Lena-Maria Härtl new on the board of the Bavarian student representation

Ms Härtl, what is currently moving Bavarian students?
"We are currently very concerned about the Ukraine crisis. At the last State Asten Conference in the State Parliament, we also founded a working group on this. This group has already met and is always happy to hear from others who are interested! Thanks to the working group, we have a Bavaria-wide exchange to share the experiences of the numerous initiatives, to collect ideas and to help the refugees together. Other aid campaigns from the Bavarian university landscape can also be found on our website."

What drives you to get involved in the student council?
"I have enjoyed being involved in the student council at the Bayreuth campus since my first semester. I was immediately excited when I saw the numerous opportunities; many people don't even realise how much often happens in the background: Student representatives don't just do parties!
Last summer, I was asked if I would like to come to an LAK meeting. Since then I've always been there. At the beginning of a meeting, the speakers report on what has happened since the last meeting. Here you can hear about background discussions with the ministry, the various parties and other associations. Then the individual working groups, the delegates and the universities report. Personally, I'm a big fan of the reports from the other universities. You always learn a lot and can collect ideas that you can bring to your own university and implement. Of course, we can also make our own suggestions in the applications and then decide together how to position ourselves. That's really fun! Each session is held at a different university. This has the advantage that you can get to know the different universities all over Bavaria! In February, for example, we were at Coburg University of Applied Sciences, in March at Nuremberg University of Technology, and now in April we're meeting at the Bavarian Parliament."

How do you get elected?
"The term of office of the LAC speakers always begins in April, the election for this takes place in January. To apply for the position of speaker, you have to send in your application at least seven days before the meeting. At the election meeting itself, the candidates are each given five minutes to introduce themselves; then the plenary is allowed to ask questions, which are then answered by the candidates in turn. After that, the other candidates leave the room and more personal questions from the plenary follow. At the end, there is usually a personal debate and then the vote. All in all, the election usually takes several hours. Each university has one vote - regardless of the number of actual students."

Which topics would you like to push forward specifically?
"For me personally, returning to campus is enormously important. The last few semesters were a great burden for all university members. I want to make the campus a place of active exchange and social interaction again. 
In addition, the new Higher Education Innovation Act is to be dealt with in the state parliament before the summer break. We are very curious to see how this will develop! At the hearing of the associations, we also wrote a statement on this - together with the Bavarian Association of Academics in Bavaria and the Bavarian representation of the academic middle class.
Through my work as a student assessor for programme accreditations at other universities, I have also grown very fond of the topic "quality of teaching". Currently, the model ordinance on which accreditation is based is also being evaluated. I will definitely be involved here and look forward to the process."

Another personal question: How do you reconcile your offices - besides your studies, you are also on the board of the RW student council, among other things?
"The most important thing is simply good time management. Being spokesperson is time-consuming, I can't hide that. It really started on 1 April, and since the election meeting in January we newcomers have been trained. One big advantage we have as a team of speakers is that we come from different types of universities. This is especially helpful because the exam periods and the start of semesters at colleges of applied sciences and universities differ in time. In addition, since this year we also have a managing director, Felix Mork, who also comes from the University of Bayreuth. He takes over many of the tasks that come up on the side, such as preparing minutes and registering for meetings. This gives us speakers more time to work on the content.
The work as student representative comes on top of that. But we are a big team and have been working together since October. But I'm not doing the chairmanship alone, and before I applied for the LAK, I also openly communicated what that would mean for the future.
And: every now and then you have to put on the brakes and take a well-deserved break."