Informal short report from the 166th and 167th session of the StuRa.

— Deutsch —

166. & 167th session – 20th, respectively 21th of June 2023

» Elected were: Fabian Kadel and Harald Nikolaus for the Wahlkommission (election committee), Paul Martin Kaiser for the Referat für politische Bildung (office for political education), Felicitas Nettels as a member of the Schlichtungskommission (arbitration committee) and Lukas Pilz as a member of the expert council “Radstrategie 2030”. Congratulations!

» We’re looking for:

The Wahlkommission is still looking for new members – only 4 out of 10 seats are filled. We are also looking for new members for the Gremienreferat (office for the offices and committees), the Referat für interantionale Studierende (office for international students) and the Referat für Ökologie und Nachhaltigkeit (office for ecology and sustainability). We are also looking for people who are interested in preparing a StuRa weekend in the summer of 2024.

• Here you can find all calls for candidacy

Because it was also asked in the StuRa, it should be pointed out that you do not have to run for an office to play an active part. There is nothing wrong with just going to a meeting of your office or committee of choice, looking at the work, and then considering whether you want to put yourself up for election – or just want to participate.

The dates of most meetings can be found on the StuRa webpage under dates, some also in the meeting documents.

» We’re funding:

• Jerseys for the Winckelmann Cup team of the ZAW departments (ZAW = Zentrum für Altertumswissenschaften “centre for classical and ancient studies”). A soccer team has been formed again after Corona and will procure team jerseys. To ensure that the athletes are not overly burdened, the StuRa supports this purchase – and hopes for good results at the nationwide tournament.
• Also supported are the Ball of the Fachschaft Jura (Law) and the Nah(P)ost . the exchange and the cohesion of the students of Islamic Studies shall be promoted through this new magazine of the students of Islamic Studies.
• This meeting also included the first reading of this semester’s round of applications for project proposals from groups and initiatives, with the second reading taking place at the next regular meeting on July 4.

Also important:

» Reports: as always, you can find them in the documents. Numerous reports already had the upcoming winter or even the summer semester ’24 in mind: what will happen next with the Semesterticket? How do you find people interested in filling vacant offices? should there be a StuRa weekend in the summer of ’24? Feel free to contact the Gremienreferat if you are interested – there are only three sessions left until the semester break.

» Procedures: Recently, it has become possible to receive a certificate from the Rector’s Office for students who have been involved in university politics in a variety of ways. The StuRa has now decided on a fixed procedure for this: Proposals must be submitted to and accepted by the RefKonf. Subsequently, the StuRa still has to confirm the nomination. In order to protect the data of the persons concerned, the deliberations in the RefKonf and StuRa are not public.

» Bikes: In order to contribute to the traffic transition in Heidelberg and to remedy the acute shortage, the StuRa demands the installation of more bicycle racks, especially in the vicinity of the Marstall, UB in the Old Town, Zentralmensa, Kirchhoff Institute for Physics, University Square in front of the Triplex and at the Sports Institute INF 720. The Verkehrsreferat (office for transportation) is open to other suggestions,

» StuWe: Together with the Studierendenwerk, the StuRa is also sending a letter to the Minister of Science, Mrs. Olschowski, to ask for better funding of the Studierendenwerke. Due to inflation and the energy crisis, the StuWe has had to increase prices for many things in recent months, making the situation even more difficult for socially disadvantaged students. The StuRa believes that the state has the duty to not place an even greater burden on students.

» Housing: In order to ease the pressure on housing in particular, the StuRa is in favor of using some of the vacant buildings in Patrick-Henry-Village (PHV) as dormitories. Of course, care must be taken to ensure that this does not negatively impact the initial reception facility for refugees, which is already located in the PHV.

» Offices: In order to promote networking within the VS, the StuRa has established an“Innenreferat” (office for internal matters). Among other things, it is intended to support newly elected representatives in their onboarding into the VS, to establish contact between representatives and those responsible at the central level, and to promote exchange and networking between students who are active or want to become active in the student body and the VS. In addition, the establishment of a Lehramtsreferat (office for students aspiring a teaching degree) was discussed, which is to provide information about the Lehramt (teaching degree) and the professional field school beyond the AK Lehramt and to network the student teachers.

» QSM Bylaws: QSM, “quality assurance funds,” are funds provided by the state for the improvement of teaching at institutions of higher education. At the University of Heidelberg, a large part is awarded on the suggestion of the Fachschaften directly; a small portion of the funds is used for teaching projects in the first application round, and in the second round for all kinds of projects to improve teaching. Besides some organizational changes, this share (the “central pot” or “teaching pot”) is planned to be increased through this motion to change the bylaws, which would be made possible by the fact that the country wants to increase the total percentage of QSM that the students have the right to apply for. However, as this is not due until 2025, this change has been suspended for the time being and only the other changes have been adopted.

» For one hour, the StuRa met non-publicly to discuss an administrative matter. And in case you’re wondering why there were two sessions in a row, there are things that need to be decided in two meetings, so the only way to conduct an urgent election was to have a second meeting at midnight right after the 166th meeting that just finished; this session was then correspondingly short and so the two sessions ended at 0:45.

The meeting documents and minutes of the StuRa can always be found here.

You can find the informal short report from the last StuRa meeting here.

The next StuRa session will be held on Tuesday, the 4th of July 2023, starting at 7pm.

…and if you have something to talk personally with the speakers: Tuesdays from 11:30 to 12:45 Lino, Theo and Thomas offer a consultation hour at the StuRa office. And on Fridays between 10:30 and 11:30 there is a consultation hour of the chair and presidium, where Diana and Theo are waiting for you.