Play an active role in co-participation
Do you want to get involved in the university community whilst working on your personal development? Co-participation is the perfect way to do it.
What are the benefits for you?
- You get to play a role in decisions that affect you as a student
- It’s good for your personal development
- In many cases, you will be eligible for financial compensation
- You can do your bit for the university community
These are the options available
As a student, you can take part in the following university co-participation bodies:
Stand as a candidate
Members of the University Council and faculty councils are chosen every year by way of university elections.
Want to play a role in decisions concerning your study programme? Why not join your programme committee? In general, new members join at the beginning of each academic year. Contact your programme committee for further information.
National student organisations
You could also join one of the national organisations that represent the interests of students, for example the Dutch Student Union (LSVb) or the Dutch National Student Association (ISO).
Student representatives: LLM Advanced Studies programmes
Students following LLM Advanced Studies programmes have access to additional assistance, in the form of their student representative. On this page you can read about what your student representative can do for you, as well as how to become a student representative and the duties involved.
Leiden Law School finds it important that Advanced LLM students have the opportunity to provide input and feedback on their study programmes. In this way, we can continue improving our programmes and enhancing the student experience year on year. Student representatives help to achieve this goal by acting as intermediaries between staff and students on Advanced LLM programmes.
Your student representative can:
- Relay programme-related feedback to staff on behalf of your class as a whole;
- Notify staff of any study-related issues being experienced by multiple classmates;
- Pass on suggestions concerning study and extra-curricular activities on behalf of your class;
- Advise you on setting up study groups and social activities for your class;
- Pass on general requests/advice from lecturers to your class as a whole, for example tips on class preparation and attendance.
Note: that if you are experiencing an issue that does not affect your class in general, for example individual academic or personal difficulties, you should instead speak directly to your programme coordinator.
Why become a student representative?
As a student representative you’ll play an important role for both your fellow students and your programme as a whole. In doing so, you’ll develop skills that will be a great asset to you in later life, such as communication, negotiation, lobbying, problem solving, teamwork and leadership. On top of that, it will look great on your CV and help you boost your professional and social network.
What are your duties as a student representative?
As a student representative you will:
- Act as intermediary between your classmates and programme staff;
- Provide your own feedback and suggestions concerning staff-student communication and the programme in general;
- Contribute to the integration of fellow students, by encouraging study groups and class social activities;
- Be accessible to your classmates, for example via a group app;
- Re-direct students to the appropriate staff member in the case of individual academic or personal issues;
- Assist in coordinating and organising events and workshops for your group;
- Liaise and exchange ideas with student representatives from other Adv. LLM programmes during bi-monthly meetings;
- Draw up an exit report upon completion of your study programme;
- Take a seat in the Programme Advisory Committee.*
* The LLM Advanced Studies programmes have a collective Programme Advisory Committee (PAC), which meets twice a years and consists of both staff and students. The PAC monitors the quality of education, carries out annual assessments, issues advice and audits student feedback.
How to become a student representative
During your programme introduction session, your coordinator will explain the role of student representative and ask students to volunteer for the position by email. Approximately four to six weeks later, once you have got to know each other better, your coordinator will set up an anonymous online pole via Qualtrics, through which your group can indicate its preference for student representative.
Based on the result of the pole, and also taking into account a representative mix of cultures and genders, your coordinator will select two or three student representatives, depending on the size of your class.
After you have been appointed, you will be invited to attend a workshop given by the Office for International Education, to learn about your new role and meet the student representatives from other Adv. LLM programmes.