First and foremost, the Student Representative Council (FSR for short) represents the interests of students in one or more departments.
In concrete terms, this means that we, as the student council, pass on your interests and ideas to the professors and other university committees and thus help to shape your and our everyday student life.

The FSR's tasks also include arranging tutoring requests and other job offers as well as interesting information for our students. The FSR also regularly organizes events such as game nights, public viewings and semester opening parties. This also makes campus life more interesting. The FSR can also offer tutorials.

As a student council, we are a body indirectly elected by the student body. The degree programmes that wish to elect a student council form a general study programme council. The student representatives are elected by their general study programme councils. This means that the student council is a purely student body that takes on part of the student self-administration.

The student council represents and supervises the following study programmes:

At German colleges and universities, the simple principle of self-administration applies to students: they organise their own affairs. This sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but it opens up numerous opportunities and rights to actively shape what happens at the university. At BTU, for example, there is a student parliament (StuPa), which decides on laws and political positions of the student body. There is also a student representation (StuRa), which is responsible for organising events and providing financial support for students, among other things. If you would like to find out more, click here: StuRa ➡. The student council is part of this student self-administration. It deals specifically with the concerns of students in a particular department. The student council represents these concerns both within the BTU and externally.

As the student representatives of the Biotechnology & Chemistry study programmes, we represent the interests of students in the fields of Biotechnology, Applied Natural Sciences and also the discontinued Materials Chemistry degree programme. All students of these subjects are cordially invited to get involved with us! Incidentally, the work in the student council is far less formal and political than it might seem at first glance. Our everyday life includes the following activities:

• Management of student council resources (from delicious barbecue food, to lab clothes for new students, to finances)
• Support with questions about studying (from exam registration to specific module questions and possible assistance such as tutorials and the like)
• Organisation of student council events (from the semester opening parties on the Senftenberg campus to the student Christmas market in Senftenberg)
• Help with starting your studies (especially through the Fresher's Week in Senftenberg and the lab tour)
• Realisation of students' wishes (be it an idea for improving the university or solving a problem with a lecturer)
• Regular student council meetings for mutual exchange
• And apart from that: spend a lot of time somewhere in the university, because we've let our "office" degenerate into a storage room...

Our student council is elected every year from August to October. If you are interested in getting involved or have a great idea, you don't have to wait until the next term of office. Simply write to us by email or speak to us when you see us on campus if you have something on your mind. Even if you're not officially on the student council, you can take part in our projects or even start your own - the more committed people, the better! We have set up our "Round Table" for cooperation with the other degree programmes anyway.

Of course, every good student council also needs a constitution. In our case, these are the statutes of the Biotechnology and Materials Chemistry Student Council, which set out our rules. However, our statutes urgently need to be revised, the link will come later. If you are interested in the formal details, you are welcome to take a closer look here.

The election for the student council takes place every year and is elected by the students of the students of the degree programmes that the student council is responsible for. In our case, all students of the above-mentioned study programmes are eligible to vote.
When a new election is due, a post will be published on our Instagram account with a period in which you can stand for election. Any student can put themselves forward for election. To do so, an email must be sent to our email address.

We only had our election recently. You can see the new members of the student council under the tab Members of the student council.
The next election is expected to take place around August 2025.

The work in the student council is voluntary. Although it involves some work, it also has some advantages. For example, you get to talk to the professors and can help shape your study environment. In addition, membership of the FSR is a reason for extending your Bafög (Upgrading Training Assistance Act (AFBG)) and it doesn't look bad on your CV either.