The Landelijk Overleg van Fracties (LOF) is a national network of university councils, faculty councils, study programme committees and assessors with the aim of providing them with information, training and facilitating an exchange of knowledge and ideas.
The LOF aims to strengthen medezeggenschap and communicates good and bad examples of participation to the ministry of education to improve the rights and facilitation of student participation.
The LOF is affiliated to the Landelijke Studenten Vakbond (LSVb) and works closely with the HBO medezeggenschap.
As our organization is affiliated with Dutch institutions which are open to international students, we will try to have an open language policy in which the working language will be a mix of Dutch and English with most administrative terms in Dutch.
See below our calendar of trainings and events:
A university faculty led by a multi-person board must always have a student member. This student then has the function of (student) assessor. A Student Assessor ensures that the views of students within the faculty are heard in management-level decisions. The assessor thus sits in on meetings that are normally closed to students, providing a peek behind closed doors.
Assessors at faculty level have thus existed for some time, but by no means all universities have a central assessor yet. The UvA was the first, Groningen and Utrecht followed, and the HvA too currently has a central assessor. But what exactly is the added value of an assessor and what does this person do at central level? What exactly is the administrative difference with the medezeggenschap?
On this evening, a number of assessors from both the college and the university will talk about their experience in their time as assessors. Free refreshments will be available.
With students from hogescholen and universities, we will engage in a discussion with the LSVb to see what is needed to improve student welfare. We will also gain inspiration by discussing the facilities different institutions have with each other. For example, some students have developed great initiatives during the lockdown, such as Frisse Gedachtes. Also because of a huge amount of money made available by the government to improve student-wellbeing during the corona pandemic a lot of new initiatives emerges. What can we learn from these initiatives created during the pandemic? Which ones are here to stay?
Do you have a good initiative? Let us know in advance at lof@lsvb.nl.
From September 1st, 2022, a new LOF board has taken office: namely Rémi ter Haar and Zino Duckers. Both have extensive experience in university participation. Rémi at Utrecht University and Zino at the Radboud University. They look forward to getting to know you and your successors!
“Ik zie medezeggenschap als een manier waarop jongeren hun stem kunnen laten horen. Afgelopen jaar heb ik mij via de medezeggenschap van de Universiteit Utrecht ingezet voor eerstegeneratiestudenten, menstruatieproducten en duurzaamheid. Met alle ontwikkelingen bij OCW, heb ik ontzettend veel zin aankomend jaar de medezeggenschap landelijk te ondersteunen.”
“Tijdens mijn jaar in de Universitaire Studentenraad aan de Radboud Universiteit heb ik veel geleerd over het reilen en zeilen van de Medezegenschapsorganen op Universiteiten. Kennis die ik wil inzetten om de medezeggenschap op alle universiteiten te ondersteunen. Het belooft een innoverend jaar te worden, zeker gezien alle veranderingen die er voor het hoger onderwijs aan zitten te komen.”