The fundamental principles of the Groningen Students’ Union (GSb) are the guidance on which the GSb will act to represent the interests of all students in Groningen, according to our statues. Obviously, many things are very vulnerable to changes and every new academic year and with each new board things will change actually. However, all actions and statements will be based on these fundamental principles.

Goals

• Everyone should have the opportunity to participate in higher education.
• Students should have the opportunity to be represented by and to organize themselves in a (national) student union.
• The Groningen Students’ Union (GSb) is a trade union for all students and future students of higher education in Groningen and as such all means the union’s disposal to use to represent the interests of its audience.
• The GSb will work against discrimination in higher education in whatever form, inter alia, racism, sexism, financial situation, origin, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age or disability. According to the GSb, it is fundamentally wrong to hinder people to participate in higher education on the basis of the above forms of discrimination.
• The GSb believes that caring for Higher Education is a public service. The government must spend an adequate portion of its budget to education. This money should be primarily used to improve and maintain the quality of education.
• The GSb believes that an educational institution serves as an example and plays an important social role in the region in general and the institution as part its policy to vote on is down, inter alia, in the areas of sustainability and ethics. It must bear this out towards the student and society.

Method

The GSb seeks to achieve its objectives by:

• Representing its members and represent interests of students;
• Maintaining contacts and participate (in) with / other (student) organizations and institutions in Groningen, in the country and abroad;
• The establishment of the necessary elements for the performance of its duties;
• Offering help, advice and information in many areas to students and prospective students;
• Participating in representative bodies;
• Doing research and writing notes;
• the conduct of organized actions, provided that reasonable consultation is not clear or has proved fruitless as possible;
• the granting of legal status assistance to students;
• to use all other legal means that are conducive to the goals.

Quality of Education

• The principle of academic freedom should apply to the entire higher education system.
• The government is responsible for adequate resources for higher education, the institutions responsible for implementation and are required to ensure optimal quality of education. The government must ensure an objective review.
• The GSb believes that students have a right to adequate time to complete their studies.
• The GSb believes that students are entitled to a feasible and quality program without unnecessary blocking schemes.
• In case of insufficient study program contributes to the institution responsible for the full financial compensation to students.
• The GSb believes that students have the right to separate from the normal training, everywhere inside and outside the institution, with no additional fees to pay, to follow courses
  provided that they are of a similar level and the student meets the entry requirements. The blocks must then be recognized and honored by the institution with ECs.
• The GSb believes that students have the right to acquire overseas study / internship experiences. The institution should provide opportunity and support for this and recognize study abroad / internship experience. The government should provide sufficient resources to make this possible.
• The GSb believes that an institution must ensure proper counseling of students. An institution, a student can only advise his / her course of study, but should not be authorized to advise a student binding on whether or not to continue the study because it affects academic freedom.
• The GSb aims both to transparency, consistency and reliability in the legislation as study in the pricing policy.
• According to the WHW (Law on Higher Education), institutions are required to inform students on time about their rights and obligations. The GSb believes that the institutions in this field must always continue to strive for the best possible information transfer processes.
• Students in the Netherlands have the right to attend lectures in the national language. If using a different language, it must be clear well in advance, and the other language has to be propagated by the teacher at a high level. The institutions have a duty to ensure free and accessible service training programmes for students and teachers in the language.
• According to the GSb, it is the duty of the institution to have good, clear regulations and information and adequate facilities for students with disabilities.
• Students who are facing special circumstances during their studies should be supported financially and otherwise by the institution and the government.

Participation

• The GSb believes that participation of students in education improves the quality of the educational institutions.
• The GSb believes that students are entitled to have a say in their education at all levels, with regard to general democratic standards.
• The GSb believes that student participation has been reduced to an unacceptable level by national measurements. The GSb will therefore work actively to improve the participation of students. The GSb agrees that students not only have the right to participation but also to engage in co-management.
• Higher education institutions have the responsibility to notify students to the possibility of participation and to encourage students to participate in participation.
• The GSb believes that members of representative bodies should be elected democratically and through open recruitment processes. This also applies to Programme Committee members and student managers.

Living Conditions

• The GSb believes that lack of funds should never be a reason to withdraw from participation in higher education; The government must therefore ensure adequate financial support for students.
• If the government chooses to oblige parents or guardians to pay a certain amount of studying costs, this amount should be related to income and to law. The law must be held above a certain amount that is adequate, even for exceptional circumstances. It is also necessary to ensure the practical implementation, preferably through linkage with the tax authorities.
• The mobility of students should be ensured. The OV-student card is an effective way to achieve this, but not at the expense of the ensured financial grant by the government.
• The (national and / or local) laws and policies should not impede the availability and quality of housing to students. It is the responsibility of government institutions to ensure decent housing facilities. Students have a right to adequate, affordable and safe housing.
• The GSb believes that student activities increases the societal participation of students and that both students and society benefit from this. Therefore student activities should be encouraged.
• Since education is an important community property, it should be offered in an accessible way and without charging tuition fees.