{"id":195641,"date":"2026-02-04T10:31:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T09:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2026\/02\/04\/broad-rotterdam-student-council-has-first-months-behind-it-we-are-now-really-taking-part-at-city-level\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T10:31:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T09:31:22","slug":"broad-rotterdam-student-council-has-first-months-behind-it-we-are-now-really-taking-part-at-city-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2026\/02\/04\/broad-rotterdam-student-council-has-first-months-behind-it-we-are-now-really-taking-part-at-city-level\/","title":{"rendered":"Broad Rotterdam Student Council has first months behind it: \u2018We are now really taking part at city level\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Broad Rotterdam Student Council has completed its first steps. The students are expected to provide aldermen with advice, both solicited and unsolicited. Lourdes Wansink Manglano, Manuela Bartolovic and Dogukan Demirbuken are council members on behalf of the university. \u201cI hope we can give something back to Rotterdam.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Council members Lourdes Wansink Manglano, Manuela Bartolovic and Dogukan Demirbuken.<\/p>

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The Broad Rotterdam Student Council, or BRS as the council members themselves call it, was installed in September 2025. The council consists of 21 students from vocational education (mbo), universities of applied sciences (hbo) and universities, representing eleven of the city\u2019s thirteen educational institutions. The aim is to involve students in municipal decision-making and to level the playing field between vocational, applied sciences and university students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are now really taking part at city level\u201d, says third-year Public Administration student Dogukan Demirbuken. Over the past few months, the students have been working together with policy adviser. Demirbuken worked with a staff member on the findability and accessibility of mental health support for students. \u201cI thought: wow, we are actually talking directly with a municipal policy adviser now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The council members are divided into six committees, such as \u2018innovative and sustainable Rotterdam education policy\u2019, \u2018student life\u2019 and \u2018diversity and inclusion\u2019. Over the past few months, they have been working on plans and objectives within their respective themes. These will be presented this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student wellbeing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Dogukan Demirbuken considers \u2018student wellbeing and support\u2019 to be important, which includes physical safety.<\/p>

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Demirbuken considers his theme, \u2018student wellbeing and support\u2019, to be important: \u201cYour student years are supposed to be the best time of your life.\u201d But he sees around him that students are under a lot of pressure, for example during exam periods. \u201cThe atmosphere in the university library really changes. I find it intense that students experience so much stress that they develop mental problems.\u201d For him, wellbeing also includes physical safety. \u201cThe campus is open until late. Students need to feel safe when walking to the tram or metro in the evening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lourdes Wansink Manglano, a third-year International Psychology student, has joined the same committee. \u201cThis topic is very close to my heart.\u201d She sees a lot of loneliness around her. \u201cAt university you don\u2019t have, as in vocational or applied sciences education, a fixed class. Making friends can then be very difficult.\u201d She is also part of the committee on innovative and sustainable Rotterdam education policy. There, the students mainly focus on AI, \u2018and how we find the balance\u2019 between how AI can help education or, on the contrary, hinder students\u2019 development, Wansink Manglano explains. \u201cWe are planning, for example, to place the AI regulations of all educational institutions side by side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advice to the municipality<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The students on the council, many of whom come from participation councils at their own institutions, will soon be advising aldermen on all kinds of issues that matter to students. An alderman can approach the council for advice, but the students are also allowed to present advice themselves, unsolicited, to a relevant alderman. The alderman must then consider it, explains Jeroen Jongejan, who supports the council on behalf of the Municipality of Rotterdam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vice-chair of the council Manuela Bartolovic.<\/p>

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\u201cI wanted to get a taste of municipal work\u201d, says Manuela Bartolovic, who studies History and Psychology. She is vice-chair of the council and oversees two committees (student wellbeing and support, and innovative and sustainable Rotterdam education policy). She acts as the point of contact between the council members in those committees and Jeroen Jongejan from the municipality. She continues: \u201cSoon the lines between educational institutions, policy officers and the BRS will be much shorter. I think that\u2019s when we can really make an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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Een lijst met artikelen<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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