What is the student parliament

The student parliament is the highest decision-making body representing all students. It is elected annually in the summer semester.

The AStA (General Student Comitee) is elected by the student parliament with an absolute majority. After its election, it is obliged to report in detail about its activities to the student parliament at every meeting. The members of the student parliament can ask questions to the AStA and express criticism and suggestions regarding its work.

All enrolled students pay a semester fee of about 250 euros per semester. Of this amount, just under 10 euros are student union fees. This money is partly tied to projects such as the Queerreferat or the university radio, but to a large extent the AStA and the student body of a faculty can dispose of the money freely. The AStA prepares a budget for this purpose each year and the student parliament decides on it. So the elections are your chance to decide what to do with your money. Furthermore, the AStA negotiates the semester tickets with the ASEAG (Aachen’s tram and energy supply company), which make up the largest part of the semester fee. The rest of the money goes to the Studierendenwerk.

In order to ensure that all activities of the AStA and the student body run legally, the student parliament issues a statute and several supplementary regulations. One of these supplementary regulations is the contribution regulation, which regulates the amount and the purpose of the student body contribution.

Further information about the student parliament and the student body can be found in the Handbook of university politics of the AStA of the RWTH: