Association of Swiss student bodies

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Association of Swiss Student Unions
(VSS)
purpose Umbrella organization , student representation
Chair: Annually rotating co – presidium
Establishment date: June 19, 1920
Number of members: 11 full members , 4 associated members (as of March 2020)
Seat : Monbijoustrasse 30, 3011 Bern, Switzerland
Website: www.vss-unes.ch

The Association of Swiss Student Unions (French Union des Etudiant-es de Suisse , Italian Unione Svizzera degli studenti di scuole universitare , Romansh Uniun svizra da studentas e students , abbreviated VSS or VSS-UNES-USU ) is the umbrella organization of student representations in Switzerland . It was founded in 1920 and is based in Bern .

aims

The VSS represents the student bodies of universities of applied sciences, universities of teacher education and universities at the federal level.

An important requirement is to respect the independence of its members and to support them in joint or individual activities. The VSS also has associated members. These are organizations that represent important regional or subject-specific interests of students, such as B. the Erasmus Student Network (ESN).

The purpose of the VSS is to represent the material and ideal interests of the students on a national and international level. To this end, the VSS works together with all institutions and organizations that are important for higher education. In addition to the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Directors of Education (EDK) and the parliamentary commissions for science, research and culture (WBK) are the Swiss University Conference (SHK), Swissuniversities and the Swiss Agency for Accreditation and quality assurance (AAQ) are important partners of the VSS.

As a member of the European Students' Union (ESU) and the International Union of Students (IUS), the VSS also represents Swiss students on a European and global level.

The association languages ​​are German, French and Italian.

organization

The VSS is constituted according to Swiss association law .

Members

The members of the VSS are made up of full members (sections) and associated members.

Ordinary members

Full members of the VSS, also called sections, are student organizations at universities and higher education institutions in Switzerland. Ordinary members in March 2020 were:

Associate members

Associated members of the VSS "are organizations that represent important regional or subject-specific interests of students." Associated members in July 2018 were:

The assembly of delegates

The association is managed by the delegates' assembly that takes place every six months. The individual sections send delegates between one and seven delegates according to their membership numbers (according to Art. 20, Paragraph 3 of the Statutes). The assembly of delegates, as the highest organ, determines, among other things, the positions, the budget and the membership. In addition, it elects the board of the association, the delegations and the members of the thematic commissions.

The Section Council

The Section Council, which usually takes place on a monthly basis, assumes responsibility for the delegates' assemblies. Each member has one vote in it.

The board of directors

The association is managed by the board of directors, which consists of the co – presidium and five other board members. They are recruited from the sections and usually have several years of experience in representing student interests.

Thematic commissions

The content-related work in the VSS is mainly guaranteed by four commissions that meet once a month:

  • The Commission for International Affairs and Solidarity Work ( Commission internationale et de solidarité , CIS) takes care of networking with the European Students' Union and student representatives in Europe and thus helps European development (e.g. Bologna Process , Lisbon Strategy , Copenhagen Process ) always in view. In this way, the experiences of the other student representatives can flow into the daily work of the VSS.
  • The Equal Opportunities Commission ( Commission d'Egalité , CodEg) is committed to equality and equal opportunities at all levels. The focus is still on the inequality of treatment between women and men. Questions of gender-equitable didactics, mentoring programs and measures to raise awareness are also addressed. The focus is not only on the university sector, as the participation in the day of action on equal pay shows.
  • The Higher Education Policy Commission (HoPoKo) is currently working primarily on the implementation of Bologna in Switzerland, such as the conversion to the bachelor and master system, graduate schools and doctorates, quality assurance and accreditation, but also education financing, excellence and rankings are prominent topics. For this purpose, further visions are developed from a student perspective.
  • The Social Commission (SoKo) naturally deals with the social dimension of studying. The main topic is currently the harmonization and expansion of the scholarship system. The study Social Situation of Students by the Federal Statistical Office goes back to more than 10 years of lobbying the SoKo.

There is also the Business Review Commission (GPK). The commissions are closely networked with one another and thus support each other's work with their expertise. The substantive and strategic decisions are made by the delegates' assembly (DV), which takes place twice a year.

office

The association secretariat consists of those responsible for association administration and finance. The office is supplemented by academic and student employees who are responsible for smaller and larger projects mainly financed by third parties.

The annual budget amounts to around CHF 300,000, two thirds of which are covered by the contributions of the member organizations, which enables the VSS to be politically independent.

history

In 1897 and 1908, among other things, efforts were made to found an association for all Swiss students. On June 19, 1920, the Association of Swiss Student Unions was founded in Zurich . The main driving force behind its founding was the "social idea of ​​student self-help" and the idea of ​​the League of Nations .

The VSS was founded on June 19, 1920 in Zurich as the Association of Swiss Student Unions ( French Union Nationale des Associations Générales , Italian Unione Nazionale Universitaria Svizzera ) by the student bodies of the Universities of Basel , Geneva , Neuchâtel and Zurich , the ETH Zurich , the University of St. Gallen, the association of Ticino students and some students from Bern.

The first decades of the VSS were characterized above all by a complex foreign policy. Already between the wars, but especially since 1945, the association developed a lot of travel activity, especially within Europe. Efforts to achieve a balance between the fronts of the Cold War , however, often met with criticism. The VSS was present when the International Union of Students (IUS) was founded in 1946 , but membership did not come about because the IUS was considered communist and third world-heavy. To this end, the VSS was heavily involved in the ISC, which was formed as a counter-organization to the IUS, until its failure at the end of the 1960s, when financial relationships with the US secret service came to light.

The extensive travel activities of the VSS finally led to the establishment of the long-time very successful SSR cooperative . However, this alienated itself from the student milieu after the employees were admitted as individual members of the cooperative with the same voting rights as the associations. It finally dissolved: the business was sold and part of the assets were transferred to the SST Foundation for Solidarity in Tourism .

1960 brought a turning point. At the instigation of the students in French-speaking Switzerland, the company's headquarters were relocated to Bern. The opening of the universities to broader sections of the population meant that the long-established circles lost their majorities. In Zurich, the VSS, together with the student bodies from the university and the ETH, founded the newspaper “ das konzept ”: instead of simply representing interests, philosophical and socio-political considerations gained ground. Here, the publishing association was later transferred directly to a staff-only cooperative: the weekly newspaper WOZ , which is indispensable in the Swiss media environment , currently writes relatively rarely about educational topics.

Until well into the 1960s, the VSS was a purely male domain. This changed in the course of the 1968 movement and the subsequent new women's movement. In 1967 a woman is elected to the VSS board for the first time. In the years that followed, the female students expressed themselves more and more clearly in the local student bodies and also in the VSS.

The year 1968 was a stroke of luck for the VSS, as the federal councils were discussing a law on university funding. This establishes a Swiss University Conference SHK, to which two voting members of the VSS belong and u. a. has the task of "maintaining contact with the student body". The VSS also has a seat in the IKSK Intercantonal Scholarship Processing Conference . The joy, however, was short-lived: The mood of optimism was followed by pressure to save, and the VSS let the SHK determine its agenda. After all, he had started to be active in domestic politics.

On June 1, 1970, the Swiss people rejected a new ETH law by a majority of two thirds , which had come into being without the participation of the students and which did not contain their participation - a referendum success of the VSS, which, however, turned out to be a Pyrrhus victory proved: the ETH was continued by means of a "transitional regulation", which brought even less say than the proposed law. Finally, the scholarship initiative submitted in 1972 for parent-independent, repayable study grants (“Lausanne model”) caused a debacle. This was withdrawn by the submitting individuals in the summer of 1973 against the will of the VSS.

The year 1973 also brought another revision of the statutes, forced by the student body of Friborg. This brought a more democratic organization, but also the resignation of the St. Gallen students who insisted on a corporate structure. In the same year, the student body in Bern was withdrawn from financial autonomy, and that in Basel was even dissolved. The attacks by the minority conservatives in Zurich lasted a little longer: the ETH student body got away with a diversified membership regime, but the SUZ student body at the university was dissolved in 1978. The services of the SUZ could be transferred to the Foundation Central Office of the Student Union, the political mandate was taken over by the private law association of students at the University of Zurich VSU.

The 1990s initially brought the 1970s program in reverse: both the referendum on the ETH law and the project for a new scholarship initiative failed because of the collection of signatures. The VSS is defeated - the idea of ​​a federal education system with the participation of students is in fact buried. The Friborg section once again provided a new impetus with a 1995 revision of the statutes, which replaced the board with a "committee" delegated ad hoc by the sections. This acts as an intermediary between the employees in the Bern office and the delegates' assembly.

In 1993 the VSS resigned from the SHK in protest , as it introduced a numerus clausus for medicine . The international contacts, however, are strengthened again: The practically non-existent IUS is to be revived in Libya , and the European umbrella organization ESIB is invited to Geneva. The driving force behind these efforts is the Geneva student body , which, however, resigned from the VSS in 2002 because it pursues an “as well as” strategy in domestic politics and does not want to prevent further opportunities for cooperation.

In 1995, a public corporation was reintroduced in Basel , which had to work out functioning structures from scratch. In Zurich, too, there are strong efforts to re-establish a student body at the university. After several attempts, the VSUZH was finally crowned with success in 2012 . The situation at the University of Geneva remains difficult: the private student organization CUAE there is not very representative. (At the still young Università della Svizzera italiana , the situation looks even worse in this regard).

In 1997 the ETH Zurich student body said goodbye to the VSS. The VSS, on the other hand, wins new members by upgrading the technical and commercial schools to “ technical colleges ”. In 2001, the umbrella organization SST decided that its members - grouped according to the new regions - should join the VSS. This is the first to succeed in Zurich on the initiative of the people of Winterthur by founding the VSZFH, which as an umbrella organization brings former individual members of the VSS (musicians, interpreters) into politics with new strength. In the spring of 2005, the umbrella association of the Bernese schools, constituted under private law, joined, which was converted into a public body, the VSBFH, in the following autumn, which encompasses the entire Bern University of Applied Sciences . In November 2006, the student organization of the Northwestern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (students.fhnw) followed.

At the end of 2002, on the initiative of the student bodies of the ETH Zurich , the University of St. Gallen and the ETH Lausanne, the Association of Swiss University Student Unions (VSH) was founded in order to ensure national representation of the three universities. However, the VSH dissolved again in 2008. The two ETH associations are returning to the VSS, which has since been the only national student body again.

With the intercantonal university agreement, the new University Funding Act (UFG) and the concordat between the federal government and the cantons, federal coordination in the university area is strengthened. The Swiss University Conference is given more competencies, and the Rectors' Conference of the Swiss universities is also becoming more active. In addition, on December 16, 2006, the people and the cantons agreed to the new Art. 63 BV . In doing so, they create a constitutional basis for the coordination of all cantonal universities by the federal government. This increases the relevance of the umbrella organization for the individual autonomous member organizations in the domestic political area as well.

This importance is likely to increase further through the new University Promotion and Coordination Act , which implements Art. 63 BV and creates institutions for the nationwide coordination of higher education. The HEdA stipulates that a student representative can take part in the meetings of the Swiss University Conference in an advisory capacity .

In 2010, the VSS launched the scholarship initiative to guarantee a national minimum standard for scholarships for university students and in higher vocational training . The initiative was rejected by the Swiss electorate on May 14, 2015.

Publications and Sources

Position papers (selection)

  • University Political Commission of the VSS (HoPoKo) / Sarah Gerhard et al .: Perspectives on the Swiss university landscape = Perspectives sur le paysage suisse des hautes écoles . 2008, ISBN 978-3-906566-72-6 .
  • Gabriela Irimia et al .: The VSS for the economization of higher education = L'UNES sur la marchandisation de la formation supérieure = The Swiss Student Union towards the commodification of higher education . 2012, OCLC 980329256 .
  • University Policy Commission of the VSS (HoPoKo) / Carl Thomas Bormann et al .: Position paper on third-party funding = Prize de position sur les fonds tiers . 2015, ISBN 978-3-03305138-6 .
  • Oriana Schällibaum et al .: Sustainability at Swiss universities = Développement durable au sein des hautes écoles suisses . 2016, ISBN 978-3-03305512-4 .
  • Social Commission of the VSS (SoKo) / Nicolas Diener et al .: Studying with a disability and / or chronic illness = Étudier avec un handicap et / ou une maladie chronique . 2016, ISBN 978-3-03305679-4 .
  • Martina von Arx et al .: University entrance for student refugees = Accès aux hautes écoles pour les réfugié-es étudiant-es . 2017, ISBN 978-3-03306018-0 .
  • Social Commission of the VSS (SoKo) / Lea Widmer et al .: Position paper Housing situation = Prize de position sur la situation du logement . 2017, ISBN 978-3-03306349-5 .

Anniversary fonts

  • Philipp Etter , Vito Picenoni, O.-H. Duthaler & P. ​​Bourgeois, Hans Abegg, H. Bosshardt, Max H. Schneebeli, H. Stahel, Eduard Fueter junior and others: 25 years of the Association of Swiss Student Unions (VSS) . In: Swiss University Newspaper . tape 18 , no. 5 , 1945, p. 281-352 .
  • Bertram Schefold (Ed.): VSS history: A collection of letters from former VSS board members . 1968, OCLC 637324385 .
  • Urs Hänsenberger, Helmut Ridder , Rolf Deppeler , François Gross , Henri-Philippe Cart, Thomas Heilmann , Laurent Duvanel, Luc Recordon , Stephan Holländer, Marianne Müller-Hoegstedt, Franz Cahannes: Student Policy - Policy with Students? : 60 years of the Association of Swiss Student Unions . 1981, OCLC 884723113 .
  • Annemarie Pieper , Markus Schüpbach, Arnold Müller , Eduard Kellenberger , Pierre Ducrey (speakers): University and responsibility in the nineties . Anniversary event of the VSS / UNES as part of the 100th Council of Delegates and 55th Annual Congress on November 13, 1987 at the University of Basel. 1989, OCLC 980321330 .
  • Gabriela Amarelle & Kathrin Bürgi (editors); Ruth Dreifuss (foreword); Talin Stoffel, Philippe November, Gerhard M. Schuwey, Francis Waldvogel, Claude Calame , Edmée Ollagnier, Saba Bahar, Pascale vielle, Laura Magdalena, François-Xavier Merrien, Georg Kreis , Jean-Claude Favez, Alain Clémence, Hervé Pichelin, Jean- Philippe Leresche, Christophe Jaccoud, Rolf Deppeler , Nivardo Ischi, Eric Junod, Jean-Pierre Boillat, Jean-Pierre Meylan, Boris Fejfar, Anne-Catherine Lyon , Claire Rubattel, Andreas Scheuber, Bernadette Häfliger, Martin Bienlein, Nicolas Dufour, Daniel Schärer , Jérôme Cachin: Who will benefit from the university? Considerations from representatives of higher education policy = A qui profite l'université? : des pistes de réflexion par ses principaux / -ales acteurs / -trices . Publication on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the VSS = publication à l'occasion des 75 ans de l'UNES. 1996, OCLC 75798046 .

Archival material

The association's archives are located in the State Archives of the Canton of Zurich , in the Swiss National Library and in the Swiss Federal Archives .

literature

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f g h i Association of Swiss Student Unions: Statutes 2014, rev. 2016, added spring 2017 . ( vss-unes.ch [PDF; accessed on February 25, 2018]).
  2. vss-unes.ch/kontakt
  3. a b vss-unes.ch/organisation/sektionen
  4. vss-unes.ch/organisation/thematische-kommissions
  5. ^ Markus Diem: Social situation of students: a representative study of students at Swiss universities in 1995 . Ed .: Federal Statistical Office . Federal Statistical Office, Bern 1997, ISBN 3-303-15157-1 ( bfs.admin.ch [accessed on February 25, 2018]).
  6. ^ Association of Swiss Student Unions: Business Regulations 2014, rev. 2016 . ( vss-unes.ch [PDF; accessed on February 25, 2018]).
  7. See statutes of the Association of Swiss Student Unions from June 17, 1893 . OCLC 79882370
  8. Vito Picenoni : Historical Review . In: Schweizerische Hochschulzeitung: Official organ of the Swiss Central Office for Higher Education, the National Association of Swiss University Lecturers and the Association of Swiss Student Unions . 25 years of the Swiss Association. Student Unions (VSS). tape XVIII , no. 5 , 1945, p. 289-297 .
  9. http://vss-unes.ch/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2006-11-19-df-DV_Protokoll-144_fribourg.pdf
  10. http://vss-unes.ch/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2008-10-19-df-DV_Protokoll-148_lausanne.pdf
  11. http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/rf/cr/2005/20051739.html
  12. http://www.admin.ch/opc/de/federal-gazette/2011/7455.pdf
  13. ^ VSS, Zurich Student Union in the State Archives of the Canton of Zurich
  14. Signature V Switzerland 3016 in the club catalog ( Memento of the original from January 12, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. the Swiss National Library @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nb.admin.ch
  15. ^ Association of Swiss student bodies in the archive database of the Swiss Federal Archives