Introduction to University Politics
University politics? What does that actually mean? Who decides what? At first, all of this seems a bit confusing. However, since students have a lot of say, you should know roughly what each committee is about.
Why is it important?
You have the opportunity to participate in the department's decision-making process, which directly affects you and your degree programme, or even to vote in the student parliament (StuPa) on life and learning on campus for all 34,000 students. The General Student Committee (AStA) is the "government" of the student body, so to speak, and is always happy to hear from committed students.
How to participate:
A good way to start is to get a feel for the various committees through the student council. And when you realise that this is something for you... who knows, maybe the future AStA chairperson is reading this.
About the pages below
Two councils organise life in the department: The Student Council and the Department Council. The Student Council, that's us, who own this homepage. We introduce ourselves on the pages. The Student Council is elected by the Student Assembly, which we introduce on the following page. The department council elects the dean's office, i.e. the management of the department, which includes research and teaching in equal measure. You can find this and all the associated committees on the next pages. The last page briefly deals with the structures of the entire university.