What exactly do I vote for?
The number of ballots and ballot papers you are allowed to fill in is between seven and nine. You can vote for your representatives for the various levels and structures of the university in up to six elections, and you can also vote on the semester tickets in the ballot. The elections are listed below:
Student Parliament (StuPa)
In each case, you elect a representative for the Student Parliament (StuPa), which is the highest decision-making body of the University of Göttingen's student body and, among other things, elects and controls the General Student Committee (AStA). If one were to use the political system of the Federal Republic of Germany as an analogy, the student parliament would correspond to the Bundestag, and the AStA would correspond to the federal government.
These groups are standing for election to the student parliament:
- Alternative Left List (ALL)
- The LIST
- Green University Group (GHG)
- Göttingen International Youth Association (IJV)
- Juso University Group
- Liberal University Group (LHG)
- Left Unity Movement (LEB)
- I don't care
- Nerdcampus
- RCDS - Ring of Christian-Democratic Students
- SRK - Black Red Collabs
- Independent Students (US)
- Volt University Group
The list above is a translation of the group names by AI. The german names of the groups (in the same order) are:
- Alternative Linke Liste (ALL)
- Die LISTE
- Grüne Hochschulgruppe (GHG)
- Internationaler Jugendverein Göttingen (IJV)
- Juso-Hochschulgruppe
- Liberale Hochschulgruppe (LHG)
- Linke Einheitsbewegung (LEB)
- mir egal
- Nerdcampus
- RCDS – Ring Christlich-Demokratischer Studenten
- SRK – Schwarz Rot Kollabs
- Unabhängige Studierende (US)
- Volt-Hochschulgruppe
Student representative council (FSP)
You also elect a representative for your respective student council parliament, which then elects and controls your student council (FSR), among other things. You can find the lists of candidates for your respective student council parliament in the election announcement. By analogy, the student council parliament would correspond to a state parliament, the student council would correspond to the state government.
Faculty group spokesperson (FG)
Within some faculties, there are so-called departmental groups below the student council in student self-administration. A departmental group is usually the representative body for a subject (e.g. biochemistry, dentistry, political science or German studies). All students who are assigned to such a subject group elect a subject group spokesperson to represent them. However, it is often the case that only one person stands for the respective election, which means that this person is considered directly elected and the election is canceled. The subject group spokesperson is most comparable to a directly elected mayor.
Council of International Students (RIS)
All international students (i.e. students who have a citizenship other than German) may also elect their own representation, namely the Parliament of International Students, which elects the Council of International Students (RIS) in the same way as the Student Parliament. There is no special representation for non-Germans in the political system of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Senate
Apart from the student bodies, you can also have a say in the composition of the so-called collegial bodies. At university-wide level, the Senate has far-reaching control, information and decision-making rights and, among other things, elects the members of the Presidential Board. The number of students in the Senate is 2 out of 13 members.
Faculty Council
The faculty councils are the highest directly elected body for each faculty and have similar control, information and decision-making rights to the Senate in this area. Among other things, they elect the members of the Dean's Office of the respective faculty. The number of students on the faculty councils is 2 out of 13 members.
No suitable equivalent can be found for the Senate and Faculty Council in federal politics. They represent and administer the entire university, i.e. they are responsible for financial planning, personnel, regulations (including examination and study regulations), the organization of research and teaching, etc.