Wina's responsibilities go beyond providing recreational activities to its students. We also represent our students through the different administrative bodies! To shine a light on the student representation side of our day-to-day workings, we would like to introduce you to these bodies and councils, what our role as student representatives is and lift the curtain on what Wina does behind the scenes.
The KU Leuven (together with its partners like Alma and Acco) has a lot of councils where various matters are discussed. Topics range from determining the course of each individual study program (which courses should be taught in which phase of the program, which courses should be added/removed/revamped/...), the sustainability policy of each faculty, the prices of food and beverages in the different Almas or the course material at Acco, the quality control on dormitories and so much more
These topics have a direct influence on the academic and personal life of the students. Therefor, each council has a few seats reserved for student representatives, called 'StuVers'. They voice the opinion of the students they represent and take part in the council meetings to make sure that opinion is heard. Their vote aims at defending the common interest of the students and aims at protecting their rights and preferences.
With the 'what' and the 'why' clarified, let's take a look at how we manage to achieve this; Let's start by taking a look at the different bodies that our StuVers actively participate in:
- (P)OC
The lowest level of representation happens on the level of each individual study program. This happens in the (P)OC, short for ‘(Permanente) OnderwijsCommissie’ in Dutch. This council guards the quality of the education of each study program, so every study program is covered by a (P)OC. You might hear our StuVers talk about the POC Mathematics, POC Fysics, POC Informatics and OC astronomy to name a few. - Departement
On a broader scale, students are also represented in the council of your department (departementsraad). This body deals with the more administrative decisions of running a departement. It allocates funding to different research groups, renovation projects, development projects and so forth.
Curious about your current representatives? Look at your StuVers! These student representatives meet as part of the OnderwijsWerkGroep (OWG) of Wina to gather the opinion of the students, prepare themselves for upcoming meetings.
Get to know more about OWG and different councils at OWG & The Wina Stuvers!
If you are interested or have questions about being a student representative you are welcome to send an email to onderwijs@wina.be
Additionally, there are extra councils that deal with faculty/university-wide topics. Some of our StuVers also take part in these meetings to yet again defend the opinion and interests of the students. Only StuVers who have been elected for a (P)OC or department position are eligible to represent students in these additional councils.
Oor
On oor.scientica.be/en there is information about what it means to be a student representative in a (Permanent) Education Committee. OOR itself is an acronym for the Overarching Education Council (= Overkoepelende OnderwijsRaad in Dutch). This is a council that consists of student representatives from the whole faculty (ranging from biology to informatics). In this council we discuss matters that are relevant to the whole faculty. OOR also needs officials for several purposes: diversity, internationals and sustainability. Important topics that are discussed in the OOR assembly are usually the notas that are going to appear at the student-wide level (= the student council). Here we prepare the statements coming from our students. OOR assemblies are always held on Wednesdays (every two weeks) at 8pm.
StuRa
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, there exists an assembly called the Student Council. As you probably might guess, this assembly consists of students from the whole university. Every two weeks, on a Friday, all the student representatives that represent their faculty come and hold an assembly to talk about all the high-level topics that concern every student. If this is your first experience with student representation, I would highly advise you to start at the level of your degree or in the faculty. You can find more information on the website of the Student Council.
LOKO
Last but not least we have LOKO. This is essentially the same level as the Student Council, only this time it's about the 'living' part of being a student (as opposed to the 'learning' part). You as a student are represented in this assembly by the board of directors from Wina. In this assembly a wide range of matters are discussed: Alma prices, public transport deals for students, sports, mental health, ... If you want to know more, you can always visit their website!
Wina's responsibilities go beyond providing recreational activities to its students. We also represent our students through the different administrative bodies! To shine a light on the student representation side of our day-to-day workings, we would like to introduce you to these bodies and councils, what our role as student representatives is and lift the curtain on what Wina does behind the scenes.
The KU Leuven (together with its partners like Alma and Acco) has a lot of councils where various matters are discussed. Topics range from determining the course of each individual study program (which courses should be taught in which phase of the program, which courses should be added/removed/revamped/...), the sustainability policy of each faculty, the prices of food and beverages in the different Almas or the course material at Acco, the quality control on dormitories and so much more
These topics have a direct influence on the academic and personal life of the students. Therefor, each council has a few seats reserved for student representatives, called 'StuVers'. They voice the opinion of the students they represent and take part in the council meetings to make sure that opinion is heard. Their vote aims at defending the common interest of the students and aims at protecting their rights and preferences.
With the 'what' and the 'why' clarified, let's take a look at how we manage to achieve this; Let's start by taking a look at the different bodies that our StuVers actively participate in:
- (P)OC
The lowest level of representation happens on the level of each individual study program. This happens in the (P)OC, short for ‘(Permanente) OnderwijsCommissie’ in Dutch. This council guards the quality of the education of each study program, so every study program is covered by a (P)OC. You might hear our StuVers talk about the POC Mathematics, POC Fysics, POC Informatics and OC astronomy to name a few. - Departement
On a broader scale, students are also represented in the council of your department (departementsraad). This body deals with the more administrative decisions of running a departement. It allocates funding to different research groups, renovation projects, development projects and so forth.
Curious about your current representatives? Look at your StuVers! These student representatives meet as part of the OnderwijsWerkGroep (OWG) of Wina to gather the opinion of the students, prepare themselves for upcoming meetings.
Get to know more about OWG and different councils at OWG & The Wina Stuvers!
If you are interested or have questions about being a student representative you are welcome to send an email to onderwijs@wina.be
Additionally, there are extra councils that deal with faculty/university-wide topics. Some of our StuVers also take part in these meetings to yet again defend the opinion and interests of the students. Only StuVers who have been elected for a (P)OC or department position are eligible to represent students in these additional councils.
Oor
On oor.scientica.be/en there is information about what it means to be a student representative in a (Permanent) Education Committee. OOR itself is an acronym for the Overarching Education Council (= Overkoepelende OnderwijsRaad in Dutch). This is a council that consists of student representatives from the whole faculty (ranging from biology to informatics). In this council we discuss matters that are relevant to the whole faculty. OOR also needs officials for several purposes: diversity, internationals and sustainability. Important topics that are discussed in the OOR assembly are usually the notas that are going to appear at the student-wide level (= the student council). Here we prepare the statements coming from our students. OOR assemblies are always held on Wednesdays (every two weeks) at 8pm.
StuRa
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, there exists an assembly called the Student Council. As you probably might guess, this assembly consists of students from the whole university. Every two weeks, on a Friday, all the student representatives that represent their faculty come and hold an assembly to talk about all the high-level topics that concern every student. If this is your first experience with student representation, I would highly advise you to start at the level of your degree or in the faculty. You can find more information on the website of the Student Council.
LOKO
Last but not least we have LOKO. This is essentially the same level as the Student Council, only this time it's about the 'living' part of being a student (as opposed to the 'learning' part). You as a student are represented in this assembly by the board of directors from Wina. In this assembly a wide range of matters are discussed: Alma prices, public transport deals for students, sports, mental health, ... If you want to know more, you can always visit their website!
