UvA votes | What did the FSR do for your faculty over the past year?
From next Monday, students will once again be able to vote in the Faculty Student Council (FSR) elections at the UvA. But what can these faculty councils actually mean for students? A look at the various faculties, ahead of the student council elections.
The Faculty Student Council (FSR) is the highest representative body at faculty level. The council advises the dean and the faculty board on everything concerning students: from the quality of education and the organisation of the campus to social safety and sustainability. Now that elections are approaching, the big question is: what have the current council members actually achieved over the past year?
Amsterdam Law School
FSR chair Carla Gesell: “The past year we were focused on drafting up proposals for the Teaching and Exam guidelines (TER/OER). While we were not able to change all the points that we intended, we are glad to say that this advanced the discussion on the topics of attendance policy and learning impairments.”
“Alongside that, we also continued conversations on the enforcement of those guidelines. Other bigger files we worked on this year include social safety on campus, sustainability and extracurriculars and smaller files included a cross-faculty charity run and information on appointments and restructuring of law programmes. Especially the bigger files would ideally be continued by the next council.”
The results of the 2025 FSR elections:
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
FSR chair Carlos Fitton Gómez: “We are setting up a working group focused on working students. We helped adjust TER rules around communication with study advisors and are developing a framework to improve transparency for students. We also organized events like Director talks, town halls with the Dean, and AI in Action Week. We proposed AI literacy modules on Canvas, and are proposing pilot tests for course evaluations and lecture recordings.”
“In addition to that, we have worked on drafting unsolicited advice for the establishment of a Diversity and Identity Network Office (DINO), pushing for the Contemplation Room during Ramadan, signing the Green Office's Green Commitment, establishing a Bug Hotel as part of REC greenification efforts, and publishing a survey on Mental Health and Social Safety.”
The results of the 2025 FSR elections:
Faculty of Science
FSR chair Robin Wacanno: “One area where we have already been able to take steps this year is accessibility. For example, more attention is being paid to text readability in exams, and it is being investigated whether tactile paving for the visually impaired can be installed on the Science Park campus.”
“Our priority for the remainder of the year mainly lies in improvements to the Teaching and Examination Regulations. Here, we want to formalise the right to resits and ensure clearer communication about grade calculations. As a council, we are also considering whether and how our faculty should enter into collaborations with the security and resilience sector, and what the implications of this would be for students.”
The results of the 2025 FSR elections:
Faculty of Medicine (Amsterdam UMC)
FSR chair Bas Laan: “One of the council’s biggest achievements was organising an evening where bachelor’s students in Medicine could speak with master’s students, in order to gain a better understanding of waiting times and clinical placements. In addition, the FSR completed the “modernisation of the faculty” project. The faculty has now been renovated, with updated classrooms, a digitorium, and more greenery. Because the project had been ongoing for so long, this was a major milestone.”
“At the moment, the council is conducting research to gain a better understanding of topics such as the integration of sustainability-related education in the bachelor’s programme in Medical Informatics and the capacity issue in clinical placements. We are also looking at the effects that the discontinuation of tutorials has had on the Medicine bachelor’s programme. All of this is, of course, not only for our own understanding, but intended to enable constructive and evidence-based collaboration with the faculty to bring about change.”
The results of the 2025 FSR elections:
Faculty of Economics and Business
This year, the FSR EB focused on professionalisation and student rights. The council was involved in the creation of its own Student Managed Investment Fund, through which business students could invest as a learning experience. In addition, the council worked on new WhatsApp groups for students and held discussions about new lottery systems for popular bachelor’s programmes. The council also conducted a student survey on low lecture attendance within the faculty.
The results of the 2025 FSR elections:
Faculty of Dentistry (ACTA)
This year, the FSR ACTA focused on educational quality and practical bottlenecks within the dentistry faculty. Key issues included the balance between theory and practice, as well as concerns that students in clinical assessments (EPAs) are focusing more on ticking boxes than on the learning process itself.
On the facilities side, the council advocated solutions for ongoing problems with the patient software Axium and defective treatment chairs in the clinics.
The results of the 2025 FSR elections:
Faculty of Humanities
“The future vision was a pretty big project. With the budget cuts, the faculty is figuring out how it is going to shape itself in the future. To do this, we gathered input from to help create a student-forward perspective on the future of the university. We're also quite proud of the fact the humanities cut ties with Israeli institutions this year.”
“Apart from that, we've been fighting for the university to keep PCH rather than sell it. We're also making sure the new buildings have a cafeteria and offer space for student's needs in the future when they're rebuilt. As a smaller example: there is now a new little community library in Oudemanhuispoort. It filled the shelves that the university was not using.”
The results of the 2025 FSR elections:
