New decisions of the Student Corporation focus on student associations and COVID-19

At its meeting held on April 7, the Student Council, which leads the Student Corporation, took a second and final series of decisions for this semester and published them two days after on the website of the Corporation. A number of actions have been brought forward in favour of all student associations and in the fight against COVID-19, together with an investment in the skills and disciplinary and interdisciplinary abilities of the student community of USI, and eying the national context and the upcoming semester.

For the student associations 

Concerning the student associations, the members of the Council - i.e. the student representatives in the Academic Senate - have championed the idea of a shared calendar reserved only for events organised by the associations and have allocated extraordinary support for the associations themselves, which can be obtained simply by requesting it. The objectives of this incentive are to compensate for the "hectic" start - in a very particular context - that the work of the Corporation has known, to mitigate the dissuasive effect that COVID-19 has most likely had on the proactive attitude of the student associations and to encourage them all to contribute, hopefully by joining forces, to "restart" life on campus at the end of the emergency.

Contribution in the fight against COVID-19

The situation caused by the coronavirus outbreak and its effects has also been the focus of another resolution, that of making a charitable donation on behalf of the USI student community to organizations engaged in the fight against the virus and its economic and social consequences. The donation is combined with a support/ a thanks also to the USI volunteers who have worked personally to offer the solidarity of the University community towards the most at risk groups in this pandemic, in a mobilisation that has made and makes the whole USI proud.

Supporting students and their skills

The Student Council also wanted to invest in the disciplinary and interdisciplinary skills and abilities of USI students. Specifically, the Corporation will work with the professors of a number of USI courses in order to assign students with "case studies" on the Corporation itself, in particular on possible strategies of action and communication.

Eying the national context and the upcoming semester

Finally, support was approved for the centenary of the Swiss Student Union (VSS-UNES-USU), the national inter-university student organisation, and the support of the Corporation for the welcome event that USI has planned for September in favour of new students; an event in the organisation of which student associations will also be able to participate proactively and which will naturally also serve as a general "welcome back" for all members of the academic community, who are forced to remain "distant but close" this semester. 

All the decisions of the Student Council are available at: 
www.usi.ch/en/university/organisation/student-corporation/updates/list-of-decisions

Please remember that any student can launch a Student Referendum against the decisions of the Student Council. The deadline for those published on April 9 is April 23.