University Council

The University Council (UR) is a democratically elected participation body in which students and staff of the University are represented. The Council is composed of eight staff members and eight student members from all faculties and supporting services. Leiden University currently has three staff parties and six student parties. The Council's meetings take place on every monday.

What does the University Council do?

The Council follows the decisions of the Executive Board critically, issues solicited or unsolicited advice and has a say in important decisions by the Board. This often concerns topics that directly affect students and employees, such as quality of education, new buildings or sustainability. To focus on the perspective of students and staff, the University Council meets regularly with the Executive Board, invites experts and makes working visits.

Conflict avoidance strategy ('Het Harmoniemodel')

What typifies co-determination at Leiden University is that the Executive Board considers the opinion of the University Council to be important, regardless of the Council’s formal powers. The aim is always to reach a consensus.

How to put yourself forward as candidate?

Every spring, students elect new representatives for the University Council. Employees do this every two years. Students, employees and PhD candidates can put themselves forward as a candidate. More information about the elections and how you can submit your candidacy >>

As set out in the Guidelines on Language Policy, Dutch is the working language in employee participation bodies. The University Council believes it is important that non-Dutch-speaking individuals should have access to employee participation fora. The Council has therefore drawn up a Working Method for Internal Language Facilities for council members who are not proficient in Dutch. The University Coucil wrote a letter, in which the evaluation of the Internal Language Facilities for the employee participation in May 2022, is discussed.