Curricular Committees

The Senate is legally responsible for issuing and amending curricula. These are the documents that define the structure, scope and some regulations for each degree program. As it is impossible for the Senate to carry out this task for all degree programs at a university, it has to set up sub-committees for this purpose.

At TU Graz, these commissions (working groups) are called Curricular Committees and, together with the Curricular Committee of the senate, are responsible for drawing up and amending the study plans, also known as curricula.

A curricular committee is usually responsible for several subject-related studies and is mainly responsible for the subject-related part of the curriculum and the supplementary regulations for the implementation of the study program. A list of all study commissions established at TU Graz.

Responsibilities

A curricula committee is responsible for a few related studies. The curricula committee is mainly responsible for drawing up and amending the curricula of these studies. In addition, it can determine accompanying provisions for the delivery and implementation of the degree program by resolution (e.g. binding equivalences).

Composition

Curricula committees of a certain size are set up by resolution of the Curricula Committee of the senate or new fields of study are assigned to an existing curricula committee by resolution. According to the UG, students must make up at least a quarter of the members (§ 25 (9) UG 2002). As a rule, curricula committees are composed on a “one-third parity” basis. This means that the individual curiae (professors, mid-level faculty and students) each make up one third of the members. The standard size for curriculum committees is nine members (3/3/3); for particularly small degree programs, it can consist of six members (2/2/2). In the case of degree programs with several participating institutions (e.g. faculties or universities) or Curricula Committees that have to deal with a large number of degree programs, it can also consist of twelve members (4/4/4).