Senate

The Senate is one of the central governing bodies of Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences. Its responsibilities are set forth in Section 22 of the North Rhine-Westphalia Higher Education Act (HG).

In this regard, the Senate is the body responsible for enacting bylaws and, in particular, adopts and amends the university’s Basic Bylaws, framework regulations, and other regulations, unless the Higher Education Act provides otherwise.

The Senate’s statutory duties also include issuing an opinion on the Presidium’s annual report, approving the university’s planning principles, and making recommendations and issuing opinions on the university development plan, the university contract, the evaluation reports, the budget plan, and the principles governing the allocation of positions and funds to the faculties, the central research institutions, and the central administrative units.

Furthermore, the Senate may issue recommendations and statements on matters of research, teaching, and student affairs that affect the entire university or central institutions, or that are of fundamental importance.

Its voting members also participate in the university electoral assembly in the election and removal of members of the Executive Board.

Meetings and Composition

The Senate generally meets once a month. The meeting dates can be found in the university’s meeting schedule. The respective agendas and the approved minutes are available to university members in the university’s public Moodle course.

Senate meetings are open to the university community (Section 12(2), sentence 1, of the Higher Education Act [HG]). Personnel and examination matters are dealt with in closed session in accordance with Section 12(2), sentence 3, of the Higher Education Act [HG].

Pursuant to Section 6 of the Constitution, the Senate consists of 40 members.

25 members are eligible to vote. These are distributed among the university’s four member groups as follows:

10 representatives of the faculty,
5 representatives of the academic staff,
5 representatives of the technical and administrative staff, and
5 representatives of the students.

The term of office for student members is one year. The term of office for the remaining members with voting rights is two years.

The Senate also includes 15 members with advisory status. These include the members of the Executive Board, the deans, the liaison for people with severe disabilities, the representative for students with disabilities or chronic illnesses, the chairs of the staff councils, the chair of the General Student Committee (AStA), and the equal opportunities officer.