Introduction to university policy
University policy? What does that actually mean? Who decides what? It all seems a bit confusing at first. However, as students have a lot of say, you should know roughly what each committee is about.
Why is this important?
On the department side, you can influence things that directly affect you and your degree program or even vote in the student parliament (StuPa) on life and learning on campus for all 32,500 students. The General Students' Committee (AStA) is the "government" of the student body, so to speak, and is always happy to hear from committed students.
How can I take part?
A good start is to get a feel for the various committees through the student council. And if you then realize that this is something for you... who knows, maybe the future AStA chairperson is reading this.
About the following pages
Two councils organize life in the department: The Student Council and the Faculty Council. The student council, that's us, who own this homepage. We introduce ourselves on this page. The Student Representative Council is elected by the Student Representative Assembly, which we introduce on the following page. The Faculty Council elects the Dean's Office, i.e. the management of the department, which includes both research and teaching. You can find this and all the associated committees on the next page. The last page briefly deals with the structures of the entire university.