{"id":4040,"date":"2016-04-26T12:53:31","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T11:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2016\/04\/26\/campus-talk-dit-is-waarom-studenten-welniet-gaan-stemmen-voor-de-u-raad\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:14","slug":"campus-talk-dit-is-waarom-studenten-welniet-gaan-stemmen-voor-de-u-raad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2016\/04\/26\/campus-talk-dit-is-waarom-studenten-welniet-gaan-stemmen-voor-de-u-raad\/","title":{"rendered":"Campus Talk: This is why students will be voting\/not voting for the U Council"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJob Zomerplaag<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

You can vote for the University and Faculty Advisory Boards. An online rush of voters is not anticipated: just 22 per cent of the over 23 thousand EUR students felt it necessary to do this last year. <\/a>Per faculty during the 2015 elections this lay between 7.56 (RS) and 15.97 per cent (FSW).<\/p>\n

In three faculties, voting isn\u2019t even necessary; the number of applicants in these faculties is lower or equal to the number of available seats. ESHCC students don\u2019t even have a choice: not one single student was prepared to stand as candidate. Students entitled to vote can do this online until 27 April. The turnout: EM<\/em> talked with enthusiastic voters and<\/em> students who are not going to vote. What are their reasons?<\/p>\n

Jan Radermacher (22), student of Econometric, Econometrics, Economy and Business Economics, is going to vote<\/h3>
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\u201cI was in the University Advisory Board two years ago. I was mainly involved in \u2018the backroom politics\u2019, something that does exist in the university world, and the foundation of the successful Erasmus Language Sharing<\/em> project. Not all my colleagues in the board were so enthusiastic about it. For three-quarters of them, the fee turned out to be a perverse incentive, which is an incredible shame, because you are really listened to. I would like to offer someone else the opportunity and that\u2019s why I voted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maxime de Winter (22), student Psychology, is going to vote<\/h3>
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\u201cA friend of mine has decided to stand as candidate for the Faculty Advisory Board. I\u2019ve already voted for her, but not yet for the University Advisory Board. As education commissioner in my faculty association, I see how important it is to be involved in university policy. An involved student can actually directly influence the way in which his or her study is taught. The majority of students are unaware of this, and this also explains the low turnout at the university advisory board elections. They hear the word \u2018U Council\u2019 come up now and then, but they\u2019re mostly unaware of what this council actually means for students. If there was more personal contact between council members and students, there could be more enthusiasm for this. I did consider putting myself forward as candidate. I\u2019m now sorry that I didn\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeroen Belderok (23), master\u2019s student of Business Law, will not be voting<\/h3>
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\u201cThe last time I voted for the University Advisory Board was in my third year. If I\u2019m honest I couldn\u2019t say whether the candidate was elected in the end. I\u2019m now in my sixth year at this university and I\u2019ve more or less seen it all. So I\u2019m not going to vote. If I vote, I want to have read up on this thoroughly and I\u2019ve not done that. The university and its communication channels pay little attention to the elections and students don\u2019t feel very much involved in the university\u2019s policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mel Schickel (25), student History, will not be able to vote <\/h3>
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\u201cI would like to vote, but can\u2019t because there are no candidates on my faculty\u2019s list. As member of the Faculty Advisory Board I find that a real pity. It was actually our task to find a successor to the current representative. We were not successful in this and this was partly to do with the time that you have to spend in the University Advisory Board over the year. What\u2019s more, students today are only at the same university for around three years. By the time you\u2019ve realised that things can be done differently, you\u2019re studying in another city. Giving students a voice in university policy is good, but I also see it as a bargaining chip. We\u2019re given more voice, while at the same time there are huge cutbacks in our education. More voice for less education. As students, are we actually part of the academic world or are we seen more as customers in the eyes of the administrators?\u201d<\/p>\n

Frank Smitshoek (24), master\u2019s student of Labour Law, will be voting<\/h3>
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\u201cI voted for the person that I trust the most. That is Koen Olivier, who I know well because of my work at the Legal Faculty Association. All candidates want the same thing and there\u2019s nobody with any really original views. Giving lectures online for example; this has been a stance of university advisory board candidates since I started studying. And yet I will be voting. If you don\u2019t vote you achieve absolutely nothing. The slow university structure and the dull character of the University Advisory Board mean that few students put themselves forward as candidate, never mind vote. A big promotional campaign and giving candidates the opportunity to pitch their ideas could improve the image. All that spam on Facebook is just a waste of time.\u201d<\/p>\n\t

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Are you following a study programme at Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus School of Law, Rotterdam School of Management or the Faculty of Social Sciences? You can still vote for the University and Faculty Advisory Board until Thursday 28 April: www.eur.nl\/stem<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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