What is co-determination?

A critical attitude and opposition: an important foundation for good governance. In every layer of the organisation of Utrecht University, students and staff contribute to policy making and provide advice, both when asked and on their own initiative.

The goal of co-determination is to make sure the opinions of students and staff are accounted for during the policy making process. In this way, students and staff in the co-determination bodies represetn the voice of their fellow students and colleagues to the university’s administration. The members of these co-determination bodies are democratically elected by students and staff during the university elections.

University Council

The central co-determination body is the University Council. The University Council consists of 12 staff members and 12 students, and advises the Executive Board on matters that concern the entire university. In this way, the university looks after the interests of all staff and students in relation to the board.

Faculty Council

The faculty councils represent the faculty community to the faculty board. The council consults with the faculty board on measures that concern the entire faculty. For a number of important decisions, such as the establishment of the faculty regulations and the teaching and examination regulations, the council has the right of approval.

Programme Committee

Every degree program has its own program committee. The programme committee monitors the quality of education of education, raises any issues or bottlenecks, and advises on the development and implementation of educational policy. The program committe has direct contact with the programme management and is closely connected to the programme itself.

Would you like to know more?

The rights of co-determination are laid down in the “Wet op het hoger onderwijs en wetenschappelijk onderzoek (WHW)”. The co-determination bodies have, for example, the right of approval or advisory rights on new policies. They may also make proposals to the board on anything concerning the university and make their views known on any matter.

More information: Loket Medezeggenschap

Utrecht University

Would you like more information about how co-determination is organised at Utrecht University, how the elections work or how multilanguism is handled within co-determination? Then visit the university’s website for more information.

Medezeggenschap op de Universiteit Utrecht

Council documents

Would you like to read all council documents? Co-determination is a public matter. This means that all documents and meetings of the faculty councils and the University Council are publicly accessible to students and staff of Utrecht University.

Sharepoint Medezeggenschap

What does the University Council do?

The goal of co-determination is to make sure students and staff are taken into account during the policy-making process. In this video we explain what that looks like in practice.

Video: Wat doet de Universiteitsraad?