On Oct. 12, 2022, the VS Council met for the 80th time. New and old familiar faces met to kick off the 2022/23 Council term. After the initial update on current university events, this meeting was primarily about distributing VS positions for the coming year. As a result, we are proud to introduce our new VS Board of Directors and your contacts.
Foyer of the Media University, 06.10.2022, 19:00: The turbulent first week started for our chickens with first mass, introductory events and chick cinema. The crowning finale was our Kückennacht, which was put together by numerous helpers.
Last week, from Sept. 28 – Sept. 30, 2022, the VS retreat was held. This brought together members of the past and future VS Council to prepare for the upcoming term.
The retreat was used to prepare prospective VS members for their future work, with the outgoing board under board chair Franziska Roth in particular explaining their duties and positions and sharing valuable experiences.
In addition, the meeting dealt with the development of relevant university-political topics for the upcoming period – in particular, the university’s handling of the current energy crisis, as well as digital accessibility on the university websites were addressed and intensively discussed.
Of course, the retreat also served to get to know each other – entertainment and fun were not neglected. Whether it was cooking or playing games together, none of the participants left the conference without having had a good time and making friends.
On 04.09.2022 the meeting of the Landes-Asten-Konferenz (LAK) took place at the Hochschule der Medien. Among the 22 attendees were also our networking officer Julian Schmoll and Svea Brun from the networking team. We would like to summarize the most important topics in this article.
The State Asten Conference has decided to support the positioning paper on the statewide semester ticket. This can be found here.
The starting point for the decision is the inter-transportation youth ticket presented at the end of November 2021 at a price of 365€, which is to be available from 01.03.2023. Entitled all under 21-jähirgen, as well as Schüler:innen, apprentices, Freiwilligendienstleistende and students up to 27 years.
The Working Group Statewide Semester Ticket welcomes the introduction of the youth ticket, but the currently planned implementation is considered insufficient for reasons of age discrimination, price increase of existing semester tickets and with regard to the successor solution of the 9 € ticket.
The state student representation would like to initiate a campaign, the implementation should be carried out by the executive board and the speakers as well as the universities themselves.
The first draft of this campaign will be presented at the next meeting.
The background to this will be topics such as second tuition fees, tuition fees for non-EU citizens, and the financial situation of students.
The representatives:inside of the University of Ulm have reacted to the concept from the MWK earlier this year. This concept includes 28 million euros to be used by colleges and universities to alleviate pandemic-related learning backlogs.
The statement criticizes the basic principle as well as the practical implementation. On the one hand, there is a lack of specifications for which expenditures the funds can be explicitly used, and on the other hand, the funds cannot be used meaningfully across years. There is an explicit wish for improvement here.
Amendment of the LHG with regard to mental illnesses
The Equality Unit has submitted a motion to recognize any mental illness in the State Higher Education Act.
Through this motion, the Department for Equality and the Executive Board of the State Student Council are tasked with bringing about an amendment to the State Higher Education Act. The background is that mental illnesses are not sufficiently recognized in the LHG. This includes, for example, the anchoring of psychogenic reactions to the examination process as well as anxiety disorders. Affected persons should receive adequate compensation possibilities and also be able to withdraw from examinations in an orderly manner.
Modification of structures for compensation for disadvantages
Furthermore, the Department for Equal Opportunity and the Executive Board of the State Student Representative Council are charged with creating structures (at the state and university level) that ensure that disadvantage compensation for students is complete, adequate and sustainable, and that application procedures are standardized.
These disadvantage compensations concern students with disabilities, chronic illnesses or other mental/physical limitations. The goal is for the state government to provide legal security for those affected and to communicate guidelines to any higher education institutions to support students.
To celebrate the successful term, to thank for the good cooperation and to welcome parts of the new council, the VS council organized a semester closing event for all new members and initiatives on 20.07.2022. In the courtyard of the HdM, everyone had the opportunity to exchange ideas outside of the council meetings and enjoy pizza and soft drinks in a cozy atmosphere. Despite rain showers, the event was a success and resulted in a karaoke party with surprise guests.
With the party was also our “new” mascot Gustav. This presented itself proudly to the former and new council members and said goodbye to his old feather dress.
The nomination period is over, the nominees have been determined. You can find out this year’s candidates for Faculty Councils & Co. on our overview page.
Now your vote is needed! From Wednesday, June 15, 2022 (9 a.m.), until Wednesday, June 22, 2022 (3 p.m.), you can vote online on the election portal. Login to the portal using your normal HdM abbreviation and password. Good to know: You have as many votes as there are electoral members to be elected and one vote can be cast per candidate (no accumulation of votes). You don’t have to cast all votes.
And as always: make the VS YOUR student representation.
It’s time: the nomination phase for the committee elections starts today! You can run for VS Council, your Faculty Council, and Senate. The nomination period is from May 20, 2022 to May 31, 2022 and runs through this portal: https://onlinewahl.hdm-stuttgart.de. In the committees, you can actively participate in shaping the university and not only get to know the university better, but also meet a lot of cool people! All further information about the committee elections can be found here: https://vs-hdm.de/wahlen
And do not forget: Whether by election or nomination, make the Verfasste Studierendenschaft YOUR student representation 🙂.
Equality is a very important topic for us! Therefore, we would like to draw your attention to our survey here as well.
It is very quick and of course anonymous. Your answers will help our Equality Team to represent your views and interests to the university management.We thank you for any input and are looking forward to making the university climate more pleasant for everyone through your voice.
To participate in the survey, please click here.
July 21, 2022, the 27th BaföG Amendment Act was passed. Here is an overview of all the important changes.