Student Delegation

Who they are, what they do

To kick off the new year’s publication of ROUX I thought it might be interesting to take a deep dive into one of the more important aspects of student life - the student delegation. For those of you who weren’t aware, the student delegation elections took place late October last year, for those of you who were aware –congratulations! You lucky few have decided the fate of student interactions with the university administration for the coming year. How few you ask? Well, all in all the number of votes cast totalled just 829. And of those just under 400 went to secure the positions of our current team of delegates.

Meaning of the roughly 7,000 students enrolled at the University, 12.5% voted, and under 6% are actually represented by a candidate they voted for. A shining example of democratic processes in action in the heart of Europe to be sure! I approached the student delegation for comment on this and many other matters besides, during an interview on the 25th of November, so things may have changed for the better since then:

Firstly, to give the delegates their due they were more than aware of the lack of interest and engagement from students in the elections and assured me that addressing this was one of their priorities going forwards; citing both the relative newness of the organisation (which was brought into being in 2019 with this being the third team to take up positions), as well as some level of political apathy on the part of students – a demographic of which I’m sure we can all agree rarely talk about politics. Which, when considering that the student delegation does not consider themselves a political entity, seemed rather by the by.

There were somewhat mixed responses to the challenge that the small turnout would impact their ability to properly function as representatives. However, the main understanding was that this would be an issue going forward and one that definitely required addressing. But how are they planning on addressing these issues? Their main focus was one of visibility in general, with their approach being to try and further integrate themselves in campus life by reaching out to the various student associations and clubs, and attending some of their meetings to spread the word and get their faces out there.

Another avenue that Joana Cardoso (head of communication for the student delegation) seemed very keen to explore was that of the student delegations Instagram account, which at the time of writing has a good number of followers – though less than participated in the elections – and some nice bios on the individuals involved in the delegation.

However, one of the concerns I raised during the interview was that many people’s first port of call when considering issues on campus — from bullying, academic issues, or any petitions and hopes for change — generally might not be Instagram. And unless already following the page, having a digital footprint might not help without some physical presence on campus. Not to mention that not everyone uses Instagram anyway. There is, however, also an email through which concerns can be raised, but again this is poorly advertised and signposted.

There was some discussion in the interview of having a timeslot and room where students could talk to members in person but the ideas as to how this were to be implemented were sketchy at best. Especially considering that at the time of the interview they still had yet to work out a schedule for regular meetings amongst themselves let alone with other students.

But even if you know how to and can get in touch with them, what do they do? Essentially they are supposed to be a voice for students on campus with each faculty having a delegate to represent every 500 students. They should be accessible to them and able to represent these students on an institutional level. Additionally, they are supposed to work with (and against) the university council and board of governors to highlight and push for student specific issues within the university.

To this aim they are entitled to sit in on university council meetings where ideas are put forward and voted upon which are then considered by the board of governors, which take place roughly seven times a year. In these council meetings the six members of the student delegation (barring the president) each have one vote which is often enough to make or break whether an issue is put up for consideration or not.

Student Delegation, 2022-2023 — Aswathy Kokkotil Sudevan, Jinyuan Wang, Leonid Gnutov, Max Bintener, Ulisse Saverio, Joana Pereira, Samuli Riikonen, Jacqueline-Irene Ndombo Epse Roche

(from left to right)

However, on the board of governors this is another story. Only the president of the delegation is in attendance, and they get one vote out of the total thirteen. Which can definitely tip the balance but is nowhere near enough to push an agenda. Especially when you consider that eleven of the thirteen board members are nominated by the ministry of education and presumably align on many issues.

In terms of previous student delegations and their achievements during their terms I didn’t find out too much, only Max Bintener (president of the student delegation) had been involved in the previous delegation and even then only for six months. However, there were three things pointed out to me: policies surrounding online examinations due to Covid; the housing petition currently being put forward to the Luxembourgish government; and ensuring that the student delegates were compensated for their work. I won’t talk too much about the first of these three achievements as I still don’t fully understand the ins and outs of the data protection concerns surrounding online examinations but nonetheless it seems a worthwhile achievement.

As for the housing petition, obviously this is a large concern for students currently studying and living in Luxembourg and I was assured many times that (other than visibility) this was the delegation’s top priority. Unfortunately since the interview with the student delegates the petition failed to reach the required 4,500 signatures needed to be put before parliament. Furthermore, the previous delegates had blocked several motions surrounding the upcoming BA in Nursing in order to try and force the university to focus on the housing issue. Although, with the construc-tion on the Biotech building having just begun, it makes you wonder how successful this move actually was.

As for the final, telling, and perhaps most successful motion from previous years. The student delegates were wholly successful in securing their own pay. As of now they receive a 20 hour a month contract for the work they do, and termly tuition fee waivers of up to €400, not bad for a handful of meetings a year and listening to the few students who can find them! Which coupled with one of the delegates’ candid remark about how easy it was to get elected due to the lack of voters and active campaigning, make for an interesting picture. Although it must be said that I personally am in full support of students being adequately compensated for the work they do, the job of a student delegate is an important one. Furthermore, it would be unfair to level this criticism at the current student delegation who did not make this decision.

Concerning our current delegates then, their proposals for the coming year do go beyond just the housing issues and visibility, with sustainability on campus, putting together an ethics committee and diversifying the amount of student clubs and associations present on campus being just a few of the things they are purportedly setting out to do. That being said, at the time of the interview, a full three weeks after the election, the delegates I spoke to had dealt with the concerns of a whopping two students and had had no meetings with the council or board of directors.

But it is still early days, and with the housing petition gaining some steam, who knows, maybe when we all come back to campus next year the student delegation’s plans for more visibility on campus might start to take shape. With them becoming a genuine force for change on campus and mouthpiece for the student voice.

But I for one, will not be holding my breath until then.

by Kieran Salt