AND WHAT IS THE “CONSTITUTED STUDENT BODY”?
Welcome to the AStA of the University of Trier, your elected student representative. The AStA (General Students’ Committee) is the “executive” of the constituted student body and is divided into twelve working areas (departments) as well as other working groups. The AStA organises services for the student body and represents it vis-à-vis the university and society. All work in the AStA is voluntary.
The student body, with its tasks and rights, is a public corporation and is enshrined in the State Higher Education Act (Landeshochschulgesetz). This gives students the right to administer themselves, i.e. to adopt their own statutes and regulations and to levy contributions from their members (“student self-administration”). This means that you are automatically members of the student body, which currently receives €16 of your semester fee. The money is administered by the AStA. The distribution of funds is decided by the student parliament via the budget.
The departments of the AStA are led by main advisors, who are supported and represented by co-referents. Eight main advisors are elected annually by the “legislature”, the student parliament. The four main advisors of the autonomous units are elected directly by their respective target group at a general assembly. The AStA has also set up working groups, such as Campusradio, CineAStA and AK Sport. The work of the AStA is regulated in its rules of procedure.
OTHER UNITS BODIES OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL STUDENT GOVERNMENT
The aforementioned student parliament (StuPa) has 25 seats and is elected directly by all students every year. Traditionally, the political lists on campus run for election. As a rule, the StuPa then forms an “AStA coalition” which agrees on a staff, important projects and the direction of the AStA in terms of content. Decisions made by the StuPa are binding for the AStA and the StuPa is the highest body of the student body, after the general assembly. The StuPa elects a presidium, sets up committees, e.g. the election committee, and elects the two student representatives on the Studierendenwerk’s administrative board.
In addition to the AStA and the StuPa, there are also the student bodies, the students of a subject. The student councilss are independent of the StuPa and AStA in terms of content, but are subject to the decisions of the StuPa and the financial supervision of the AStA. The sttudent bodies elect the student councils (FSR) of (more or less) individual subjects to represent them, not to be confused with the departmental councils (FBR) of the university. The FSRs together form the Autonomous Student Council Meeting (AFaT), in which they communicate with each other and with the AStA and distribute funds for the student councils.
STATE AND NATIONAL LEVEL
In addition, the AStA is part of the LandesAStenKonferenz RLP at the state level, which functions as the state student representative body. All ASten in the state meet there regularly to exchange ideas, debate and decide on common positions. The LAK is represented externally to politics and the public by a council of spokespersons. It is anchored in the Higher Education Act and is regularly consulted on draft legislation by the state government and the state parliament.
At the federal level, this task is carried out by the Free Association of Student Unions (fzs) e.v., which the AStA of the University of Trier rejoined as a supporting member in 2021.