Method of working of the Faculty Council

Faculty Council

Method of working of the Faculty Council

Composition of the Faculty Council

The Faculty Council is the official representative advisory body of the faculty. The Faculty Council of the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences consists of nine students and nine staff members. Students are elected for one year, while staff members are chosen for two years. Each section can be composed of several parties. Since 2010, there are two student parties in the Faculty Council, for example. These are: SVGM (Students for BSS), the successors of theprevious student section, and the PSB (Party for student interests), the new student party.

Topics

The Faculty Council discusses all kinds of subjects in the field of education, research, personnel management and finance. There are a number of recurring topics, like the teaching and examination regulations, the multi-year budget, the health, safety and environmental plan and the strategic policy plan of the faculty. Recent examples of topics can be found in the minutes of the Faculty Council.

Council work

Preliminary meeting

The Faculty Council has an official meeting with the Faculty Board and the student representative of the Faculty Board every month. Before this meeting takes place, the chairman and vice-chairman of the Faculty Council and the party chairmen of the student parties set the agenda. This agenda is presented to the Faculty Board. Together, people then decide on the final agenda. During the week previous to the official meeting, both the student parties and the staff section meet separately with their own colleagues; this way they can decide on their position in relation to the various items on the agenda. They then congregate and decide on their standpoint as Faculty Council.

Main meeting

In the week after the preliminary meeting, the official meeting with the Faculty Board – the main meeting – takes place. During this meeting, the Faculty Council enters into a debate with the Faculty Board about the various policy matters that the Board has submitted. Faculty Council members can additionally approach the Board about other matters they consider important, or come up with their own proposals for initiatives.

After meeting

In the week after the main meeting, the student section has another meeting. During this meeting they review the main meeting and they discuss other matters in relation to the Faculty Council.

Workgroups

In addition, the student section often participates in workgroups. These groups focus on a specific topic within the faculty, like for example “Education & Communication” or “Internationalization”. The workgroups meet in the week following on the after meeting. They thoroughly prepare initiative proposals or items for the agenda of the main meeting, and they undertake other activities in relation to the subject of the workgroup.

Jurisdiction of the Faculty Board

The Faculty Council has the right of consent in relation to a part of the teaching and examination regulations (OERen). The OER organizes the structure of a programme and can be found at the back of the study guide. “Right of consent” means that a new OER can only be executed, once the Faculty Council has agreed with it.

The Faculty Council has advisory powers in relation to “matters that concern the continued existence and the proper course of events within the faculty” and the budget. “Advisory powers” or “advisory right” means that the Faculty Board has to ask the Faculty Council for advice and that the Faculty Board has to motivate why they follow up the advice or not.

The right of initiative means that the Faculty Council may lodge its own proposals. The Faculty Board is subsequently obliged to give a reasoned response to the proposal. Often (depending on the topic) the Faculty Council has advisory powers in relation to that response.

Finally, the Faculty Council has the right to information. The Faculty Board has to present all of the available information to the Faculty Council so that they can properly execute their tasks.

Additional

Next to these official matters the Faculty Council does a lot of other things. Many members of the Faculty Council take place in one of the faculty workgroups (see the workgroups of the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences). Councillors also remain in touch with many other interested parties, like the Education Committees, other Faculty Councils, the University Council, staff members from the faculty and the student associations from Psychology (VIP), Sociology (Sociëtas) and Pedagogy and Education (ODIOM).

As membership of the Faculty Council will take a lot of time (about 8 hours per week), all student members will be compensated for possible study delay.