Co-participation
As a student of Leiden University, you can join a number of co-participation bodies together with university staff members. Co-participation is an important democratic right that enables you to play an active role in university decision-making and advisory processes.
Co-participation bodies
At Leiden University, you can take part in the following co-participation bodies:
University & faculty councils and programme committees
University council and faculty councils are democratically elected co-participation bodies that represent both students and staff of the university and its faculties. Co-participation also takes place at departmental level through programme committees. Learn more about these councils and committees.
Leiden Assessors Committee
The Leiden Assessors Committee (LAssO) is a consultative body made up of the student members of each faculty board.
Leiden University Student Platform
The Leiden University Student Platform (LUS) is a student-led ‘think-tank’ that discusses a wide variety of topics concerning students and annually presents the Leiden Teaching Prize.
University elections
Members of Leiden University’s co-participation bodies are democratically elected during university elections.
Financial support for co-participation
As a reward for your co-participation activities, you may be eligible to request financial support.
- Your faculty assessor has an overview of all student members of faculty co-participation bodies. On the basis of this, the assessor will send recommendations concerning the division of funds between all faculty co-participation body members to the Student and Educational Affairs department (SEA).
- At the end of each co-participation period, SEA will send you a decision award letter stating the number of number of months’ worth of financial support allocated to you.
- Request payment of your allocated financial support by following the procedures on the Board membership page.
Questions?
Questions about requesting financial support for your co-participation body activities? Contact your faculty assessor.
Participate!
In the Faculty of Humanities, students are represented in the following boards and committees: the departmental teaching committee, the department administration ór the institute administration and board, the faculty council and the faculty board. In all these consultation bodies, the student representatives protect the general interests of the students in Humanities.
Departmental boards
Each bachelor’s and each (research) master’s programme has a Departmental Board. The Departmental Board is responsible for the relevant teaching programme, i.e. for designing and implementing the teaching programme. The Board comprises a member of the academic staff as departmental chairman (bachelor’s) or programme coordinator (master’s), generally a professor, and a student from the department in question.
The Departmental Boards for bachelor’s programmes are responsible to the vice-dean, the portfolio-manager for teaching within the Faculty Board. The tasks carried out by the Boards of the master’s programmes fall ultimately within the responsibility of the dean of the Graduate School. This dean is also the dean of the Faculty, and chairman of the Faculty Board.
Departmental Teaching Committee
The faculties have developed a quality assessment system for the purpose of safeguarding the quality of the teaching programmes. The main body involved in this system is the Departmental Teaching Committee. Each programme has its own committee.
You are always free to contact the Departmental Teaching Committee with teaching-related questions or complaints. You can also play a role yourself by becoming a member. As a student member, you can exercise influence on all possible aspects of teaching within your department.
Faculty council
The Faculty Council has approval and advisory rights on a range of faculty matters, including teaching. It operates as the representative of the students and of the scientific and administrative staff with regard to significant decisions. The Faculty Council comprises nine staff members and nine student members, from different parties. More information about the Faculty Council and the issues which are discussed within this body can be found at the Faculty Council website.
Faculty Board
The Faculty Board comprises a dean (responsible for the master’s programmes), a vice-dean (responsible for the bachelor’s programmes and teaching in general), a portfolio-manager (or director) for operational management and a student member (also known as ‘assessor’).
The Board is responsible for the general operational management of the faculty in the field of teaching, research and organisation/operational management. The assessor, a student member, represents the interests of the students within the faculty.
The student member can be found in room 132 of the Lipsius Building, telephone 071-527 2299 or 527 2318 (faculty office). E-mail: assessor@hum.leidenuniv.nl.
Advisory Committee on Teaching
The permanent Advisory Committee on Teaching (Dutch) advises the Faculty Board and the Faculty Council on all matters related to teaching (across departments). This independent committee comprises six staff members (at least one study advisor) and five student members.