Mandatory lectures and tutoring are at odds with an academic environment that should be promoting self-development and individual responsibility.

AKKUraatd, in cooperation with other parties, initiated a 2017/2018 pilot in which active students will be able to study on a special agenda, freeing them from most mandatory lectures and workgroups, as well as giving them access to improved study accompaniment.

We believe higher education should be accessible for everyone who has the required capabilities. AKKUraatd believes this to be one of the most important aspects of higher education. A binding study advice increases pressure on incoming students, and limits options of personal development outside of the regular curriculum. The quality of education should be the primary motivator instead of forms of extrinsic motivation as e.g. the binding study advice. AKKUraatd therefore remains vigilant to the concept of a binding study advice as a whole and proposes to work with an urgent study advice that leaves the final decision to the student

With the introduction of the student loan system, a significant amount of extra funding will be spent on education within the next years. AKKUraatd expects that that quality of education can be significantly improved by reduing the students per lecturer ratio, e.g. by decreasing tutorial sizes. This would increase the frequency of student-lecturer interactions and would make our tutorials a lot more personal. This is why AKKUraatd will ask the Board of Executives to allocate the majority of these extra funds to be spent on extra tutors and instructors. This would decrease the size of workgroups and would allow for broader variety of specialization to become available.

Innovation, interaction, and intrinsic motivation form the basics of high-quality education. Weblectures give students the possibility to plan their lectures flexibly, making it easier to combine study and extracurricular activities, such as board-memberships, participating in sports or students who need to take care of familymembers. Weblectures should not replace, but complement real-life lectures. AKKUraatd therefore proposes to make weblectures a standard wherever it’s in any way beneficial.

The costs of student life already weigh as a heavy burden on most students. With the removal of study financing, the financial situations of many students have become quite difficult. This is why AKKUraatdstrives to oppose all kinds of extra expenses. Examples include readers, software licensing, and even mandatory study trips that are prohibited by law if a free alternative isn’t offered. Obviously, the alternatives which are offered must be decent, and need to be communicated in a better way. An easy solution AKKUraatd proposes would be to announce the alternatives in the study guides.

AKKUraatd emphasizes that language proficiency is a necessary part of being able to “Change perspective”. A free language course for both international and Dutch students would be beneficial to overcome language barriers.
International students, even those that are here long-term, seem to remain in the so called “international bubble” which contradicts the ideal of intercultural exchange. By giving international students an incentive to learn Dutch, active integration could be greatly stimulated.
Dutch students could benefit from a language course as well. As many Erasmus destinations only offer courses in the local language, a language course could students actively prepare for their Erasmus stay beforehand. This would enabled students to choose from a much broader variety of destinations.

Academic education goes beyond the borders of the own faculty. Students, just as staff members tend to remain within their own faculty, even though there’s much to be learned at other faculties.
During an inter-faculty exchange day, students would get an accessible chance to take a peek at courses that might be interesting for e.g. a future minor. Lecturers would we able to get an impression at how lecturers from other faculties teach their students.
AKKUraatd expects an inter-faculty exchange day to have a positive impact on expanding
the horizon of individual to the extent that it could benefit the quality of education as a whole.

Many books aren’t lendable, which requires students to work within university walls. This remains an ongoing issue, as opening hours are still limited for most libraries, especially at the faculties of law, medicine and science. This is why AKKUraatd wants to longer opening hours during both workdays and weekends.

Loneliness, depression, and burn-outs are examples of psychological issues which students tend to be confronted with. AKKUraatd assisted in lowering the admittance fee for an intake at the university’s psychologists from €25 to €10. As more and more students are making use of this intake, AKKUraatd would like to see additional psychologists being hired to decrease the current waiting times. Additionally, structural improvements with regard to referral of students’ who are in need of professional help seems to be in order.

The “Radboud Breakfast”, consisting of fresh bread, filling, a cooked egg and two drinks was launched in 2015 and has been met with great success. However, it is currently only offered at the “Refter”. AKKUraatd thinks that all students should be able to enjoy this, and therefore wants to make sure that the Radboud Breakfast will soon be offered all over campus.

Privacy policy on campus is vague and outdated, and updating it should be a priority the next year. AKKUraatd wants to achieve updated regulations that protect every individual’s data. It shouldn’t be possible at all to gain insight into personal information of students and lecturers. Lecturers continuously releasing excel spreadsheets disclosing people’s student number and the according grade is a striking example to why a privacy update is needed.

With the cultural center that is set to be finished in 2018, Radboud University will be equipped with a location for shows and presentations. However, in its current state it lacks rooms for rehearsal. AKKUraatd strives to achieve a real cultural center that promotes culture on campus. A culture subscription could be introduced that will give students an accessible admission to the broad variety that the student life of Nijmegen has to offer.

Students that engage in extracurricular activities that are acknowledged by the university are eligible for an financial compensation, which is paid by the university. However, there are several limitations to this fund, such as a collecting a minimum of 39 European Credits in the year before their board-membership. AKKUraatd thinks that these limitations don’t do justice to the amounts of work that has to be accomplished within a board year and therefore wants these limitations to be removed.

The academic world is filled with people from a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds, and various genders. Compared to other Dutch university, the RU is behind on diversity aspects. This is a definite shortcoming, as a diverse university opens up new perspectives and ideas. Diversity can be achieved via different ways: attracting international students and researchers for example. AKKUraatd would like to see a diversity officer hired on campus, who could research possible ways of improving diversity at the Radboud University. The officer in question could furthermore be linked to the national panel to exchange knowledge.

One of the easiest ways to reduce the waste of paper is by simply using less paper. If all course materials are accessible digitally, students can choose whether they want to buy a reader or whether they use a tablet or laptop to read their course materials. In this manner, students are no longer obliged to buy hard-copies, which are often used only once. To make digital course materials more attractive, the university should provide more working places with computers and room for laptops. Moreover, the university should provide more power outlets in classrooms to facilitate the use of laptops and tablets. Last but not least, AKKUraatd takes a stand to fully digitalize the submitting process of papers and assignments.

Sustainability is more than just an environment policy, and therefore AKKUraatd pleads for an applicable vision on sustainability. It is important to create a sustainable environment in which students can study, from ergonomic chairs to good air circulation.
In the new buildings, but as well in the old buildings, sustainability needs to take an important place to enhance the study environment. An example would be the use of natural light over artificial, which has been shown to improve productivity. These are small architectural steps which areneeded to ensure a climate neutral future for the university.

AKKUraatd pleads for the implementation of a sustainability platform at Radboud University. There is a high demand for innovative and sustainable ideas in our modern society. This demand could be answered by many different student initiatives and undertakings. A sustainability platform could unite various parties. The knowledge and innovative strength that is available at the university has great potential, not only to contribute in making the university more sustainable, but as well to contribute to efficient applications outside of the university.
The university should serve as both a platform and as an experimental environment for innovative ideas in the field of sustainability.

New members of the student council need to be ready to participate in the bureaucratic system in a short timeframe. To strengthen the student council, AKKUraatd pleads for more and better training for the new members of the student council. The knowledge and skills that are gained by these practices contribute to better skilled representatives. A skilled student council ensures better representation. Currently, it is possible for members of the student council to apply for a course and declare it at the university, but this is still unknown to many members. With more and improved training, members of the student council will be more aware of the rights and obligations they have.

AKKUraatd believes that adding a student member to the executive board of the RU will strengthen the bond between students and other board members. This way the student perspective is always available to the board during deliberation. As a result, the vision of students can be incorporated in the university’s policy early on. The student council and the various faculty councils will be updated as well about everything happening amongst all governing bodies of the university.

At the moment there is an unfair distribution in the voting ratio between students and employees in the Faculty Councils: employees get 60% of the votes and students just 40%. AKKUraatd wants to changes this into a ratio of 50/50 with preservation of current rights. This way the voice of the students will be just as important as that of employees and the influence of students will be equal to that of the staff.

Disagreements between student councils and university executives tend to become quite complex at times and currently seem to slightly favour the Radboud University Executive Board. This archaic system allows the board to deviate from national legislation, which does not contribute to the appearance of impartiality of bias. AKKUraatd therefore argues that it is time for the RU to abandon its own dispute committee and join the national one instead.