About the Student Union
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History

The Student Union was founded on July 2nd, 1999. The trajectory that preceded its founding was initiated by Board of Governors at the time. Eventually the plan served as a guide for the foundation and its statutes.

Student Union founding planStudent Union founding plan (114 kB)


In 1997 a reorientation of the Campus and student facilities was started. This was the result of the desire to give an extra impulse to students’ roles and functions within the University of Twente. Students and employees have cooperated since 1997 to create a new organisation for the Campus and student facilities.

In 1998 the Future Campus/Student facilities memorandum was published. In this memorandum the Board of Governors states that it has chosen an organisation in which a student board will be set up that meets the criteria of broad academic development. The student board will be given as much authority as possible and will also manage three buildings: the Bastille, the Pakkerij and the Water Sports Complex. The Student Affairs Service, the current Student & Education Service Centre (S&O) will further support the student board in its duties. In May 1998 the Board of Governors decided on the organisational form for the student board: The Student Union.

After this decision by the Board of Governors the Student campus interim board started its work in September 1998. They had a three-fold task:

  1. Take over the daily affairs from the Campus Service council and the Campus board;
  2. Draw up a proposal for the Student Union’s management, organisational and financial aspects;
  3. Integrate the Student Union’s developments into the Bastille’s renovation.

This eventually resulted in the Student Union’s current form. During this process ideas and opinions of students and employees were taken into account. Significant consultation with students and employees preceded the current form of the Student Union.

The final proposal for the Student Union was sent to the Board of Governors in January, 1999. The Student Union was founded on July 2nd, 1999 after the Board and the Main Student Council had come to an agreement and the notary drew up the statutes.

The Campus Facility Council (RCV) was the Student Union’s predecessor. The RCV had 15 seats, three of which were occupied by students that were chosen by University students. Three different political parties supplied the students for the RCV. As ordered by the University Council the RCV and the Campus board (CC) managed the Campus together. The Campus Board consisted of 2 students who worked full-time on behalf of the board. The CC prepared the policies and met with the RCV one a month to take decisions. The Campus facility service was in charge of executing policy. This service later merged with the Student Affairs Service to form the Student Facility and Campus Service. The Student Affairs Service was, among other things, responsible for enrolment, the student psychologist desk and the deans. The Campus Facility Service managed sports and cultural facilities. One of the bottlenecks of the latter is that the Campus Facility Service fell under the responsibility the director of Campus Facilities, who reported both to the Board of Governors and the RCV. There were numerous other bottlenecks in this organisational form. With the implementation of the new University Board Modernisation Regulation this organisational form was no longer adequate. Managing organs such as the University Council and the RCV had to make room for participatory based structures.

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