Student government and participation
On these pages you will find information concerning different representative advisory bodies: the Degree Programme Committee and the University Council. Furthermore you can find information about education quality control.
About
The Utrecht University School of Economics (U.S.E.) has a Degree Programme Committee (DPC) for its Bachelor's programme and one DPC for its Master's programmes programmes. The DPC safeguards the quality of its teaching, addresses any potential bottlenecks and gives advice, asked or unasked, concerning the development and execution of education policy.
For all questions and/or remarks concerning teaching you can contact the members of the DPC by their email address: dpc.Bachelor.use@uu.nl
The DPC is comprised of students and lecturers.
DPC members 2022-2023
Staff members Bachelor:
Dr. Adriaan Kalwij (chair)
Dr. Matthias Boënne
Drs. Jan Renaud
Students Bachelor:
Ada Adler
Mia Findt
Jenna Markovits
Staff members Masters:
Dr. Loek Groot (chair)
Dr. Helen Toxopeus
Dr. Maurizio Montone
Dr. Viteslav Titl
Dr. Emilie Rademakers
Students Masters:
Christos Demostenous
Georga McNally
Laura Egelmeers
Szymon Maszkiewicz
Research Master's members:
The research master is represented by a Programme Degree Committee Research Masters of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance:
Prof. Janneke Gerards (chair person)
Dr. Emilie Rademakers
Elric Tendron
Dr. Eva Knies
Max Vetzo
Laura Egelmeers
The Student Interest Body (StIB) is the committee from study association ECU’92 that consists of all members involved in student representation at U.S.E and the faculty. In this committee we share one goal: “Improving education to the benefit of students”. Although all members have different mandates in different governance bodies, in the StIB we combine all our insights and mandates to analyse points of improvement and achieve common goals.
So if you, as a student, have a matter concerning your courses or other educational matters; we encourage you to contact one of your representatives! If you do not know where your suggestion, complaint or compliment has to go to, send an email to education@ecu92.nl. You can also drop by at the ECU’92 room and talk to the Coordinator of Educational Affairs from the board.
StIB consists of the following students:
- 3 students from the Bachelor Degree Programme Committee
- 1 student from the Pre-Master
- 4 students from the Master Degree Programme Committee
- 3 students from the Faculty Council
- 1 student assessor from the U.S.E. Board
- 1 student from the BUS and GBU
For an up-to-date lists of representatives, please check out the StIB page on ECU’92’s website.
Want to know more about joining student representation yourself? Contact the Coordinator of Educational Affairs of ECU’92.
Education evaluation
Utrecht University School of Economics (U.S.E.) constantly strives to improve the quality of its teaching. To do so, we have a quality control system using course evaluations as well as an evaluation of the entire curriculum.
We use the digital evaluation tool Caracal. At the final lecture, you will be asked to bring your device (laptop, tablet or smartphone) to fill in questions about the course. You will also receive an email invitation, just in case you miss that last lecture. In case the course has a final exam you are invited (by mail) to fill in another shorter evaluation with only exam-related questions.
For the evaluation of the academic programme, we request each graduate to fill in a questionnaire close to graduation.
Anonymity assured
Even though your student number is used to direct you to the right evaluation, rest assured that all your answers are processed strictly anonymously. Neither your lecturers nor U.S.E. staff or Degree Programme Committee will know who provided which answer.
What happens to your feedback?
The course coordinators take the evaluation outcomes into account when making changes in their courses for the next year. They are also asked to reflect upon the results. This reflection is shared with the Bachelor Coordinator, the Board of Undergraduate Studies, and the Degree Programme Committee, so that they may monitor the quality of courses. Each period, a summary of the evaluation results is posted on the blackboard page ‘USE, Results course evaluations’, to which all U.S.E. students and staff have access.
Other evaluation opportunities
Aside from the formal evaluation process, you will also be able to voice your opinion about the programme more informally. Some lecturers hold Course Feedback Groups during the period to gather input for the remainder of the course. If you choose to take part in this, you can have direct impact on your own learning.
Furthermore, the Bachelor Coordinator will give first-year students the opportunity to be part of a panel to discuss courses and other education-related matters. The panel convenes three times a year.
Finally, there are national opinion polls like the National Student Survey (NSE). The outcome and points of improvement of the NSE are also scrutinised by the Bachelor Coordinator, the Board of Undergraduate Studies and the Degree Programme Committee.
Would you like to think about how to improve university matters at a faculty level? Do you want to have a say on important decisions related to education, research and management? Do you also want to gain experience as a board / council member of an organization? Every year in spring you can put yourself up for elections for the Faculty Council. They are looking for motivated students to join the conversation on the future of the faculty.
Please note that you need to be able to speak Dutch to be elected to the council.
What is it about?
The Faculty Council (FC) constitutes 12 members of staff and 12 student members. The student members are elected annually. As a student member you will receive compensation worth 0.1 FTE. If you become the president of the student members and vice-chair, you will receive compensation worth 0.2 FTE. The council advises the faculty board when asked, as well as when they are not, and can vote on certain important matters such as the main lines of the faculty’s budget plan.
Who can get elected?
Every student of the Faculty Law, Governance and Economics can register to be a candidate for the FC elections. You can join a candidate list from your department or you can start a list of your own. EVERYONE can be a candidate!
There are three electorial districts:
- Student Department School of Law: 6 seats.
- Student Department U.S.E.: 3 seats.
- Student Department School of Governance: 3 seats.
How can you sign up to be a candidate for the elections?
You can ask any questions to Wilma Mossink (w.a.m.mossink@uu.nl), secretary of the electorial committee of the faculty. Keep an eye on the student website and Facebook for information on registration deadlines and other announcements. Please note that deadlines are final and cannot be deviated from.
Useful documents:
The University Council is the central representative body of Utrecht University. The Council serves the interests of students and staff.
More information is available: University Council.