general assembly autumn 2007€¦ · 1. constitution .....4 1.1 approval of rules of...

Case documents can also be found at: http://www.umb.no/studentdemokratiet

Student at UMB? You are hereby invited to the highest decision making body for students at the University of Life Sciences.

General Assembly Autumn 2007

Wednesday 28th of November 2007

Time: 12:15 – 16:00 in ”Festsalen” in ”Samfunnet”

• The meeting will start at 12:15 sharp – be on time!

• Bring you student card – this give you right to speak and vote

• Election of candidates to the Student Board and the University Board, this is your golden opportunity!

• We hope for a constructive debate so that the meeting will finish by 16:00

• Food will be served after the meeting!

http://www.umb.no/studentdemokratiet


GENERAL ASSEMBLY AUTUMN 2007 - 2 -


AGENDA

1. CONSTITUTION .............................................................................................................4 1.1 APPROVAL OF RULES OF PROCEDURE.................................................................................... 4 1.2 APPROVAL OF SUMMONS AND AGENDA................................................................................. 4 1.3 APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE PREVIOUS GENERAL ASSEMBLY..................................... 4 1.4 APPOINTMENT OF COUNTING PARTY ..................................................................................... 4

2 CHANGES IN THE REGULATIONS ...........................................................................5 2.1 CHANGES IN THE REGULATION FOR NSU-ÅS........................................................................ 5 2.2 THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE STUDENT BOARD ..................................................................... 6

3 REPORT FROM THE ACTIVITIES THIS AUTUMN ...............................................9 3.1 NSU-ÅS STUDENT BOARD ................................................................................................... 9

3.1.1 Report from the autumns activities beyond the Action programme ............................ 9 3.1.2 Evaluation of the Action programme for the autumn of 2007 ................................... 13

3.2 THE UNIVERSITY BOARD.................................................................................................... 15 3.3 COMMITTEE OF STUDY ISSUES............................................................................................ 17 3.4 COMMITTEE OF RESEARCH ISSUES (FON)........................................................................... 19 3.5 THE SIÅS BOARD................................................................................................................ 19

4 LECTURER OF THE SEMESTER..............................................................................21

5 ACTION PROGRAMME FOR THE STUDENT BOARD SPRING OF 2008 ........21 5.1 THE STUDENT BOARD’S SUGGESTION TO ACTION PROGRAMME FOR THE SPRING OF 2008 .. 21

6 ELECTION OF CHAIRMEN IN THE STUDENT DEMOCRACY IN NSU-ÅS....22

7 COMMON ELECTION COMMITTEE FOR NSU-ÅS’ STUDENT DEMOCRACY23

8 ELECTRONIC ELECTIONS .......................................................................................25

9 PRESENTATION TO BALLOT-BOX ELECTIONS ................................................27 9.1 THE STUDENT BOARD NSU-ÅS.......................................................................................... 27

9.1.1 Vice-President............................................................................................................ 27 9.1.2 Welfare Officer .......................................................................................................... 27 9.1.3 Board member ........................................................................................................... 27

9.2 THE UNIVERSITY BOARD AT UMB..................................................................................... 27 9.3 THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY’S ELECTION COMMITTEE........................................................... 28 9.4 DELEGATES TO NSU’S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.................................................................... 28

10 OTHER ............................................................................................................................28 10.1 EVALUATION OF THE MEETING ........................................................................................... 28

APPENDICES: 3. Daniel Huth Ommundsen – presentation All the other appendices may be found in Norwegian in the Norwegian version of the case documents.


1. Constitution

1.1 Approval of rules of procedure

1.2 Approval of summons and agenda

1.3 Approval of minutes from the previous General Assembly The minutes from this spring General Assembly have been posted on our website and are not attached to the printed version of the case documents. The printed version of the minutes is available upon request from the Student Parliament Office. Also see www.umb.no/studentdemokratiet

1.4 Appointment of counting party 1. 2. 3. 4.



2 Changes in the regulations

2.1 Changes in the regulation for NSU-Ås The General Assembly (GA) in the spring of 2007 decided a comprehensive change of the NSU-Ås regulations. NSU-Ås’ regulations consists of four parts; Part 1 are the basic rules of the organisation. Part 1.1 can only be altered by the Student Parliament. Part 2 and 3 are the rules of procedure of the Student Parliament and the GAs respectively. Part 4 is not a part of the regulations but is meant to be a support to understand central concepts and may contain other information that is not a part of the regulations themselves. This part may freely be edited by the Student Board. After the changes made in the spring, some shortcomings/missing items in the current regulations that should be corrected. The Student Board suggests the following changes to the Regulations of NSU-Ås: PART 1-2 The General Assembly New § 45. Suggestion to dissolve the organisation will be made to the GA with the deadlines valid at that time. The GA will treat this case as the last case before Other issues. The case then has two possible outcomes: 2/3 majority can send the case to an extraordinary GA or a 1/3 majority can dismiss the case. In the case of a 2/3 majority of sending the case to an extraordinary GA, the sitting Student Board is given the authority to summon to the extraordinary GA minimum three months after and maximum five months later. The extraordinary GA shall only be constituted and have the dissolution of the organisation as its only case. The dissolution can be passed with a regular 2/3 majority. The regulation sequence ends when the meeting is adjourned and cannot be passed using ballot boxes. New § 46. Suggestion to merge the organisation with another student organisation follows the same regulations as in § 45, but the merger is possible with a qualified majority and it may be passed using ballot boxes. In today’s regulation nothing is said about a dissolution and merger of the organisation. The Student Board thinks that this is unfortunate and that it should be included in the regulations. It is common in most organisations to have such regulations. The current regulations allows the GA in theory to dissolve the organisation with 2/3 majority, meaning that 2/3 of those present at the GA with a right to vote may close down NSU-Ås. § 49. New point c. Election of counting party Election of counting party is done at the beginning of each GA. It is not in the regulations today due to an oversight. § 59. The GA and the Student Parliament can give further instructions in addition to the regulations. Changes in such instructions requires a general majority. It is suggested that in this paragraph general is changed to “simple”. A general majority means that half of those with the right to vote are present and that half of those present achieves a majority. In practice this mean that to change an instruction about 1400 student


must be present at the GA and at least 700 of these have to vote for the suggested change. It goes without saying that this is unattainable, when the average number of students present at the GA is taken into consideration. A change to a simple majority means that half of those with a right to vote and present at the GA may change an instruction. PART 1-3 – Ballot Box elections § 70. The organisational secretary of the Student Board NSU-Ås is given the superior responsibility to unroll the ballot box elections. The Student Board of NSU-Ås will assist him or her. These aforementioned individuals are, however, not given the opportunity to make statements on the candidates running for elections while they are administrating the elections. New § 70. The organisational secretary of the Student Board NSU-Ås is given the superior responsibility to unroll the ballot box elections. People from the Student Democracy NSU-Ås will assist in the ballot box elections. Those participating in the unrolling of the ballot box elections are however, not given the opportunity to make statements about the candidates running for elections while they are administrating the elections. Those participating in the unrolling of the ballot box elections can not be candidates in the elections. It is here suggested that § 70 is replaced by the new § 70. There is no reason to support that the Student Board should assist in the unrolling of the elections. We also wish to point out that candidates to be elected should not have anything to do with the actual running of the elections. Suggested resolution: The GA approves the suggested changes in the NSU-Ås’ regulations.

2.2 The instructions for the Student Board Some changes are suggested to the Student Board’s position instructions (see appendix 2 in Norwegian version). Instructions for the position as the vice-president of the Student Board Three changes to instructions for the vice-president position have been suggested:

• Be the chairman at the Student Parliament sessions, unless other arrangements have been made at the meetings.

The point is removed. The chairmen at the Student Parliament sessions in 2007 have been external. The Student Board is very pleased with this arrangement and wants to maintain it, either by a formal election of chairmen at the GA or that the Student Board themselves find external chairmen. Also, according to the new regulations for NSU-Ås, the vice-president does not have the opportunity to sit as the chairman.

• Spread information about UMB’s Teaching Award and take the initiative to select the

Lecturer of the Semester. Changes to:

• Take the initiative to selecting the Lecturer of the semester,


In 2006 it was decided to merge UMB’s Education Award and UMB’s Study Quality Award into a new price called UMB’s Education Award. This was handed out for the first time this year. UMB is responsible for this award. The Student Board has nothing to do with this award apart from getting students to the Committee for selecting the Lecturer of the Semester. Four students with substitutes are sitting in this committee.

• Be responsible for arranging a ”Used Book Sale” at the beginning of each semester.

Is suggested to be put in as a new point. The past semesters the Student Board has been responsible for arranging a used book sale. We want this to be a permanent part of the Student Board’s work and for the vice-president to be responsible for this. The instructions for the position as the Welfare Officer in the Student Board Three changes have been suggested:

• Establish and run the Welfare Committee, with residents from Pentagon, in Utveien, Skogveien and Kajaveien.

Changes to:

• Establish and run the Residential Environment Committee. The committee will function as a meeting place for residents in Pentagon, Utveien, Skogveien, Kajaveien, and SiÅs.

The Welfare Committee was removed in 2006 and later replaced by the Residential Environment Committee. As the point will stand now, the intention behind the committee will be clearer.

• Together with the Welfare Committee, distribute the welfare funds to benefit as many students as possible in accordance with the regulations.

Changes to:

• Distribute the welfare funds in accordance with the regulations and so that they benefit as many students as possible. This is done in cooperation with the Committee for distributing welfare funds.

The change is mainly linguistic, as the committee is no longer called Welfare Committee, but he Committee for distributing welfare funds.

• Arrange a barbeque party for the new students in August. Changes to:

• Coordinate the preparations and the carrying out of the barbeque party for the new students in August. This is done in cooperation with the rest of the Student Board, the Uka Board and the Board of Samfunnet.

The present Student Board feels that such a big part of the responsibility for this event should not be on the Welfare Officer alone. It is more natural to have the Welfare Officer coordinate the work while many participate in the planning and actual carrying out of the event.


Instructions for the position as the International Officer in the Student Board. Three changes have been suggested in the instructions for the position as the International Officer:

• Organise and coordinate international activities at UMB through the cooperation with the International Students Union (ISU), SiT, SiÅs, International Committee and “Studentsamfunnet” in Ås.

Changes to:

• Organise and coordinate international activities at UMB through the cooperation with the

International Students Union (ISU), SiT, SiÅs, and the Activities Officer at the “Studentsamfunnet” in Ås.

The International Committee was dissolved at the GA of “Samfunnet” on the 30th of October 2007, and international cooperation, e.g. the International Food festival, now mainly goes through the Activities Officer.

• Ensure that the local ISU is functioning. Changes to:

• Assist ISU-UMB in their work, and help keep continuity in the organisation. The old instruction is quite vague, and puts the main responsibility of ISU on the International Officer. For ISU to function as an autonomous organisation, and not as a subgroup of NSU-Ås, it is crucial that the board themselves are responsible for the functioning of the local ISU, and not the International Officer.

• Be a member of NSU’s International Committee and the International Committee of “Studentsamfunnet” in Ås.

Changes to:

• Be a member of NSU’s International Committee. As mentioned earlier, the International Committee in “Samfunnet” no longer exists. Instructions for the position as board members of the Student Board One change in the instructions for the positions as board members:

• Be the contact person for organisations with office spaces in the 2nd floor of the Student Post Office or representative in the NSU’s Equal Rights Committee (1 task to each of the board members).

Is removed and replaced by two new points:

• The board member elected at the GA in the autumn is the member of NSU’s Equal Rights Committee

• The board member elected at the GA in the spring is the contact person for organisations

with office space in the 2nd floor at the Student Post Office. The Student Board wants the two tasks to be the responsibility of one permanent board member every year. This is done to ensure continuity in their work.


3 Report from the activities this autumn

3.1 NSU-Ås Student Board

3.1.1 Report from the autumns activities beyond the Action programme Internally in the Student Board We went on an “overlap-trip” with the old and new Student Board to Koster at the end of May and had a kick off trip in the middle of August. Board meetings have been held every week as breakfast meetings on Wednesday mornings. We have also started having dinner together, and initially we intended to have 6 each semester, but unfortunately there has not been enough time for this. A Christmas party in the middle of December is also planned. Inclusion of international students During the week from the 6th to the 10th of August the international student were received. The International Officer and the president of the Student Board participated in various activities that week. Later in the semester the International Officer, Torunn Berg, organised a GA for ISU-UMB where they elected a new board with 10 international students. The president of ISU-UMB, Farshad Tami, was later elected as the president of ISU Norway and therefore had to resign his position as president for the local ISU. At the extraordinary GS a new president was elected, Lindsay Ringer, and they approved their first constitution. The International Officer has assisted ISU through their initial phase with the ambition of ISU-UMB becoming an independent organisation in the future. In addition, inclusion funds have been distributed every month, and so far this year we have handed out 146 237 NOK, where 76 085 NOK have been handed out in the autumn. Among the recipients of these funds are groups in UMBI which included international students, ISU, and various groups, organisations and clubs that arrange events where inclusion of international students is one of their goals. We have seen a steady increase in the number of applications, which is very positive, and it testifies to the fact that more students know about the funds and see the benefits of applying for such funds. During the October Fest at Samfunnet the 11th of October, the International Food Festival was arranged. It is a collaboration project between International Officer in the Student Board, International Officer at Samfunnet, and ISU. There were about 30 different teams of chefs from 25 nationalities participating and about 500 visitors. Sokoine University of Agriculture Student Organization (SUASO) UMB and NVH have a sister university in Tanzania called Sokoine University of Agriculture, and SUASO is our sister organisation. The present and previous International Officer visit Tanzania and SUASO comes and visits Norway in alternate years. This year SUASO came to visit Ås and the International Officer made a programme for them together with the former president of the Student Board at NVH. SUASO spent 9 days here from the 5th to the 13th of September. The programme consisted of a trip to Rondane with the international students, a meeting and dinner with the Student Board, meetings with the Control group for the cooperation between UMB/NVH and SUA and a trip to Oslo. Next year the International Officer, Torunn Berg, will be visiting Tanzania together with next years International Officer. Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund (SAIH) International Officer sits in the board of SAIH. They have meetings every other week. SAIH is supported by 20 NOK of the semester fee from all the students in Norway and part of the work in the local SAIH organisation is to inform people about what the money are used for. This autumn, two of the members of SAIH in Ås were elected to sit in SAIH’s National council.


Lecturer of the Semester The committee for selecting the Lecturer of the Semester has done a great job this semester and 50 lecturers have been nominated for the prize. The winner of the prize for Lecturer of the semester will be announced at the GA. Book sale The book sale was held on the 12th of September in the hall in the 1st floor of the BT-building. It was difficult to find a suitable date and in the end we had to decide on the first Wednesday in the autumn parallel. The best would be if all courses had started before the book sale, but unfortunately this was not possible. The turn out was not very impressive, which is probably due to the early timing of the sale. There were many more potential buyers than sellers. The Student Board will arrange a book sale every semester from now on. Marketing Early on in the semester we had Mike Moultin give the Student Board an introductory course to Class Fronter. The knowledge attained at that course has led to a significant increase in activity in the Student Democracy room in ClassFronter from the Student Board, as well as some increase in student activity in this room. The Student Board has also become better at updating their homepage www.umb.no/studentdemokratiet, and the four permanent spaces at athene.umb.no are updated on a regular basis. This autumn, board member Pål Preede Revheim has been responsible for reporting to Tuntreet and not the vice-president, this is due to Pål’s close connections with Tuntreet. The Student Board has not had its own pages in Tuntreet. In the autumn of 2007 there have been many articles in Tuntreet about student political matters, which the Student Board is very pleased with. Changes in the 2nd floor of the Student Post Office As a consequence of changes in levels of activity among the different organisations with office space in the 2nd floor of the Student Post Office, a general clean up and re-distribution of office spaces was conducted in the middle of October. IAAS, which is currently not active, was marginalised to benefit IAESTE and Spire, which have kept a high level of activity. ISU was also given a more permanent space. In addition, a lot of old rubbish was disposed of. Ergonomic course The Student Board organised together with the Learning Environment Committee (LMU) an ergonomic course for students during the democracy hours on the 3rd of October. The course was held by Nini Årvik from Follo company-health services. About 50 students were present at the course, which the Student Board is very pleased with and a similar service will be offered to the students on a yearly basis. Barbeque party, Grass course, and Matriculation The Student Board, The Board of Samfunnet, and the UKA Board organised a barbeque for the new students on Saturday 11th of August. The Barbeque Party was as usual held at Pentagon with nice food, activities and good moods. The Student Board participated in Grass Course, both part 1 and 2, and the matriculation with the following celebration dinner. The Student Board also went to the new classes to inform the new students about the Student Democracy, as well as to encourage the class to choose their representatives. The office was frequently visited by the new students during the first weeks of the semester. We have of course maintained our “open-door-policy” where everyone is welcome as long as there is someone in the office. Coffee, tea and current newspapers are available.



Hearings Only one document has been circulated from UMB for public comment, and it was UMB’s language-political guidelines. The guidelines were formulated on request from The Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions. The Student Board pointed out the use of “nynorsk” in exam questions and the lack of follow-up on course that are supposed to be taught in English upon request. UMB’s strategic plan for 2009-2011 The President and board member Julie Tangstad is part of the working group for a new strategic plan. So far there has only been one meeting where the coming process was vaguely discussed. Distribution of welfare funds The Committee for distributing welfare funds this autumn consisted of the Welfare Officer in the Student Board Daniela O. Fuentes, the International Officer in the Student Board Torunn Berg, Treasurer of the Board of “Samfunnet” Hanna Fugleseth, former Welfare Officer in the Board of “Samfunnet” Marianne Gimre, Vigdis Steffensen and Marte Tøften. During the work of distributing it was discussed how the regulations in regards to the distribution of “additional funds” should be interpreted. Both the committee and the Student Parliament have requested a revision of the current regulation. The committee has offered to work together with the Welfare Officer to achieve this. If possible a suggestion to new regulation will be presented to ST-1/08. 43 512 NOK were distributed at ST-5/07 to 31 organisations at UMB. With this distribution, 30 086 NOK will go to the Students’ Welfare Fund. Norwegian Student Union (NSU) This autumn, a Kick-off in NSU has been held as well as a National Board Meeting (LS). The President of the Student Board is a permanent member of LS together with a representative elected by the Student Parliament. Up until the previous LS, the Vice-President, Nina K. Stein Helland, was the representative, but from the next LS and the rest of the spring, the Welfare Officer, Daniela O. Fuentes will be the representative. The years’ final LS will be held in Trondheim on the 30th of November to the 2nd of December. Five out of six members in the Student Board are permanent members of various committees and forums in NSU, and they are:

Forum for Presidents All the presidents of the local NSU organisations participate in an informal body where they discuss both local and national cases. This autumn there has been three meetings. Some of the cases discussed are: - The State Budget for 2008 and possible reactions - The cases which will be brought up in the National Board Meetings. - Strategy for lobbying towards the Parliament/the government - Cooperation between the institutions

Subject-Political Committee The Vice-President of the Student Board NSU-Ås is responsible for the subject-political matters and is also a member of NSU’s Subject-Political Committee. Cases discussed there are: - NSU’s research-political platform to be approved at the National Assembly in 2008 - Hearing for a new framework for qualifications in higher education


Welfare Committee The Welfare officer in the Student Board NSU-Ås is in the Welfare Committee in NSU. This autumn there has been two meeting. Cases discussed are, amongst others: - NSU’s political platform concerning the financing of studies which is to be approved at the National Assembly in 2008.

International Committee International Officer in the Student Board is a member of NSU’s International Committee. Two meetings have been held this autumn. Cases discussed there are, amongst others: - Exchange - International students in Norway - Facilitation of internationalisation

Equal Rights Committee One of the board members this autumn, Julie Tangstad, is a member of the Equal Rights Committee. This autumn, three meetings have been held. Some cases discussed there were: - Adapting buildings into becoming user friendly for all - Allocation by sex quotas of scientific position and other efforts to improve the gender balance in academia

The Student Board is in close contact with NSU-AU and feels up-to-date on the cases raised nationally. Follow-up on report about study quality 2005 and 2006 The Student Board has participated in the follow-up of the report. From the administration, five groups were established to handle one topic each. In each group there was at least one student as well as scientific employees, study advisers, and employees of the administration. Topics addressed:

Quality of teaching Physical learning environment Internationalisation Time taken to complete the degree Research based teaching

There was great variation in the work done in the groups and only some had completed their tasks. The Student Parliament As usual, three sessions of the Student Parliament have been held this autumn. Cases discussed at the Student Parliament this autumn, disregarding permanent cases regulated by the regulations of NSU-Ås, are: introduction of electronic elections at GAs, raising the semester fee to fund an increased welfare service to the student body, review of the regulations of NSU-Ås, the resolution from the Student Board, efforts to improve the gender balance in academia, a declaration of support to the students in Western-Sahara, studying abroad, the resolution “Coca-Cola out of the educational institutions now!” and SiÅs canteen services. The Student Parliament has had very active debates, which the Student Board views as very positive. The Learning Environment Committee (LMU) (LMU) There has been only one ordinary LMU meeting this semester. At this meeting efforts to improve the learning environment for 2008 were prioritised. LMU’s main priorities for 2008 are a ventilation system and an upgrade of lecture rooms in Tower Building. Upgrading of wing 0 in the TF-building is priority number two. In UMB’s budget for 2008, LMU requested 6,5 mill NOK, while in the suggested budget for UMB, the Committee receives only 3 mill NOK. Also, there has been a joint seminar between AMU and LMU concerning the indoor environment at UMB. A lecture on indoor environment was held followed by a discussion.


The Working Environment Committee (AMU) Two meetings have been held in AMU this autumn. Cases treated: Conditions in the pilot facility and the ground floor of the Dairy Building, gas bottles in the laboratories, safety routines at UMB, a new tender on the Company Health Service and the workplace advisory centre for issues relating to alcohol, drugs and addictive gambling (AKAN). Rector’s Team of Heads of departments (RLG) The President of the Student Board is a permanent member of the RLG, together with the heads of departments and the “Headmastership”. They are supposed to meet every Monday. In RLG strategic choices, elections and budgets are discussed, and it is a forum for cooperation between the departments.

3.1.2 Evaluation of the Action programme for the autumn of 2007 The Student Board will create a committee to evaluate the Student Board

This autumn, the Student Board has worked towards finding good candidates to sit in such a committee, as well as writing a mandate that meets the requirements the current Student Board feels should be fulfilled of such an evaluation. At the Student Parliament 5/2007 a committee was appointed consisting of:

Jørn Svanborg (TF 4 – Technical Subjects 4th Year) Thomas Willig (TF 1 - Technical Subjects 1st Year) Ida Stjernstrøm (BT 4- Bio-Technology Subjects 4th Year) Liv Hatleli (PV 4 – Plant Science 4th Year)

The following mandate was given: «The committee will investigate the different percentages assigned to each of the positions of the members of the Student Board, including the Secretary of the organisation. The committee will assess whether the current composition of the board is appropriate in relation to the tasks and workload of each member and the student board as a whole. The committee will suggest changes to improve the work of the Student Board. The committee will use the Student Parliament as an adviser entitled to give comments. The committee will give its final report to the General Assembly in the spring of 2008» The Committee for evaluating the Student Board is well on their way in the process.

The Student Board will follow up on the case of an interactive complaint box, where

the students can easily give their opinions and ask their questions The Athene-web pages are undergoing a complete renovation and an interactive complaint box will therefore not be an issue until the new webpage is finished. The Student Board has, as a temporary solution; created a FAQ page on umb.no/studentdemokratiet where we have answered some of the most frequently asked questions.

The Student Board will finish a complete investigation into whether introducing

electronic voting and webpage is desirable for NSU-Ås The Student Board has assessed various ways of conducting electronic elections and have concluded that it will not be plausible for NSU-Ås at this time. An election web page is being worked on, but requires some special solutions as the set up of UMB.no is slightly special. A complete investigation has been attached to the case documents of ST-6 and as case number 8 in these GA case documents.


The Student Board will, together with SiÅs, work towards improving the food services on Campus The Student Board has had a dialogue with SiÅs concerning the canteen services on Campus. Meetings with SiÅs have been held, both with the staff of the lunch-canteens on Campus, the Head of canteens and assisting general manager of SiÅs and the student representatives in the SiÅs board. In order to unravel the really problematic aspects, the Chair of the Board of SiÅs Julie H. Arnseth, together with the Student Board, has been responsible for a case concerning the campus canteens to be discussed at the ST-6. SiÅs and the Student Board will base further work on the discussion and continue the work on a potential restructuring of the canteen services. SiÅs will approve a new strategic plan in 2008, where canteen services amongst others, will play a major part. The Student Board also initiated a revival of a “user-committee” for canteens, a committee which has been dormant for a while. The Student Board has also received contributions from the branches of the other NSU organisations.

The Student Board will work with educating student representatives, improving the continuity of the Student Democracy and preparing testimonials for student representatives The Student Board has produced a Handbook for student representatives containing some information of each of the various positions in the Student Democracy in NSU-Ås. It was made with financial support and with help from the information department on the lay out. The Handbook was printed in 250 copies and an English version is on its way. We have worked towards creating a well-functioning Student Democracy from grass root level. Most of the student councils have flourished this year and the attendance level is generally higher than before. Kick-off was held on the 9th of October where the focus was on argumentation techniques, rhetoric, integration and social activities. About 40 people were present and we are very content with the event.

The Student Board will work to improve the information provided about courses and schedules at UMB The administration has investigated the problems of courses changing the lecture times after the students have decided their study plan that semester. Guidelines are being created for this. Other wise, the information on courses and schedules has been good this autumn.

The Student Board will work to improve the students’ access to kindergartens close to Campus After SiÅs’ kindergarten was closed down before the autumn semester of 2006, there have been no kindergarten services especially for the students at UMB. On the 6th of November 2007 there were 120 children on a waiting list, out of which, 14 were children of students. The Student Board has met with Ås municipality to express their concern on the current situation. The outcome of the meeting was positive and a temporary kindergarten service for the students is being worked on for the spring semester of 2008. This is done together with the managing director of UMB and the managing director of SiÅs, and we hope to find a permanent solution by the beginning of the autumn semester of 2008. The administration of Ås municipality are willing to contribute in the process of creating a temporary solution for the coming semester, but such a case must first be approved by politically elected bodies before it can be initiated. The Student Board will continue working on this case after Christmas.

The Student Board will work towards establishing an arrangement of borrowing bikes along the lines of “City-bikes in Oslo” at the University of Life Sciences The Student Board has worked together with the Working Environment Committee (AMU) in this case. The employees at UMB are also interested in having some form of loaning


arrangement and Ås municipality is positive to the idea. The financial and practical aspects surrounding such an arrangement have not yet been worked out. The case has been sent to the Managing Directors group of leaders.

The Student Board will work to ensure that master students have equal rights in regards to guidance on the master thesis This autumn, a survey has been sent out to the students who recently finished their Masters Degree. The results from this study are not yet ready. The Student Board hopes that this survey will provide us with good data about how the students experience writing a master thesis at UMB, and are awaiting the work with this until the results are presented. These days a course for employees who are supervisors for master students is being prepared.

The Student Board will contact the Advisory group for the “Learning Centre” in the

Tower building, to map the progress made in this case The Advisory group has a meeting on the 19th of November, which is after the case documents are written. This is the first meeting since February.

The Student Board will work to offer Norwegian courses to all international students early in the semester This semester a Norwegian course was offered to all the international students, but several complaints on the progression of the course were received. Next semester an advanced class will be offered.

3.2 The University Board Honoured General Assembly

This is the report from student representatives in the University Board from the autumn of 2007. The activities of the University Board since the Spring GA 2007 Four meetings have been held since the spring GA. In addition there was a seminar for the board at Larkolle where the theme was the new strategic plan. The last meeting this autumn is the day after the GA, the 29th of November. New initiatives for renewable energy As a consequence of the long overdue initiative concerning renewable energy at UMB, at the September-meeting, a programme committee was appointed (including two students) with a mandate to develop a bachelor programme in renewable energy. On the 1st of November the board decided that the efforts will in the first run go over 5 years (2008-2012) based on the report “Research and education within energy at UMB” which was presented to the board by the Hoen-committee. It was also decided that the initiatives should be concentrated in a Centre for Renewable Energy which will be funded through UMB’s strategy funds, amongst others. In addition to the centre, an Energy-laboratory is being planned and hopefully this will be funded from external sources. The education-offers within renewable energy are also expanded with a cross disciplinary Bachelor programme (starting 2008/2009), and the 5-year Master programme in Technology, with a specialisation in Environmental Physics and Renewable Energy will be strengthened. New Strategic Plan 2009-2012 The work with a strategy is an important part of the board’s functions and responsibilities. As student representatives we want the students to feel familiar and influential when it comes to the new strategy, and therefore we are hoping that there will be a broad commitment amongst the student when the work with the new strategy begins (to be approved in June 2008). The Board’s guidelines, which were presented at the meeting in September, is that the visions from the strategy plan for 2006-2010 should be carried through and form the basis for renewing the strategy plan. A working group has been established to present suggestions for targets for the period of 2009-2010. In addition, the student representatives were able to pass a suggested resolution stating that there


should be at least two public inquiries in the departments and in the Student Democracy to ensure that there is a sense of ownership to the strategy amongst respective units. Study Programme Portfolio At the board meeting on the 1st of November it was decided to reduce the totals for the programme categories from 1200 to 1100 study seats. This was done based on the guidelines from the Ministry of Education and Research (KD) on the meeting with the government and also on the fact that maximum number of students was not reached in this years’ admission. A termination-rule was also established for programmes with a low number of applicants on three consecutive years. What measures that should be initiated when a programme is at risk will be considered for each case. It was also decided to stop the 5-year Masters degree in Technology: Applied Informatics from the autumn of 2008, as only 0, 2, and 1 student have showed up the past years. From 2008/2009 a 3-year Bachelor programme in Renewable Energy and a new field of study in Plant Pathology under the Master of Plant Science. Two programmes have changed names from 2008: natural sciences to free natural sciences and Spatial planning to Urban and regional planning. It has also been decided to keep the frames for the single courses, shorter programmes and exchange. UMB’s budget model At the June meeting an analysis of the effects of the budget model which topics ranged from the use of strategy funds, reorganisation effects and exchange cooperation was presented. At the meeting on the 1st of November the board decided to change the research component in order to maximise the profit from KD’s financing system. Problems connected to the budget model raise considerable debates and commitment in both the board and further down in the organisation. If this strong interest is also the case for the student body, feel free to contact us! Whether or not the model will be sent to a new revision during the spring of 2008 (last review in 2005) will be decided on the next board meeting on the 29th of November. Budget 2008 Before the budget treatment was started in November, a few clarifications were necessary. The board was very satisfied that the starting point of the maintenance budget for 2008 was 20 mill NOK, as it is an increase of 7,7 mill NOK from 2007. The buildings clearly show a lag on the maintenance side and the funds put aside only go to tasks required by law and acute maintenance measures. On the 2nd of November, the board had its first treatment of the Plan of the year of 2008. There will be a tight budget in 2008, mainly due to a low score on KD’s component results in the State budget and increased funds to maintenance. Several departments have reported a difficult year in 2008 due to the reduced budget. Some of the central communal activities have been stepped down in 2008. Delayed deadline for grading Since the meeting in June, 17 applications for a delayed deadline for grading have been approved. We believe that the deadlines should be kept and have therefore asked for an investigation into whether there are some “repeate offenders”. PhDs It is the University Board which gives the final approval of PhDs at UMB. Since the meeting in June, 21+ PhD degrees have been approved. In other words, there is still a good production of PhDs at Norway’s smallest, but best, university. New Heads of Departments During the course of the year, several Heads of Departments have been hired. These Heads of Department were haired over the course of several department meetings. At IHA the University Board had to advertise the position once again, and the originally hired Head of Department got a new position.


Other Activities This autumn there has also been two gatherings, called “Forum of Colleagues” (KOF) for the student representatives at the various universities and the university colleges linked to NSU. At Svalbard we were given an introduction to the organisation and running of the University Centre, and possibilities for exchange cooperation between our institutions. In Trondheim we have some intensive days with topics such as internationalisation and managing of finances on the agenda. However, we did have time to see the UKE-show at the “Studentersamfundet”. Meeting-books from the meetings of the University Board, case documents, and other information are available on the internet at: http://www.umb.no/?avd=13. The most comprehensive documents are found on UMB’s internal web pages: http://intern.umb.no/universitetsledelsen/. If anyone wants more detailed comments, or answers concerning other matters, feel free to contact us! Best wishes, Liv Hatleli and Dmitrijs Guzs

3.3 Committee of Study Issues The Committee of Study Issues has had three meetings before today’s GA. From the three meetings we have had so far, there are especially four cases we wish to orientate you on.

Case 31/2007 Changes in Regulations in the Field of Education Resolution: The Committee of Study Issues approves: Extended time for take-home exam

Students that for health reasons requires extended time for their exam/test, must apply for this to the Study Issues Unit within the deadline for signing up for the exam. Documentation from a doctor must be presented. An extension of 10 minutes is given for tests lasting for 45 minutes. A corresponding extension is given for tests with a duration up until 1,5 hours. If the test lasts for more than 2-3 hours, another 30 minutes is given in additional time. At take-home exams, the following extension is given: o Exam lasting 24 hours or more: 3 hours extra time o Exam lasting 36 hours or more: 5 hours extra time o Exam lasting 48 hours or more: 7 hours extra time It is the student’s own responsibility to inform the course responsible that they have been given extra time for their take-home exam.

“Blank” answers at written test

Student handing in a blank answer on their exam will fill out a form. It can be handed in minimum half an hour after the exam has started.

Courses with continuous evaluation – time for new test/postponed exam

For courses with continuous evaluation, a student can sign up for the exam only by the ordinary time for the course, see bullet point 12 under ad.4-7. Exception: Examinee with a lawful absence to a written ‘sub-test’ which is held in an ordinary exam period, or who has been present at the ‘sub-test’ and did not pass, can sign up again in the the first period for postponed exam/new test.


Deadline for grading: For courses with a continuous assessment where the course ends with a written test in the ordinary exam period the deadline for grading is 3 weeks (15 working days) after the date of the final exam. For courses with a continuous assessment without a final test in the ordinary exam period, the deadline for grading is 3 weeks (15 working days) after the last day of teaching in the parallel/block period. For free courses, the deadline for grading is 3 weeks (15 working days) after the final day of teaching. The above mentioned changes come into effect starting the 1st of August 2007. Case number: 58/2007 Names of Degrees

When the English version of the Transcript of Records is issued within UMB’s bachelor programme, the name of the degree will be: Bachelor of Science – ”English name of the programme”.

At UMB English bachelor programmes use the name Bachelor of Science.

The following is decided: • When the English version of the Transcript of Records is issued within UMB’s bachelor

programme, the name of the degree will be: Bachelor of Science – ”English name of the programme, with the exceptions of:

- Master in Entrepreneurship and Innovation - Master of Landscape Architecture

• At UMB English bachelor programmes use the name Bachelor of Science

• When a Diploma Supplement is issued the text is copied straight from the Transcript of

Records – no additional text may be added. Case number: 59/2007 Access for bachelor students to 300-level courses No formal restrictions against bachelor students taking 300-level courses are given, however there will be an increased focus on students having the required pre-knowledge stated for that course. This comes as a result of having unqualified students in 300-leve courses, which has created a difficult teaching situation with a large discrepancy in the various knowledge basis between master students in their final year with a strong specialisation within the fields in question and students with few relevant courses. Case number: 60/2007 Approval of the programme description of a 3-year bachelor: Renewable Energy A new programme in Renewable Energy is established and the Committee of Study Issues recommends some minimum requirements for natural science background. The composition of subjects so far seems to be directed towards biomass and use of this in renewable energy production. The establishment of a new course ENERGI 200 is planned. It will be possible to take 30 elective credits, where the student may specialise within the following areas; technical, social, planning, law and economics. All the best, Christian Fredrik Sandberg, Lars Jørund Østby, Ida Stjernstrøm, Ellinor May Aas and Helene Børretzen


3.4 Committee of Research Issues (FoN)

The Committee of Research Issues has had three meeting so far this autumn; 4th of September, 26th of September and 17th of October. At every meeting general research information is given. The Director of Research informs about relevant issues for UMB central, while the Head of Research at the various departments inform about current issues there. This autumn issues of particular interest have been the work on the new PhD handbook and the implementation of the new system for saving primary data. The research component of the budget model has been adjusted to become closer to the model of the Ministry of Education and Research (KD). Funds for staying abroad amounting to 2,4 mill NOK have been distributed. These funds are meant to cover travel and lodging expenses for researchers who are staying abroad for longer periods of time. In total, 150 000 NOK have been distributed in stipends for guest researchers.

3.5 The SiÅs Board Honoured General Assembly This is the report from the student representatives in the SiÅs Board from the autumn of 2007. 1. The SiÅs Board’s activities During the autumn semester SiÅs has had two board meetings, on the 4th of October and 9th of November. There was a seminar with Professor Per Ove Røkholt on the 18th of October, where the focus was on the board’s role, responsibility and work. In connection with the previous board meeting there was a three day seminar for the board from the 7th to the 9th of November. 2. Cases from the Board meetings As mentioned above, two meetings have been held so far. In this summary we will briefly inform you about the most important cases in the board this autumn. - Board meeting 4th of October

• The Board has decided to go in for geothermal heating in the new student residences in ‘The Apple Orchard’. The drilling wells will also be constructed so that they may supply all of Pentagon with geothermal heating. This project has a budget of about 10 mill NOK.

• The Board has approved that SiÅs makes a deal with UMB on the copying and printing services. This has led to a four-fold increase in the capacity with 18 copy/printing machines on campus. As a consequence the services are improved with a reduction in prices.

• Has gone through the account report for the 1st half of 2007. • The Board has decided to maintain the budget aims for the canteen services.

- Board meeting 9th of November • Review of various control routines in SiÅs concerning the processing of invoices. • Approved the budget for 2008 • Financial settlement at “Samfunnet”: the board decided that the administrator will

negotiate contracts which then will be presented for the board for approval.


3. Board seminar A board seminar from the 7th to the 9th of November was held in Brussels. The programme for the seminar was board meetings (see above), strategic plan and visit to Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

- A tour and lecture at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. The main topics were residences, canteen services, sports, integration of international students, financing, and alumnus.

- We discussed the strategic plan what we want to emphasise the next period. The plan will to a large extent be based on the previous one, but will be more closely linked to UMB and the Strategy for Student Life. Important changes will be a greater emphasis on environmentally friendly measures, sports, as well as the canteen services.

4. The Student Parliament Have participated in three Student Parliaments meetings so far. The student representatives try our best to attend as often we can, and on average 2 or 3 have been present. We have given reports at every Parliament, and have a case at ST-6. It is about the SiÅs’ canteen services. The purpose with the case is that SiÅs wants inputs from the students concerning the canteen services and the Student Board have a point on their activity programme stating that “The Student Board will, together with SiÅs, work towards improving the food services on Campus”. Therefore an open discussion was held where SiÅs should not get into a defence position. Previously information and facts were given about the current canteen structure and opening hours, as well as a few issues to be discussed. The results should be very interesting. 5. Other Student Welfare Organisation meeting

- The Chair of the Board has participated in a meeting of chairs of boards and, together with the managing director, at the Student Welfare Organisation meeting in Alta. Cases raised and worked on were:

o Presentation from the Ministry of Education and Research on the State budget and a new Foundation for student life.

o What happens with building of student residences in the future, with presentations from “Husbanken”, NSU and StL.

o Reputation and communication At the meeting of chairs of board the particular problems concerning mental health and alcohol- and narcotics-problems were discussed.

Meetings with the Student Board and US

- Have had two meetings with representatives from the Student Board and US during this autumn. Various guidelines for further work were clarified. There is agreement on that such meetings improve the cooperation and relationship between the different boards. It was proposed that there should be a ‘health day’ to focus on mental health and attitudes to alcohol. Hopefully this will be made possible through the collaboration with the Student Board, UMB, the Board of Samfunnet, UKA, and last but not least, all the clubs and organisations.

- The next meeting will be after New Years together with the newly elected representatives in the Student Board.

Beer-negotiations

- The students have participated in a clarification meeting with representatives from the Board of Samfunnet, and the House- and Finance Board concerning what has happened in the previous negotiations. It was agreed to ask leader of House and Finance and the managing director to sketch a suggestion for a solution.

- Chair of Board and managing director have had a discussion meeting with two representatives from House and Finance about a new model. It was very positive and everyone is concerned with finding a good solution. This work continues.


Summit meeting - Have participated in two summit meeting during this semester. In the meetings the

representatives give reports on what they have done. In addition we have discussed some cases, like kindergarten, career day, printing problems.

- Orientated on the current kindergarten services. The municipality have in the past sold places to other municipalities and thereby declined own possibilities of increasing the number of places. This year the municipality claims there has been an unforeseen increase in the number of children of students, and it is yet to be clarified if there are many children of students who do not have a place.

- Orientated on the problems of printing on campus. All the best from; Julie H. Arnseth, [email protected] Per Godø, [email protected] Jon-Kristian Sommerseth, [email protected] Klaus Brinch-Hansen, [email protected]

4 Lecturer of the Semester As part of the work to improve the quality of studies here at UMB, a committee was appointed to select Lecturer of the semester. This year’s committee has consisted of:

o Anniken Torset o Hedda Ivarrud Brisendal o Eirik Nesheim o Anders Myhr

This autumn 50 lecturers at UMB have been nominated to the prize for Lecturer of the semester. The committee has in their evaluation the candidate’s emphasised ability to pass on knowledge, course progression, communication with students and the ability to put the course into an overall context. The winner of the prize Lecturer of the Semester will be announced at the GA.

5 Action programme for the Student Board spring of 2008

5.1 The Student Board’s suggestion for action programme for the spring of 2008

1. The Student Board will, together with SiÅs, work towards improving the food services on Campus.

2. The Student Board will work to improve the students’ access to kindergartens close to Campus.

3. The Student Board will work to make quality of studies an issue in all forums at UMB.

4. The Student Board will work to strengthen UMB’s environmental work.

mailto:[email protected]





5. The Student Board will work to make the UMB campus safe to travel in.

6. The Student Board will work with educating the student representatives, improving the continuity of the Student Democracy.

7. The Student Board will work to make all buildings suitable for physically challenged people.

6 Election of chairmen in the Student Democracy in NSU-Ås At the GAs and Student Parliament sessions there have usually been two chairmen. At the Student Parliament before the GAs two students have been chosen to be the chairmen at the GA. Previously, at the Student Parliament sessions, the Vice-President and another member from the Student Board have been the chairmen. According to NSU’s new regulations, the Vice-President can not be the ordinary chairman. In 2007, external chairmen have been used to run the Student Parliament sessions. The Student Board is very pleased with this arrangement. There has also been very good feedback from other representatives at the Student Parliament concerning this arrangement. In other parts of the NSU organisation chairmen are elected. The Student Board suggests chairmen are elected also in the Student Democracy in NSU-Ås. The position as chairman is very important in the Student Democracy, therefore we wish to formalise the recruitment of chairmen in our organisation. In this way there will be an increased level of predictability in relation to who is the chairman at any given point in time. Additionally it will give greater opportunity for the chairmen to familiarise themselves with the organisations regulations. It will also strengthen our democracy to have an election for the position as chairman, in stead of the current procedure where the Student Board finds the chairmen themselves. The Student Board wants an arrangement where one elects one chairman in the spring GA and one in the autumn GA. The position as chairman lasts for one year. In this way there will be an overlap, where the most experienced teaches the new chairman. At the very first election two chairmen are elected, but one only for 6 months. The Student Board suggests that, starting from the spring GA 2008, chairmen for the Student Democracy NSU-Ås are elected. The chairmen are responsible for chairing the six Student Parliament sessions of the year, two GAs, as well as any extraordinary Student Parliament session and extraordinary GAs. Consequences: A potential introduction of elected chairmen requires changes in the regulations of NSU-Ås: Del 1.2 General Assembly § 49. b. Election of chairman. The point is removed. Del 1.2 General Assembly § 49. l. Election of President, International officer, and board member of the Student Board NSU-Ås, as well as a representative and a substitute to the University Board at the Spring General Assembly. New part of sentence inserted:” Election of President, International officer, and board member of the Student Board NSU-Ås, one chairman for the Student Democracy NSU-Ås, as well as a representative and a substitute to the University Board at the Spring General Assembly.” Del 1.2 The General Assembly § 49 m. Election of Vice-President, Welfare officer, and board member in the Student Board NSU-Ås, as well a representative and substitute for the University


Board, four representatives in the GA’s Election Committee and delegates to the NSU’s National Assembly with substitute at the Autumn GA. New part of sentence inserted:” Election of Vice-President, Welfare officer, and board member in the Student Board NSU-Ås, as well a representative and substitute for the University Board, four representatives in the GA’s Election Committee, one chairman for the Student Democracy NSU-Ås and delegates to the NSU’s National Assembly with substitute at the Autumn General Assembly.” Part 3 – The General Assembly’s rules of procedure § 125.Unless the General Assembly prefers otherwise, the Student Board NSU-Ås is responsible for finding two representatives who are not members of the Student Board to be the chairmen. The Secretary of the organisation is the reporter. The chairman is responsible for conducting the General Assembly according to the General Assembly’s regulations. The reporter is responsible for keeping the minutes from the General Assembly. New § 125: ”Chairmen elected by the General Assembly will be chairing the assemblies. The chairman is responsible for that the General Assembly is conducted the according to the General Assembly’s regulations. The Secretary of the organisation is responsible for keeping the minutes from the General Assembly”. It is suggested to remove § 125 and replace it with the new § 125. Suggested resolution: The GA approves that chairmen in the Student Democracy NSU-Ås are elected at the GA. The chairmen are responsible for chairing the six Student Parliament sessions of the year, two GAs, as well as any extraordinary Student Parliament session and extraordinary GAs. Necessary changes in the regulations of NSU-Ås will come into effect at the Spring GA 2008.

7 Common Election Committee for NSU-Ås’ Student Democracy

Currently the Student Democracy has two separate Election committees. The Election committee for the Student Parliament The Student Parliament’s Election Committee is elected at the ST-5 in the autumn and sits for a year. The Student Parliament’s Election Committee consists of three permanent members and three substitutes. The Student Parliament’s Election Committee is committed to spreading information and finding candidates for the positions to be filled and approved at the Student Parliament, as well as presents these for the Student Parliament. The Election Committee for the General Assembly The GA’s Election Committee is elected at the autumn GA and sits for one year. The GA’s Election Committee is committed to spreading information and finding candidates for the positions to be filled and approved at the Student Parliament, as well as presenting these for the GA. The two election committees have not functioned satisfactorily the past years. Today about 10 people are needed for the two election committees. It is very demanding to find students interested in being members of an election committee; consequently it has been problematic to fill the election committees with representatives. The Student Board feels it would be beneficial to merge the Student Parliament’s Election Committee and the GA’s Election Committee into a common Election Committee for the Student Democracy.


The Student Board suggests that four representatives for a common Election Committee, with the name “The Student Democracy’s Election Committee” are elected; two at the spring GA and another two are elected at the autumn GA. When the Student Democracy’s Election Committee is set up, four representatives are elected at once. The Student Democracy’s Election Committee will be responsible for finding candidates to the positions to be filled at the Student Parliament sessions and at the GAs. The Vice-President of the Student Board assists the Student Democracy’s Election Committee in their work. Consequences: If the GA approves the Student Boards suggestion, the GA’s Election Committee elected at this GA be members of this committee until the springs GA (meaning only for 6 months), where the new Election Committee is elected. The Student Parliament’s Election Committee elected at the ST-5 2007 will step down at the spring GA. A change to a common Election for the Student Democracy affects the regulations of NSU-ÅS. The affected paragraph in the regulations and in the rules of procedure, as well as a suggestion to the necessary changes follows: Part 1 General Part 1-2 – General Assembly: § 49. m: Election of Vice-President, Welfare officer, and board member in the Student Board NSU-Ås, as well a representative and substitute for the University Board, four representatives in the GA’s Election Committee and delegates to the NSU’s National Assembly with substitute at the Autumn GA. The part four representatives to the General Assembly’s Election Committee, is erased and replaced by ”two members of the Student Democracy’s Election Committee”. Part 1-2 – General Assembly § 49. l. Election of President, International officer, and board member of the Student Board NSU-Ås, as well as a representative and a substitute to the University Board at the Spring General Assembly. A new part is inserted after as well as a representative and a substitute to the University Board: ”and two members of the Student Democracy’s Election Committee”. Part 1-3- Ballot-box Elections: § 61. Candidates to be elected are presented by the General Assembly’s Election Committee is changed to “by the Student Democracy’s Election Committee”. Part 1-3- Ballot-box Elections: § 66. During the ballot-box elections candidates presented by the General Assembly’s Election committee should be voted on … The General Assembly’s Election Committee is changed to “The Student Democracy’s Election Committee”. Part 2- The Student Parliament’s rules of procedure, Part 2-3-2- The 2nd Student Parliament session in the autumn (ST-5): § 113 a. 3 permanent and 3 substitutes for the Student Parliament’s Election Committee. The positions last for 1 year. This point is removed.


Suggested resolution: The GA approves the common election committee for the whole of the NSU-Ås Student Democracy. The Student Democracy’s Election Committee is obligated to spread information about the various positions to be filled at Student Parliament session and GAs, to all the students at UMB. The Student Democracy’s Election Committee shall find candidates to each position, as well as present these for the Student Parliament and the GA. At the first elections for the Student Democracy’s Election Committee four representatives are elected, and then two representatives at each GA. The suggested changes in the regulations of NSU-Ås come into effect at the spring GA 2008.

8 Electronic Elections The Student Board appointed a committee to consider introducing electronic elections at the General Assembly in the autumn of 2006. The committee’s conclusion was put before the General Assembly in the spring of 2007. The committee’s conclusion was positive to introducing electronic elections, but this was not passed by the General Assembly. Instead a new point was added in the activity programme for autumn 2007: “The Student Board will finish a complete investigation into whether electronic elections are suitable for NSU-Ås or not”. One of the main arguments for this, and the reason the issue was raised in the first place, was to make it possible for students on fieldwork or exchange to vote. The results from this investigation were put forward as a discussion case in ST-4/07. A short summary of these results is that electronic elections are possible to conduct in ClassFronter, and that they therefore will be cost free. From the discussion it was clear that the visibility of the election was the most important and that the combination of paper and electronic elections would be preferable. However, there was no broad agreement on either of the alternatives. The further work on the issue was based on the discussion from the Student Parliament and it has now been found that a combination of electronic and paper elections is not practically possible in ClassFronter. This is because ClassFronter does not have any way of effectively removing a person’s access to folders, which may lead to extreme queues or cases of double voting. Therefore we have the choice between keeping the current election system, or changing to an electronic election. The Student Board finds that the advantages of a purely electronic election do not out-weigh the possible disadvantages, and this is therefore undesirable. The argument concerning the students away on fieldwork/exchange however is strong enough for an arrangement where they are given the opportunity to vote by email. The Student Board suggests that from the GA in the spring of 2008 it will be possible to vote by email for registered students who are unable to participate in the ballot-box elections due to excursions, fieldwork, exchange or stays abroad. Consequences: The possibility of voting by e-mail implies some necessary changes and additions to the regulations of NSU-Ås. Suggestions for new and altered paragraphs follow. Changes are underlined. The original paragraphs can be found in the Regulations for NSU-Ås (appendix 1 in the Norwegian version of the case documents). Added paragraphs in Part1-3-Ballot-Box Elections


New § 64 Registered students who are unable to participate in the ballot-box elections due to

excursions, fieldwork, exchange or stays abroad have the possibility of registering on a list that makes you eligible for voting by e-mail. Voting by e-mail will be done according to given guidelines.

New § 65 Guidelines for votes given by e-mail:

a. Registration must be done using e-mail from personal student address to the Student Board’s common e-mail address, [email protected], minimum seven days before the General Assembly. The Student Identification Number must be given.

b. Persons registering for voting by e-mail loses the possibility of giving ordinary votes, and are erased from the lists used at the ballot-box elections.

c. Immediately after the General Assembly an e-mail with a complete list over candidates running for elections, as well as the deadline for voting, is sent out to the registered e-mail addresses. The vote is given by replying, within stated deadline, and giving the candidates and their positions. Votes are rejected according to the ordinary guidelines.

d. The deadline for voting will be no later than at 14.00 on the first Friday after the General Assembly.

e. Votes given by e-mail are counted as ordinary votes and will be added to the votes from the ballot-box elections.

Paragraphs with changes in Part 1-2 – General Assembly: § 55. All elections are done using ballot-boxes with the possibility of voting by e-mail. If there is

only one candidate running for a position, this can be elected through acclamation if 2/3 of the GA thinks that the election should be done using ballot-boxes.

Paragraphs with changes in Part 1-3 – Ballot-box elections: § 63. The ballot-box elections begin immediately after the GA ends and will last at least an hour

after the GA is adjourned. The ballot-box elections will be open for two days after the GA. The ballot-box will be available for the voters for a time span of at least 2 hours between 08:00 to 16:00. The e-mail elections will be according to the given guidelines.

§ 69. The voter is to be registered as s/he is voting. Students who cannot show a valid student ID

do not have a right to vote. The e-mail elections will be held according to the given guidelines.

Paragraphs with changes in Part 3 – The General Assembly’s Rules of Procedure: § 131. An election protocol should be made after the votes have been counted. The election

protocol should contain:

a. Time and place of the election b. How long in advance was the election announced. c. How many (valid and invalid) votes were given, as well as how many of them were

given by e-mail. d. The positions to be filled and the candidates for these. e. Whether some of the candidates are running on lists/for some kind of group (political or

subject group) f. The fact that the elections are done using ballot-boxes with the possibility of voting by

e-mail. g. What number of votes each of the candidates got h. A list over who got elected into what position


Suggested resolution: The GA approves that from the GA in the spring of 2008 it is possible to vote by e-mail for registered students who, due to excursions, fieldwork, exchange or for other reasons are abroad and therefore are unable to participate in the ballot-box elections. As a consequence of this necessary additions and changes to the regulations are approved. The changes of the regulations come into effect at the GA of spring 2008.

9 Presentation to Ballot-Box elections For extensive questions concerning the various positions, please contact the Student Board in their office or on [email protected]. Suggestions for candidates between the time of printing and during the GA are allowed. The elected candidates sit for the whole calendar year of 2008. The ballot-box elections begin immediately after the GA ends and will last at least an hour after the GA is adjourned and then continue for two days at following times:

• Thursday 29/11 - The Post Office from 10:00 to 16:00 • Friday 30/11 - The Post Office from 10:00 to 16:00

The Student Board encourages all students to use their right to vote!

9.1 The Student Board NSU-Ås The Student Board is the face and mouthpiece of the NSU-Ås Student Democracy in meetings with UMB and the surrounding world. The Student Board is the GA’s and the Student Parliament’s working committee and prepare cases for the GAs and the Student Parliament sessions, and they follow up on resolutions made by the Student Parliament and the GA. The Student Board also represent the Student Parliament and the GA between meetings and during holidays.

9.1.1 Vice-President Daniel Huth Ommundsen – presentation see appendix 3

9.1.2 Welfare Officer Sverre Reikvam – see presentation in appendix 11 in the Norwegian version of the case documents

9.1.3 Board member

9.2 The University Board at UMB The University Board (US) is UMB’s highest decision making body. US consists of representatives from the university administration, the scientific employees, representatives outside UMB, researchers and students. They work with strategic cases and have 11 meetings every year. The student representatives are elected by the GA and must give reports both to the Student Parliament and the GA. In the Regulations for NSU-Ås Part 1-2 General Assembly § 54 it says the following: "In the elections for the University Board there are allocations by sex quotas, such that candidates of the opposite sex of the representative already sitting is preferred. If there are only candidates of the same sex running for elections, one of these will be elected ". At this GA a male representative is to be elected. One permanent and one substitute should be elected.



Candidates:

Permanent: Dmitrijs Guzs – see presentation in appendix 4 in the Norwegian version of the case documents Tor Einar Lundteigen – see presentation in appendix 12 in the Norwegian version of the case documents

Candidates:

Substitute:

9.3 The General Assembly’s election Committee Four people are to be elected. Candidates:

9.4 Delegates to NSU’s National Assembly The National Assembly is NSU’s highest body and brings together representatives from branches of NSU for three days of discussions, resolutions, elections and social events. The National Assembly runs NSU through their debates and resolutions. The National Assembly consists in total of 85 delegates with the right to speak, vote and make suggestions through the branches of NSU. Three delegates and three substitutes for the National Assembly are to be elected.

Candidates: Permanent: Nina K. Stein Helland – see presentation in appendix 5 in the Norwegian version of the case documents Torunn Berg – see presentation in appendix 6 in the Norwegian version of the case documents Pål Preede Revheim - see presentation in appendix 7 in the Norwegian version of the case documents

Vara representanter: Fredrik Moen Haaland – see presentation in appendix 8 in the Norwegian version of the case documents Daniela O. Fuentes - see presentation in appendix 9 in the Norwegian version of the case documents Julie Tangstad – see presentation in appendix 10 in the Norwegian version of the case documents

10 Other

10.1 Evaluation of the meeting

general assembly autumn 2007€¦ · 1. constitution .....4 1.1 approval of rules of...

Documents