Last year, student organisations ISO and LSVB agreed with universities and universities of applied sciences that the financial compensation for students in central councils, such as university councils, should range from €500 to €1200 per month. A rather wide range – one which UM meets, as the current compensation is a minimum of €570 and a maximum of €850 (members of the presidium, the day-to-day management of the council, receive the higher amount).
So, who will benefit from these new guidelines? Students in faculty councils. At the moment, they receive about €140 per month; that will double from 1 February. This means the university will be just within the agreed range (between €250 and €525).
F-council activities should cost students about four hours a week. That number is eight hours a week for university council members (and 12 hours a week for presidium members). However, figures from the latest national Monitor of Higher Education Participation Councils show that this is underestimated significantly: in reality, this last group often spends about 20 hours a week on council activities.
At Maastricht, student representatives have to be present at 75 per cent of all meetings. “After that, compensation is reduced pro rata,” U-Council chair Teun Dekker responded when asked.
The new compensation was approved by U-council members at the most recent meeting. Dekker also took the time to thank Demi Janssen, student at University College Maastricht, former U-Council member and chair of student organisation ISO in the last academic year, for her work, “this was possible because of her”.