You'll find an overview and explanations about the committees through which we actively shape university politics on this page.

Further information concerning university politics has been published in our Trafo newsletters #130 and #131 (available only in german).

Faculty Council (Fakultätsrat)

The faculty council (FC) is the highest board of a faculty. Chairman of the FC is the dean or the vice dean. Faculty council members include the academic dean, several representatives of the professors, scientific and non-scientific staff, as well as the students. Four of 22 seats in total are given to the student representatives. The FC gathers 5 times a year to conferences where decisions of the several committees are examined and voted on. If needed, some of the drafts are sent back to the responsible committees for further revision.

Academic Committee (Studienkommission)

The academic committee is responsible for the general design of the study courses at the faculty. For example, if changes are to be made to the Examination Regulations (the FPSO), proposals will be discussed and drafted here. No decisions are allowed to be made in the study committee, the final vote has to happen during one of the Faculty Council meetings.

Study Grant Committee (Studienzuschusskommission)

This committee exists only since the student union fees replaced the old tuition fees and is hence the youngest board.
It is responsible for the distribution of the newly introduced student union fees at our faculty. It also controls the execution of the projects financed by these fees and conducts polls among the students. In the long run, the committee should determine the ideal study conditions that should be reached using the tuition fees. Not an easy feat! The members of this committee are the academic dean, a representative of the professors and the scientific staff, the course manager, and four student representatives. As you can easily count, students occupy half of the seats in the study contribution committee and thus have a greater say compared to the other committees.

Appointment Committee (Berufungskomission)

The appointment committees are summoned when an existing professor position needs to be filled or when a new professorship is created. The committee decides on the formulation of the announcement and hence the focus of the professor's work. After receiving the applications, the committee members choose the candidates who will be invited to an interview. When all interviewees have been evaluated, a list of the best applicants is created and presented to the university president, who then decides on the candidate to be appointed. This final decision is based on different aspects, such as financial means.
A student representative is always a regular member of this committee, has the right to vote, and pays special attention to the teaching aspect of the candidates during the evaluations.

Student Association Council (Fachschaftenrat)

The student association council (SAC) is an interdisciplinary, university-wide committee. It consists of representatives of all student councils of the different faculties at the TUM. It represents the students' interests at the university level, just like the faculty council does at faculty level. The amount of votes that the representatives of each student council have in the SAC depends on the number of students enrolled at that faculty.