Hi everyone and welcome back to our blog! The end of the semester is approaching. For the current students it’s time to start focusing on the upcoming exams while for the prospective students it’s time to apply for visa and search for a place to stay in Vienna.
Thomas Morus Heim is a community-based dormitory which welcomes students from all over the world and aims at building a community through shared kitchens, weekly KHG dinners, parties, and outdoor activities.
Dorm committee (Heimvertretung) plays a major role in this process and in the student residence in general. You might wonder what the dorm committee stands for and what their obligations are. In this blog I am going into details of this topic and telling you about the structure of the dorm committee in Thomas Morus Heim.
First of all, dorm committee is there to represent the interests of all students in the dorm and to be the first point of contact for resolving minor disagreements. Dormitory committee is elected by residents every year in Autumn (election process is communicated to all residents of the dorm). The team consists of the following roles:
- Heimvertreter (President)
- Stellvertreter 1 (Vice President)
- Stellvertreter 2 (Vice President)
- Cashier
In addition to these positions, there are kitchen representatives for every communal kitchen, who communicate the needs of people living on a particular floor to the Heimvertretung and purchase necessary goods for these common areas.
As of the next year we planning to expand the dorm committee and include other roles such as gym, party room, and study room representatives.
Are you still wondering what exactly each member of the committee does? To resolve your questions, we provide the description of each role.
President’s responsibility is to organise the team work of the committee, communicate information to all residents, and Akademikerhilfe itself, if necessary.
Vice presidents represent the houses they live in and resolve the problems there. Since Thomas Morus Heim consists of 2 houses, each of them has a representative (SV).
Cashier’s role is to allocate the dorm budget, which is comprised of the annual contribution made by each resident, according to students’ needs. For instance, kitchen supplies like sponges, detergent, etc., board games and gym equipment.
By the way, good news for future residents of Thomas Morus Heim! Our cashier takes on events organisation too so you won’t be bored! We’ve got Halloween, Christmas, Easter, semester opening and closing parties as well as movie nights, ice skating, hiking and many more other activities.
Gym, party room, and study room representatives will be responsible for keeping these common areas in order and maintaining the equipment there.
HV team is there to help you and make your life at the dorm convenient and exciting! So, don’t hesitate to approach the committee of your dorm if you have any complaints, problems or ideas for events or improvements in the dorm.
Being a dorm committee member is a great opportunity to grow and gain several soft skills such as:
- organisation
- presentation
- Team work
- Negotiations
- Conflict management
Please keep in mind that this duty is not all about fun. It requires patience and stress resistance as well as good communication skills. Furthermore, being in HV demands significant time and energy investments. Lastly, dorm committee carries a weight of responsibility for all residents to a very extent and it’s a long-term commitment as the dorm committee elections take place once per year.
Appreciate these people and communicate with them as they are always eager to help you.
I hope I managed to shine some light on this topic, and the dorm organisation became a bit clearer for you!
In the meanwhile, I wish you a lot of success with the ongoing semester!
Always yours,
Vlada