Formalities
COMMITTEE ELECTIONS AND HANDOVER
Student Societies are democratically led, with all of the student members having an active say in who runs the organization – that is true for both the president and the heads of the committees (if there are any). Some groups may decide to hold no formal elections, some decide to only choose the president (without the heads of different committees). Regardless, it is important to ensure that the elections are held fairly.
When planning your election it is important that you have the roles and descriptions very clearly defined. It is crucial for everyone to be aware of what the different roles and functions mean and what part they have to play in the future of the student organization (you can find a breakdown of the possible group roles here). It is also important for everyone (especially the potential candidates) to be aware of the organization’s aims and objectives.
WHO CAN STAND IN AN ELECTION?
All students can run for all group committee positions providing they are:
- A current student of the University of Wrocław
- A member of the society for which they want to run
COMMITTEE HANDOVER
Once you’ve chosen your leaders, for the transition to go smoothly it is essential to provide the new committee with a proper informative handover so that they can succeed in their roles and develop the organization in the following year.
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS:
- Set a date for the handover – this will be when the new leaders officially step up into their new roles and the old crew steps down as committee members.
- Make sure that your organization’s guardian and the International Office know who the new leaders are. That is especially true when it comes to the group’s president, since that’s who the guardian will typically be in contact with.
- Prepare your handover: if you’ve kept a record of the most important information about the society and the way it functions, now is the time to pass it on. If you haven’t, try to write the most important parts down in one place, and meet up with the incoming committee to answer any questions they might have.
- Share the information with your social media followers.
GENERAL POINTS FOR HANDOVERS:
Make sure that new committee members have the most important University contacts.
- These are:
- The Student and Doctoral Activity Support Section
- The International Office
- The Student Council
- The Career Office
- Remember to update the information about the leaders on all relevant channels in order to avoid expired data.
- Make sure they know how to apply for social media coverage from the University of Wrocław.
- Provide the new committee with the group email and social media passwords/permissions.
- Provide a review of the events held in the academic year, saying what went well, what didn’t and what can be improved. Talk through the financial situation of the group, and advise the new team on budgeting for different types of events.
- Pass over any specialist knowledge required for specific roles, or the committee as a whole.
Of course, this list isn’t exhaustive and there are many points that you may want to talk about with your incoming committee. Think about what you might have wanted to know when you took on your role!
EVENT REPORT
After every event that your group organizes, you need to file an event report with the Student and Doctoral Activity Support Section. All of the receipts and invoices should be delivered to the office too – they need to have a description on the back, confirming that the goods and services were used during the organization of your event. In the description you should include the name of your student group and the name of the event with the date. Such a signature then needs to be co-signed by your organization’s guardian, the president, or the person responsible for the event.
The report should mention what the outcome of the event was and how it compared to the expected results, how many participants there were, what the educational value of the event was and whether or not it would be continued in the future. Such a report needs to be sent to the Activity Support Section no later than 10 days after the event.
DATA PROTECTION AND GDPR
Any student group that processes any form of personal information of its members or event participants, is obliged to comply with GDPR, or General Data Protection Regulation. Board members are responsible for the protection of any data that they process on behalf of the society/student group.
WHAT COUNTS AS PERSONAL DATA?
In short, personal data is information that can be used to identify someone. This includes name, email address, telephone number, date of birth, membership of a group or organisation, dietary and access requirements, photographs, and social media accounts. The most important aspect of this for your group is to ensure you are collecting data on your members in a safe and secure way. For example, in case you need to send out an email to all of your members or followers, remember to create a mailing list, or attach the email recipients so that they can’t see each other once they get the email (Blind Carbon Copy function, or Bcc).
KEY THINGS TO REMEMBER
- Collect only the information you know you need
- Remember to ask for permission before posting any pictures of people
- Don’t give out any personal data without the owner’s consent
- Delete information when it is no longer needed
