A Board Year

In simple words, during a board year, you run the association together with your fellow board members. You write and uphold a policy, and busy yourself with the development and maintenance of the association. Together with your board, you are responsible for everything that happens in and around the association.

As a board member, you have a certain function (see Functions & Tasks). This function comes with a more defined set of responsibilities and tasks that you will work on throughout the year. On top of that, there are also general board tasks divided amongst the board members. These tasks have various amounts of workloads, amounts of creativity, and (in)formal orientations. This means that tasks can balance your package to get more variation in your year. In the end, no board member’s package is the same. 

Next to your function and tasks, you will also be busy with coordinating committees. Because of the wide range of committees in their workload, busyness, and (in)formal orientation, committees also work to complement your package. The committees are divided in the same way as the tasks, where some functions have first pick on certain committees. 

During the Candidate Board period in summer, you will draw up a policy plan in which the Annual Planning, the General Affairs, Task Distribution, Focus Points for your board year, Budget and other important business will be mentioned. In this plan you put your vision of the association on paper; how would you like the association to develop? What needs to be improved? What is missing? The policy plan will be sent to all members prior to the Transfer General Members Meeting. After this meeting, the policy plan is final and must be upheld and reinforced for the rest of the year. When you join the board for the second half of this year, the policy plan has already been made. This means you have less say in how the association develops. However, you still get the freedom of how you put the plan to practice.

If you wish to read this year’s policy plan, or internal regulations of the association, you can receive it via mailing to chairman@complextilburg.nl or find it on the website (see Policy).

In order to be able to do your work, you can use a computer in the board room. You will be  present there during board times for a certain amount of days in the week, depending on your role; part-time or full-time (for more info, see ‘Workload’). During the board times, members of the association will also walk by to come for a chat, a coffee, or for lunch, because of this you get to know the members better too!  

During your board year you get the opportunity to meet many people, not only from our association but also other associations and (in)formal third parties. Your network expands a lot, you make new friendships, and you learn a lot about yourself and others. You work together closely with your board which develops communication and teamworking skills. In this period you share everything with your board which also lets you form a deep understanding and connection.

The experiences you gain during a board year are very valuable. It looks nice on your CV/ resume, which is also why it’s promoted by university. We received a letter from Rector Magnificus and President of the Executive Board prof. dr. Wim van de Donk. In this letter, he expresses his support for doing a board year. This letter is mainly directed to parents/caregivers about doing a board year; you can send them this letter. And if you’re still doubting about doing a board year, this letter can also help with deciding. (Letter English,  Letter Dutch) 

In short, doing a board year is a great addition to your student life; improve social and organizational skills, expand your network, and learn how to work in a team. Furthermore, as an association, you also have a lot of contacts with third parties; enhance your professional and communicational skills, and learn about responsibility in an organization. 

Interested? Let’s talk about the possibilities!

Go to ‘Questions?’ or ‘Contact Information.’