hannah’s projects she originated a working group on Mental Health and is in the process of setting up a buddy system. She is also part of the Diversity, Inclusion and Equity working group as well as of the Corona Taskforce. You can always approach her in person, via email or message with any questions!

Faculty Council 

The faculty council consists of three staff members and three student members. The staff members are Amaranta Luna [chairperson], Engelien Reitsma and Berfu Unal. The student members are Sinead Walsh [vice-chairperson, MSc Sustainable Entrepreneurship], Max Eisenbart [BSc Global Responsibility & Leadership], Lina Al Najar [BSc Global Responsibility & Leadership] and Lise Beumeler [advisory role and PhD Candidate]. 

The role of the faculty council is to be the voice of students for faculty-related issues. Four times a year, after each block we as the Faculty Council organise both a student and staff forum. The purpose of the forum is for students to give us their feedback on the previous block. 

PhD Council

The PhD Council of Campus Fryslân was established with the goal to improve the quality of PhD training and supervision. The PhD Council represents the PhD candidates of Campus Fryslân before the Graduate School [GSCF] and external organisations. It also distributes relevant information to PhDs, and can be confidentially consulted by PhDs regarding their work and status at the faculty. In addition, the council organises social events to facilitate social interaction between the PhD candidates and community building in Campus Fryslân. Currently, the council consists of five PhD students: Bram van Vulpen [chairperson], Clarisse Kraamwinkel [vice-chairperson and academic officer], Lise Beumeler [PhD advisor and faculty council], Taís Blauth [social officer] and Alex Belloir [social officer].

Study Association

Nobis Cura Futuri (NCF) is the official study association of Campus Fryslân. The association is independent of the university in contrast to most other student bodies and it is open for Bachelor's, Master’s and PhD students to join. NCF is built on a “from the students, for the students” basis and is responsible for organising academia, professional or socially related activities. The Association is managed by the board consisting of Nick Baumgart [Chair], Evy de Joode [Internal Affairs Officer], Duco Pietjou [External Affairs Officer], Nienke Horinga [Treasurer] and Lena Rester [Secretary]. 

Next to the board the main elements and the most important parts are the committees in which students can become active in their field of interest and organise events and meetings for members of the study association. 

For a list of all committees and general questions you can always approach us when you see us or via email: secretary sa-ncf.com and if you have not signed up yet make sure to do so!

Programme Committees

There is a Programme Committee [PC] for each of the programs that are being taught at Campus Fryslân. The Programme Committee [PC] is responsible for ensuring the quality of education and consists of an equal number of staff and students. But what does that mean? For the Bachelors and Master’s Programmes, the Programme Committee collects feedback through the course evaluations at the end of each term and through feedback received from emails, messages and conversations with students and staff at Campus Fryslân. 

For the year 2020-2021, the Global Responsibility & Leadership [GRL] Programme Committee consists of Dr. Ofer Engel, Dr. Élise Rouméas and Dr. Tabish U. Ansari, as the staff section. The student section consists of, Lotte Kallio and Lena Rester represent the 2nd year students and Mariana Ferreira da Silva is the representative of the 1st year students. We meet once per term to discuss the feedback and how the courses can be improved. This year, we are focusing on escalating action points to concretely improve the GRL programme. 

We can always be reached, either on WhatsApp or by emailing l.kallio student.rug.nl, l.m.rester student.rug.nl or m.ferreira.da.silva.venancio student.rug.nl, we are always open to hearing your feedback!

For the academic year 2020-2021, the Masters Sustainable Entrepreneurship [SE] Programme Committee consists of three students and three staff members. The staff that are on the committee are Dr. Emma Folmer, dr. Maaike de Jong and Hellen Dawo. The student sections consists of Sinead Walsh, Nynke de Graaf and Svenja Sendelbach. Much like the bachelors programme committee, we meet four times a year to discuss feedback from students and how we can improve the programme.

The Programme Committee gives advice on how to improve and assure the quality of the degree programme. With regard to the Teaching and Examination Regulations [TER], the PC has the right to advise on a large section of the regulations, and the right to consent on a number of articles. The PC is also responsible for annually assessing the execution of the TER. The Programme Committee reports to the Faculty Board via the annual report.