Faculty representation

The faculty representative (abbreviated FV , to February 1, 1974: Student Council Committee , abbreviated FA ; at art schools until the effective date of Art University Organization Law Department representative , on 1 February 2005 law . Organ in accordance with § 12 para 2 HSG 1998 ) which is a collegial body of the legal Student representation at faculty level in Austria . Their term of office begins on July 1 of an election year and lasts for two years. In some universities, the unofficial term Fachschaft for organs in accordance with Section 12, Paragraph 2 can still be found . Often this term is also used for the premises allocated to the organ.

Since 2005, faculty representatives are no longer mandatory, but each student body can use its statutes to decide for which university level (e.g. faculties, departments, departments) a representative body should exist. The statutes must specify which student representatives send to the body. For example, the student body at the University of Innsbruck has set up so-called faculty representatives . If no own representative body is set up, the university representative takes over its tasks.

tasks

The faculty representatives represent the students at the faculty level and coordinate the activities of the student representatives . It elects the chairperson of the faculty representative from among the mandataries. The chairpersons of the faculty representatives have the right to speak and propose to the university representative (but no voting rights).

By the University Act 2002, university decision-making bodies are less strictly regulated by law than under the previous laws. There is therefore no longer a need for a collegiate body at the faculty level; accordingly, student representatives are practically only sent through university representatives. On the other hand , bodies set up by the university on a voluntary basis, such as faculty conferences, can be sent directly by the faculty representatives if the statutes of the student body provide for this. As with the other levels of representation in the system of the Austrian Students' Union, the faculty representatives are entitled to submit statements on draft laws and ordinances.

Faculty representatives have their own budget and can change the structure decided by the university council if necessary. In total, at least ten percent of the membership fees must be allocated to the faculty representatives, but no other income. Expenditures over 1,453 euros require a resolution by the faculty representatives, up to this amount the chairperson is authorized to sign together with the advisor for economic affairs .

The faculty representatives can convene a student assembly “for the information and handling of study-related matters of the students” . Such a meeting must be called if this is requested in writing by at least five percent of the eligible voters. The resolutions of the student assembly are not binding, however, they only have to be "dealt with" in the next meeting of the faculty representatives.

Within three months of the end of a budget year, the faculty representatives must publish an activity report, which “has to show the distribution of student contributions and the fields of activity, in particular the advisory activities and the services provided”.

history

The first student councils were established in 1945 by the ordinance of the State Office for Public Enlightenment, for Teaching and Education and for Cultural Affairs of September 3, 1945 on student self-administration at universities of the academic and artistic direction . This Decree Law on the basis of the Austro-fascist "university Enabling Act" of 1935 taught the individual Austrian student bodies in the universities as a separate public corporations a (in addition to the nationwide representation competent Austrian Students Union - No extra). The number of mandates of the student union committees was regulated in the rules of procedure of the respective main committee, which required the approval of the state office. The members themselves were of a regulation adopted by the State Office Election Code chosen by the "ordinary listeners Austrian citizenship".

Due to a ruling by the Constitutional Court , the regulation had to be replaced in 1950 by a separate student union law. Instead of the parallel existing student bodies at the individual universities and the nationwide Austrian student body, there was from now on only one unified Austrian student body, but the student councils remained as organs of the new unified body. The chairmen of the student councils were automatically voting members of the main committee and were assigned to their respective campaigning groups (parliamentary groups). So that the majority in the main committee corresponded to the election result, the body was supplemented by a corresponding number of other voting members.

With the new Student Union Act (HSG 1973) announced in 1973, separate bodies were again set up for the individual university representatives. The existing student council committees were converted into faculty and departmental representations , and the delegation system was abolished. All mandataries of the main committees were now directly elected, the chairmen of the faculty and departmental representatives only had one advisory vote.

After lengthy deliberations, a completely new Student Union Act (HSG 1998) was passed again in 1998. The departmental representations were closed (at the art colleges that had not yet been transferred to the Art University Organization Act, only when this act came into effect). The number of mandates of the faculty representatives remained the same (at least five, maximum eleven). In early 2005, an amendment to the HSG in 1998 abolished the mandatory establishment of faculty representatives together with their direct election. Since then, the student unions have been able to decide autonomously about the establishment of faculty representatives, departmental representatives and so on. The mandates are determined by the student representatives through a secondment procedure that is also regulated in the statutes.

Suffrage

Since the HSG amendment in 2005, the faculty representatives (since then organs according to Section 12, Paragraph 2 ) are no longer directly elected. Instead, the student representatives send the student body in accordance with the statutes, whereby the number of students in the respective field of study must be taken into account.

The size of the faculty representation is still based on the number of eligible voters:

Eligible voters	Mandates
until 2,000	5
until 3,000	7th
until 4,000	9
over 4,000	11

In addition, the faculty representatives include the chairpersons of the sending student representatives with an advisory voice and the right to submit proposals.

literature

• Alexander Egger and Thomas Frad: Student Union Act and Student Residence Act . Introduction, texts, materials, decisions, comments. WUV University Press, Vienna 2000, ISBN 978-3-85114-444-4 .
• Stefan Huber: ÖH law . Student Union Act with ancillary provisions. 3rd revised edition. New Scientific Publishing House, Vienna / Graz 2009, ISBN 978-3-7083-0608-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Student Union Act 1973
2. ↑ Welcome to the website of the Students' Union NatWi-Technik. In: ÖH Natwi Technik of the University of Innsbruck . Retrieved December 29, 2009 . 
3. ↑ http://www.oehweb.at/uploads/media/Satzung_090126.pdf (link not available)
4. ↑ Section 19 of the Student Union Act 1998
5. ↑ StGBl. No. 170/1945 : Ordinance of the State Office for Public Enlightenment, for Teaching and Education and for Cultural Affairs of September 3, 1945 on student self-administration at universities of the academic and artistic direction
6. ↑ Christian Bruckner: 1950s. (PDF, 4.6 MB) In: 60 Years of the ÖH. 2006, p. 20 , archived from the original on March 14, 2013 ; Retrieved November 5, 2009 . 
7. ↑ Federal Law Gazette No. 174/1950 : Student Union Act from 1950
8. ↑ Student Union Act 1998