General

What is the National Participation Helpdesk?

This heldesk is an initiative intended to support employees and students from participation in higher education. We do this in various ways:

• We provide accessible manuals and advice on things you might encounter as a member of the participation body.
• We proactively contact participation councils to ask about problems.
• We provide accessible assistance to representatives who need it.
• We can refer you to other organizations that help participation.
• We connect participation bodies that experience problems with participation bodies that have experienced the same problem.

According to the law, students and staff of higher education in the Netherlands must be able to have a say and sometimes even participate in decision-making regarding the management of the educational institution. Because administrators of educational institutions cannot talk to everyone, students and staff choose people to speak on their behalf. These people form the participation councils. 

There are three types of participation councils. The names of these types vary by educational institution, but their forms are legally defined. The first type is the central council. This council regularly consults with the Executive Board. The council deals with policies affecting the entire institution and can, for example, co-decide on the budget and the institutional plan. 

The second type is the decentralized council. If an educational institution is divided into different faculties or departments, each faculty or department must have a decentralized council. This council focuses on policies relevant to the respective faculty or department. They consult with the faculty’s administration and co-decide on matters such as assessment timing and methods. 

The third type is the program committees. Each program must have a program committee. Program committees contribute to the content-related discussions about the education of their program. They, for example, co-decide on the skills students must acquire. 

It is important that the participation councils can properly represent the interests of students and colleagues. Therefore, the government has stipulated that the various types of participation councils each have a range of rights and obligations. You can read more about them here.