In addition to central and decentralised codetermination, there is also participation at programme level: the programme committee. The programme committee consists of students (also referred to as student members of the programme committee) and lecturers from that programme. They are the discussion partners of the programme director. In principle, the members of a programme committee are elected, unless the institution has established an appointment procedure for this purpose.
The programme committee has the right of consent on everything related to the content of the programmes, for example the Teaching and Examination Regulations (OER) and the way in which teaching is evaluated. In addition, the committee may issue advice on all matters relating to education and training. The latter can therefore include anything that the programme committee wishes to raise, but in the form of advice, for example. To this end, the committee has the right to advise, the right to information and the right of initiative. The right of consent in the area of education implementation, for example personnel planning and finances, lies with the decentralised or central participation council.
The rights of the programme committee are regulated in the 2017 Act on Strengthening Administrative Power. Until 2017, the committee only had the right to issue advice to the programme management. Since the Wvb came into force, the programme committee has been a formal part of the participation system. This has expanded the committee’s rights and facilities. Since then, the National Committee for Higher Education Participation Disputes has also recognised the programme committee as a party that can conduct dispute proceedings.
OC Guide
Are you a member of an Education Committee? To help you on your way, the LOF, HBO medezeggenschap and the LSVb have written the OC Guide. Read more about the OC Guide here, download it for free or order a hard copy.