Student Corporation

For the students. With the students.

The Student Corporation is the organised structure of the University student body. This means that the sole fact that a Bachelor’s or Master’s student is enrolled at USI makes him/her a member of an umbrella organisation that is interconnected with the institutional structure of the University. The Corporation can promote activities and projects to improve students’ experience on all campuses.

The Student Corporation aims to contribute to a positive and enriching student experience by strengthening the sense of community. It gives voice to the student body and gets students involved. Its name refers to the very origins of universities that were born from the union of “corporations” (called universitates) of professors and students. The Student Corporation is non-profit, non-confessional and non-political. It is inspired by the principles of democracy and equality of all its members.

The Corporation has three main tasks, recognised by the University and described below.

 

What the Corporation does

1

It represents the students in the relevant USI boards. The students who lead the Corporation are also the representatives of the student body in the Academic Senate, and vice versa.

2

It supports and implements projects to promote university life. Every year the University allocates to the Corporation a budget to support projects proposed by student associations and projects promoted by the Corporation itself.

3

It generally promotes university life and cohesion within the University. The Corporation intends to consolidate the dialogue between the student body and the University, as well as promote synergies between student associations.

How and Why?

How it is organised and how it works

In short:

  • the representatives of the student body in the Academic Senate make up the Student Council, which is the "government" of the Corporation.
    They bring the voice of the student body to the relevant boards and decide in the first instance how to use the budget that the University makes available to the Corporation to promote university life;
  • Bachelor's and Master's students, individually or in groups, can launch and support Student Initiatives and Student Referendums.
    This way they can try and actively take part in the Student Council's decisions, and call on the student body to make the final decision on a given topic through a vote;
  • all Bachelor’s and Master’s students, when expressing their opinion through vote, constitute the Student General Assembly, and they are the "sovereign" of the Corporation.
    The Assembly elects the Student Council and exercises "direct democracy", that is in case of votes on Student Initiatives and Student Referendums has the final word on a given topic, in particular on how to use the resources of the Corporation;
  • the University provides the Corporation with a budget to promote university life and monitors its activities;
  • acknowledged student associations may submit proposals to the Student Council.

Click here for more information on how the Corporation works.

 

 

What it means to be a member

As mentioned, all students regularly enrolled in a Bachelor or Master programme at USI are automatically part of the Corporation. As members of the Corporation they have the right to:

  • elect whoever leads the Corporation, i.e. the Student Council;
  • run for the leadership of the Corporation, i.e. for the Student Council;
  • trigger "direct democracy", i.e. launch and support Student Initiatives and Student Referendums;
  • vote on Student Initiatives and Student Referendums;
  • freely submit ideas to the Student Council;
  • appeal to the monitoring exercised by the University on the Corporation.

Through these rights all USI Bachelor's and Master's students have the opportunity to participate in the activities of the Corporation and thus have a say in the decisions that the Corporation makes.

Click here for more information on how to contribute to the Corporation.

 

 

Why a Student Corporation?

The Corporation has been created with the aim of:

  • give voice to and unify the student body;
  • increase the possibility for students to contribute to university life;
  • empower students with respect to this possibility;
  • strengthen the links between the student body and the University;
  • contribute in general to promoting the well-being of students and a positive and supportive student experience outside the classroom.