Departmental council

Many decisions at our university are made by the executive board. Of course, just like the government of the Netherlands, the TU/e decision process is democratic. The University Council (UC) has the right to vote about many of these proposals. However, not all decisions are made at this central level. Education and research are more specific and therefore many decisions are made at the departments themselves. Every department has a so-called ‘Departmental Board’. This board consists of the dean, vice deans, and the managing director. Together with the director of education, they make a lot of decisions about the general order of business in the department. Just like the UC, at central level, the departmental council has an advising and decisive role on the departmental level. The decisions made by the department are more specific and, in our case, are only regarding Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences.

In the departmental council, there are 5 employees and 5 students from the department that are chosen by other employees and students to represent them. The job of the council members is to keep an eye on the board, advise them, and vote about their proposals. You could compare this job with a municipal councilor (gemeenteraadslid). In practice, members share their concerns with the board about problems they see among their colleagues or fellow students, make sure the PER (OER in Dutch) does not disadvantage students, and come up with new ideas the board can use to improve certain things in the department. Briefly, council members stand up for their colleagues and fellow students. 

Seats

At the university, there are several departments. Most of these departments only have one bachelor and a few masters. Or in other words, most departments contain one study program. However, our department is an exception. Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences is divided into two parts. Our part of the department, Innovation Sciences, consists of the following bachelor and master programs: Psychology & Technology, Sustainable Innovation, Human-Technology Interaction, and Innovation Sciences. There are 5 seats in the council and as IE and IS are both in the council these seats are divided between these two. The council members of Innovation Sciences know quite well what’s going on in the different studies of IS whereas the students of IE don’t have any idea what’s going on in our programs.

To make sure that Innovation Sciences students are represented properly in the council, it is important to have as many seats as possible. When there are more seats for Innovation Sciences, there are more IS students and this means that concerns of our students are better heard by the departmental board. Therefore, it is important that we gather enough votes to make sure that we will have 3 or more of these 5 seats. Make sure you and all of your Innovation Science friends vote so we can represent you best!

If you have any questions, remarks or anything else you want to share with the members of the departmental council, please contact us at e.hongens@student.tue.nl!

Ayda Frings:

Hi, I am Ayda Frings and I am part of the department council. I think it is important that our Innovation Sciences students are represented. Decisions made in the council have consequences for the quality of education and the reputation of our whole department, including the Innovation Sciences part. Therefore, I aim to get the best education for all our students, now and in the future. Other topics that are very important to me are student well-being, personal development and sustainability.

Emma Höngens:

My name is Emma Höngens and I am in the departmental council since January 2020. I am in the council to make sure the board makes the right decisions for students. I think the PER is something important in particular. Every July the new PER has to be approved by the departmental council. My main focus is the laws of the PER that are about exams. I want to protect students from more stress around exam periods. Also, I don’t want that students have to wait for more than three weeks for their exam grades, for example. When there is something in the PER that disadvantages students around exam weeks, I advise on adapting these so the board improves this.

Esther Mendel:

I am Esther Mendel, and I also, just like Emma, have been in the departmental council for around a year now. To me, it is important to be extra critical around topics in the council related to student well-being. I think that it is essential that the departmental board is sometimes reminded of the possible consequences of decisions for students. An example of this is the discussion around the (slow) return of students to campus, in which I try to make sure that enough communication is provided to the students about when they can go to campus and how to do this in a safe manner.