The Austrian Students' Association by statutory body (de: Österreichische Hochschülerinnen- und Hochschülerschaft, short ÖH) is the general students' representative body in Austria and serves as the students' government by federal law. The ÖH is member of ESIB.

Membership in the ÖH is compulsory for every university student in Austria, including PhD candidates.

Contents 1 Structure 2 History 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Structure

The statutes of the ÖH are regulated in a federal law, the "Hochschülerinnen und Hochschülerschaftsgesetz" (HSG).

The Students Union is structured into:

• Studienvertretung: board of representatives for each study (or group of related studies). It consist of typically 5 members. person-based direct election.
• Universitätsvertretung: board of university students representatives. list based direct election.
• Bundesvertretung: National Board of the ÖH. It is elected (mainly) by the university boards.

Biannually, there are general elections. Turnout declined from about 70 % in 1965 to 28.29 % in the elections of 2007.

The HSG also includes regulations on the funding of the ÖH and its parts and the duties and rights of the students representatives.

[edit] History

• 1945: foundation of the ÖH
• 1946: first general election
• 1947: ÖH becomes a public statutory body
• 1950: ÖH obtains the right to formally examine laws concerning education
• 1952: first demonstration against student fees
• 1962: one week strike
• 1973, 1975: strengthening of the position of the ÖH by new laws
• 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004: demonstrations against various steps of loss of social benefits for students and legal restrictions of students representation.

[edit] See also

• European Students' Union (ESU), of which ÖH is a member.
• EURODOC European Council of doctoral candidates and junior researchers. ÖH is a member.
• Students' Union

[edit] External links

• ÖH English Homepage
• platform for doctoral candidates, in cooperation with the ÖH

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