Lijst Calimero is one of the parties in the University Council that focuses on the most important issues arising in the life of a student: guaranteeing the best quality of education, well-being, inclusion, social safety. We are a critical and well-informed party. Moreover, we came up with different proposals such as offering free menstruation products in all university buildings, lowering the BSA in 2021 and reacting negatively towards the protest rules this past year. Quality is a choice, so make yours!
1. How should the RUG contribute to the fight against climate change?
We believe our university has a responsibility to ensure a sustainable future for their students. We want to take a broad approach to this issue this year.
For everyday sustainability initiatives, we have identified some key issues that the university should take care of: For example, ensuring more sustainable canteens, less single use materials and avoiding as much food waste as possible.
When it comes to the big picture, we believe the university should contribute not just to a sustainable institution but also to a sustainable society - this is why we are advocating for the university to end its partnership with parties which have a role in the trade/commerce of fossil fuels.
2. What should the university do to ensure academic freedom and social safety?
We ask the university to take measures for guaranteeing social safety within the university environment. Students and staff often are not sufficiently listened to with regards to the problems or questions they have. The university should provide accessible resources for students and staff to voice their concerns. Making the processes for reporting easier and accessible is necessary to guarantee social safety.
Furthermore, the university should encourage existing initiatives and take more responsibility in addressing current issues. Moreover, we believe that academic freedom is a central element of a socially safe university; researchers should be able to conduct critical research without the interference from supervisors, and the university should provide legal support in cases of unreasonable lawsuits.
3. What is the most important aspect to improve student and staff well-being? What would you want to change?
The university should clearly communicate the wellbeing resources that it has. To provide a healthier environment for both students and staff, the available resources offered by the Student Service Center and the university should be centrally communicated better to students. Features like a central wellbeing portal and a flowchart of resources are examples to ensure this centralized communication.
Faculties can also learn from each other about decentralized well-being resources, and they should make use of grassroots initiatives started by students. We believe that student-wellbeing is elementary to a healthy university experience, therefore the university should enable a healthy work-life balance for students. This can be done by applying faculty best practices in this matter on the university level.
4. To what extent should the RUG enable flex-study? And what would that look like in practice?
We don’t believe the flex-study measure to be beneficial for the development of students in their academic abilities. However, giving students more freedom within their programme and incorporating more interdisciplinary educational opportunities could allow for more accessible education.
5. Student and job market.
It regularly appears that students at the RUG are not completely satisfied with the way they are prepared for the transition to the labour market. What can be done about this? Name three measures or actions.
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We want to first identify the overarching reason for this. Knowing why students feel unprepared will then make it easier to provide a solution. We can do this by establishing closer contact with alumni, and comparing their experiences with the expectations of current students.
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We want to provide students with more and better opportunities to specialize in their desired workfield. This will be done by expanding the possibilities students can undertake in their minor space, or even extracurricularly.
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We want to provide students with the opportunity to pursue work next to their study, if they so desire, which will give them valuable experience and networking opportunities. This can be accomplished by expanding work opportunities at the UG, but also by improving study-life balance through more structured scheduling of classes.
6. Internationalization
What can or should the university do to make the international students present feel more at home and better integrated?
In the approaching possibility of a transition linked to the Balanced Internationalisation Act (Wet internationalisering in balans, WIB) Internalisation Bill, we believe that today and tomorrow's students should not see themselves negatively impacted by the proposed policy. One solution is to develop better vertical communication between the University staff and students, so students can be sufficiently prepared for any potential changes. Moreover, organizing and promoting activities for both which have both Dutch and non-Dutch students and/or staff in attendance would aid in building a more united community and bridging the gap between students.
7. Education
What needs to change in education as it is currently offered at the RUG?
Firstly, the possibilities offered to students must be made clearer. Whether it is taking an additional course or appealing the BSA decision, it seems that students commonly do not know the clear procedure or requirements put before them, which affects the quality of their education.
Secondly, in order to prepare students for their future, the possibility of doing a minor should be increased. It would allow for a more personalized education, which would be a valuable addition to the students’ study plan.
Thirdly, we believe the current arrangement of the educational schedule can often be erratic, and needlessly stretch into morning or evening hours. This also negatively affects students’ work-life balance which in the long run can hinder performance. Since studying at university is already often equated to a regular job, we believe there should be no classes taking place outside of normal working hours (meaning no classes before 9AM or after 5PM).
STATEMENTS
Teaching assistants are so important in education that it is necessary to invest extra in the quality of teaching assistants.
Trained and professionalized teaching assistants would indeed highly improve the quality of teaching at the UG. Lijst Calimero is already drawing attention to this issue in collaboration with Teaching Academy Groningen, who have started a TA sounding board, to better equip TAs with the necessary tools and beneficial policies, in order to facilitate their teaching abilities. In this way we want to highlight that investment in TA professionalization is necessary in a university that relies on TAs - it not only helps students receive higher quality education, but also TAs themselves as they get more acquainted with not only the subject but also the interpersonal competencies needed for good didactics.
Students have more than enough opportunities to participate and co-decide on the content and quality of education.
While there are many theoretical opportunities for students to influence these decisions, we believe there are still practical obstacles that need to be overcome. Communication about the existing measures needs to be improved - many resources for these opportunities are only available in Dutch, which, in a university with more than 25% international students is unacceptable. Even if there is no language barrier, however, there is a general lack of transparency that makes it harder for all students to govern their own education.
It is a very good idea to ban laptops, phones and other devices during lectures.
We disagree with this statement, as such technologies are a useful tool perpetrating academic excellence. Therefore, we believe that instead of banning laptops or other such devices, the curriculum must be adjusted in order to meet the challenges arising with technological development. This would create the possibility to teach students not only the prescribed content, but also skills useful for them in the future. For instance, instead of being against using AI, we advocate for a better understanding of it and its larger implications. Instead of banning certain technologies, we strive for their integration into education in the most productive way possible.
A healthy Campus also includes lots of greenery, an attractive student restaurant with music, lectures and culture.
Not only do we firmly agree with this statement, but this is also something supported widely by existing research. As an academic institution we should follow the ideals we advocate for, and provide students with empirically proven wellness measures such as this.
From May 21 to 25, we celebrate the 410th anniversary of the RUG. That's nice, but actually a celebration for students and staff of the RUG should be organized every year.
While we believe the student and staff body at the university should be celebrated every day for the work they put in, we also believe that a party on the scale of the anniversary parties every year would be an irresponsible decision with the already existing budget problems in mind. Instead, the university should do more to make its students and staff proud of the institution they attend, by creating smaller, but more meaningful opportunities for community building, mutual support, and the highest standard of education and cooperation possible. Being flashy is not the only way to celebrate - sometimes it’s enough to feel like you are in the right place with the right people.
