Student influence
You have the right to influence your education and the University has a responsibility to create good conditions for you to be able to affect the way that the University works.
Ways to influence your studies
Examples of how you can influence your studies are:
- Answer the course evaluation at the end of each course.
- Contact the course coordinator if you have comments on the course.
- Respond to surveys about your study environment.
- Get involved as a student representative.
- Get involved as a student work environment representative (SAMO).
- Become a student union member to vote in union elections or otherwise get involved.
You can contact your student union to find out more about how you can make a difference where you're studying. There is also information if you want to find out more about study environment, student work environment representatives and your rights and responsibilities.
Being a student representative
You have the right to be represented in all decision-making and preparatory bodies that have an impact on education and the situation of students. As a student representative, you contribute an important perspective on the University's activities and have the opportunity to directly influence your and your fellow students' education and study environment.
You need time and commitment to be a student representative. Exactly how much depends on the nature of the task in the body to which you are elected.
As a student representative, you are expected to attend meetings and come to them prepared. You need to read the meeting documents and other materials sent out before the meetings. You also need to have regular contact with any other student representatives in your body and, if necessary, contact the student union if questions arise. If you are unable to attend, you must notify any replacement.
Student influence is regulated by national laws and regulations. In addition, there are local policy documents that regulate how student influence should take place at the University of Gothenburg. You can find these on the page Laws and regulations.
Please note that most student representative assignments require a good knowledge of Swedish. For information on where and how you can get involved, talk to your student union.
Financial compensation for student representatives
- Information about any financial compensation for a position as a student representative shall be stated in the student unions’ list of student representative assignments. For positions where student representatives receive financial compensation, student representatives receive a fee of SEK 1000 per meeting day, including preparatory and follow-up work.
- Substitutes participate when the regular student representative is prevented from attending, and receive a fee in cases where they replace the regular representative.
- If you have questions about fees, please contact the coordinator or secretary of the body where you have participated as a student representative.
- Financial compensation for student representatives at first- and second-cycle level is regulated in the Rules for student influence, which you can find on the page Laws and regulations.
Register your account with Swedbank
You need to register your account number with Swedbank in order for payment to be made to your bank account. You can do this with a mobile BankID via Swedbank's website. If you do not have BankID or for some other reason cannot register a bank account, more information is available on the Staff Portal.
Forms
For student representative assignments where financial compensation is received, you must fill in a form at the end of each semester. Please note that there is a separate procedure and form for student representatives who receive monthly fees from the students’ union or the co-operation body of the students’ unions. The forms are currently only available in Swedish.
How to become a student representative
You always go through the student unions if you are interested in becoming a student representative.
Every spring, the University and the student unions must establish an up-to-date list of available student representative assignments for the coming year. This is done at the department level, the faculty level and the University-wide level.
Departmental and faculty bodies
Student representatives to departmental and faculty bodies are appointed by the student union where you are studying For information on available student representative assignments at the department or faculty, contact your student union.
Student unions and associations
University-wide bodies
The student unions have a joint responsibility to appoint student representatives to bodies that do not belong to a specific faculty, so-called University-wide bodies, and to other assignments at the University-wide level. For information on available student representative assignments at the University-wide level, contact val@gus.gu.se. There is also information available in Swedish on the University of Gothenburg Student Unions' website.
Learn more about student influence
There is a resource page with more in-depth information about student influence at the University of Gothenburg, aimed toward student representatives or anyone who wants to learn more about the topic.