A student association can be anything from a student council to a film or chess club. The most important thing is that it is a place where students can unite around something that makes their degree programme and/or at the university better.

A student association can be aimed at a specific programme, department or faculty, but it can also be aimed at all students at AAU.

An organization for students has the option of registering as a student association at AAU. For example, doing so provides an opportunity to dialogue with the university when it comes to areas that the association is interested in.

Associations at AAU can also access equipment, communication platforms, the university's distribution channels etc. Student associations at AAU must comply with the code of practice for cooperation between the university and its students, including student organisations at AAU.

You can request to become a student association at AAU via the form here. On the form, you must state the name of the student organisation, the name and contact information of the president/manager as well as the purpose of the association. This is a short process that takes only 3-4 minutes. Once you have submitted the form, the request will be processed individually based on the information provided. There is no guarantee that the association will be approved as an association under the auspices of AAU. And you should expect there to be processing time for the request.

An association is not required to have statutes, but they are good for creating an internal framework for the association’s rules. Similarly, statutes may be necessary for applying for financial support from public schemes.

The statutes are typically not used in day-to-day life, but they can be really useful if a conflict should arise in an association where there are many passionate people with different opinions.

There are no requirements for what the statutes should contain, but it may be smart to include certain topics. The following headings are useful:

• Association name
• Purpose
• Members
• General assembly
• Board
• Finances
• Amendments to statutes
• Closure of the association

There is no right way to write statutes. Typically, a lot of inspiration can be found in statutes from other associations, but other people's statutes should not be directly copied. Below are suggestions for standard statutes that the association may adapt.

Standard statutes

§ 1 Name
The name of the association is XXX

§ 2 Purpose
Write the purpose of the association. This can be formulated as one overarching purpose or as several smaller objectives. The following are just examples of purposes found in the statutes of existing associations:

§ 2 (1)
The association is a volunteer student politics association for XX faculty.

§ 2 (2)
The association's purpose extends over three different areas of interest:

• Interdisciplinary student politics
• Socializing across semesters and degree programmes
• Promoting a healthy study-life balance

Or

The purpose of the association is: Ensure and promote academic and social development at XX programme

Or

The purpose of the association is, by practicing certain sports, to improve the skills of its members in these sports, as well as to spread interest in and knowledge of these sports.

§ 3 Members

What is written here depends, of course, on whether the association is established exclusively for AAU students or is aimed at a specific programme, whether members must pay dues etc.

Here are some suggestions for wording depending on the association's profile:

All students in XX degree programme or faculty are considered members

Or

All students at AAU have the opportunity to register as a member, provided that the one-time membership fee of XX is paid

§ 4 General assembly

§ 4 (1)

The general assembly is the association's highest authority

§ 4 (2)
Participation in the association's general assembly requires membership or affiliation with the association

§ 4 (3)
The annual general assembly is held between XX or XX (Use dates, months or quarters)

§ 4 (4)
All members have the right to meet, speak, vote and run for office at the general assembly

§ 4 (5)
Amendments to the agenda must be submitted to the board 10 days before the general assembly is held

§ 4 (6)
Notice of an extraordinary general assembly must be given 10 days before it is to be held and amendments must be received by the board no later than three days before

§4 (7)
The agenda of the general assembly must contain at least:

• Approval of procedures
• Election of chair and minute-taker
• Election of two vote counters
• Annual report
• Review of the accounts and presentation of the budget
• Election for board positions
• Election for critical auditor

Any other business

§ 4 (8)

At the next meeting after the general assembly, the board adopts rules of procedure.

§ 5 Board

§ 5 (1)
The board consists of a chairperson, a vice-chairperson, a treasurer and XX number of non-executive members.

§ 5 (2)
The board is elected at a general assembly and is elected for the period from the annual general assembly or extraordinary general assembly to the next annual general assembly. The same applies to critical auditors.

§ 5 (3)
The board is responsible for the day-to-day management of the association and for handling decisions made at the general assembly.
It could also be a good idea to include some specific non-executive positions the association would like, or what the association should do in case a member of the board resigns.

§ 6 Finances

§ 6 (1)
The association's financial year follows the calendar year

§ 6 (2)
The budget is set by the treasurer in cooperation with the board and approved at the general assembly

§ 6 (3)
The accounts are audited by the critical auditor(s).
If the association charges a membership fee, it may also be relevant to deal with this topic under finances. In larger associations with large budgets and accounts, it could be a good idea to have an accountant involved in the budget.

§7 Amendments to statutes

§ 7 (1)
These statutes may only be amended by the annual general assembly or at an extraordinary general assembly. At the general assembly, there must be a 2/3 majority of the votes cast for an amendment to the statutes, and at least half of those individuals with voting rights in attendance must have voted for the amendment. Blank votes do not count as votes cast. Amendments take effect immediately after the end of the general assembly.

§ 7 (2)
Amendments to statutes must be received by the board at least five days before the general assembly is held. In the event of an extraordinary general assembly, amendments to the statutes must be received by the board three days before the meeting.
The above proposal can of course be adjusted; elements like time limits and the amount of votes needed for something to be adopted can easily be changed to suit the specific association.

§ 8 Closure of the association
The association may be closed with 2/3 of the votes of those with voting rights in attendance at two consecutive general assembly at least three months apart.
This point may not be considered relevant at first, but it may be helpful later in the event of disagreements. Changes can also be made to the number of general assemblies and the time period between them.
What should happen to excess funds in the event of closure so as to ensure that there are no doubts or conflicts in such a situation, can also be included. For example, this can be formulated as:
In the event of closure of the association, any excess funds must be passed on to a fund at the Department of XX, in order that students in the following degree programmes XX can apply for them for social events.

Take a look under the section Good to know for existing student associations and read about topics like: how associations can manage finances, how to book rooms, how associations can run for AAU Elections, and good advice for events.