Introduction to the Student Organisation of the University of Ljubljana (ŠOU Ljubljana)

The Student Organisation of the University of Ljubljana (ŠOU Ljubljana) is a democratically organised community which represents students’ interests, works for their realisation and helps ensure the variety and quality of student life. It was founded in 1990 by the Act on the Founding of the Student Organisation of the University of Ljubljana and is inscribed in the Register of Organisational Forms of the Student Organisation of Slovenia. The fundamental acts regulating the activity of ŠOU Ljubljana as a legal entity of private law or sui generis are the Student Constitution and the Student Community Act.

Bodies and departments of ŠOU Ljubljana

The highest legislative body of ŠOU Ljubljana is the Student Assembly, which consists of representatives of all faculties elected at student elections every two years. The Student Assembly elects an executive board which is headed by a chairperson together with five officers, responsible for the following: Study-Related Issues, Welfare, International Cooperation, Extracurricular Activities, Student Organisations of Member Schools.

The executive board decides the strategy of operation in relation to the State, the University and other entities with which ŠOU Ljubljana works; its functions include the elaboration of the financial plan and the implementation of ŠOU Ljubljana’s annual programme of work, the setting-up and cancelling of projects and permanent activities, the adopting of positions, the exercising of founder’s obligations in respect of other organisations of which ŠOU Ljubljana is the founder, and the performance of other functions determined by acts of ŠOU Ljubljana.

The welfare department carries out activities in the spheres of social security, student food and student health.

The study-related issues department endeavours, through its projects, to improve the quality of studies, to protect students’ rights and to inform students about the ways they can participate in the adopting of proposals to improve the quality of studies.

The extracurricular activities department is responsible for the variety of student life outside the framework of studies, in the fields of culture, publishing, extramural education, tourism and sport.

The student organisations of member schools department provides assistance for the work of student organisations at individual faculties and schools.

The international cooperation department focuses on the provision of information and help to students who wish to study abroad or gain work experience in international companies abroad. It also helps foreign students studying or on work experience placements in Slovenia.

ŠOU Ljubljana’s business is managed by a director appointed for a four-year term of office on the basis of a public call for applications and at the proposal of the executive board. The director’s election or appointment is carried out by the Student Assembly. The director represents ŠOU Ljubljana in legal transactions, ensures the legality of operations and the provision of funds for the work of its bodies, organises the work of the various services, prescribes the competences and responsibilities of employees in material/financial operations, and so on.

Supervision of the work of ŠOU Ljubljana is provided by the Prosecutor’s Office, the Senate and the Arbitration Board. The supervisory bodies act independently within the framework of their competences. Their work is based on legislation in force and other applicable regulations in the Republic of Slovenia.

Activities of ŠOU Ljubljana

In order to realise the objectives for which it was founded, ŠOU Ljubljana performs the following functions and activities:

- it represents student interests and works for their realisation,

- it organises and implements activities for students and supports student activities in the fields of culture, sport, education, technology, tourism, international cooperation, public media, civil initiatives and other interest areas of students of the University of Ljubljana.

Through its activities and policy it endeavours to find lasting and systemic solutions in the sphere of social support for students. ŠOU Ljubljana aims to increase student welfare through initiatives such as a free room exchange, a student food programme, the contribution of funds for student families and disabled students’ societies, charity campaigns, and activities in support of free studies, accessibility of halls of residence and subsidised student food.

Through its work it influences the formulation of legislation and regulations affecting the spheres of studies, student life and work. It performs a civil society role by highlighting problems that affect the general public and is committed to the guaranteeing of human rights, particularly those of special social groups, and to raising public awareness in the spheres of the environment and healthy living.

The permanent activities of ŠOU Ljubljana are carried out by: the Student Advice Service, which offers social and legal advice and a free room exchange (m2), Student Food, which sells vouchers for student meals, KISS (the ŠOU Ljubljana communications and information centre), which offers students free access to the internet and an electronic mailbox, and the Ljubljana Secondary School Pupils’ Association.

Through its activities, ŠOU Ljubljana comes into contact with more than 50,000 students every day.

Financing ŠOU Ljubljana

ŠOU Ljubljana is mainly financed through concession duties on monies paid to students for occasional and temporary work and through income from the activities it organises in order to realise its functions and objectives.

ŠOU Ljubljana institutions

ŠOU Ljubljana is the founder of the following institutions: the Ljubljana Student Service, the K6/4 Culture and Arts Foundation, the ŠOU Hostel (Celica), Radio Študent, the ŠOLT educational institution, the Študentska Založba publishing company and ŠOU Sport.