In the Associations’ Council (FR – Fachvereinsrat) 1-2 people (delegates) of the 17 student associations of VSETH meet, having one voting right per student association. In addition, the VSETH board has 1 voting right and is represented most of the time by at least one person per office. We will introduce the individual offices in a future blog post. As needed and wanted, certain Consulting Boards and committees participate without voting rights. The FR meets approximately every 3 weeks, alternating between the Center and the Hönggerberg. The meetings are conducted by the Chair of the Associations’ Council (FR-Präsidium), currently Julia Fähnrich and Leonard Knirsch, who also collect the agenda items (Traktanden) and organize the meeting. In order for the delegates to get to know each other and to exchange informally, the FR-Präsidium also organizes a common dinner (Znacht) before the meeting, as well as a wind-down afterwards. During the meeting strategic and university-political decisions are made, such as how to deal with Covid or a preliminary discussion of the ETH Store strategy. In addition, tasks between the Delegates’ Council (MR – Mitgliederrat) are undertaken, such as interim elections, i.e. provisional elections and appointments of persons who are then confirmed at the next MR, or the review of the work of the Executive Board. Also, the FR is a way to have a say in VSETH as an association and promotes cooperation among the student associations. This includes the provision of money in the FR-pot (FR-Topf) to support joint projects or the discussion of topics that affect all student associations, e.g. purchase of a coffee machine for the student associations on the Hönggerberg or the procedure in grade conferences.
The graphic below shows an overview of the structures in VSETH and may still seem a bit confusing. Therefore, we will take time in the coming weeks to bring you closer to the different bodies and connections in VSETH.
