The statutes of the ÖH are regulated in a federal law, the "Hochschülerinnen und Hochschülerschaftsgesetz" (HSG). The HSG also includes regulations on the funding of the ÖH and its parts and the duties and rights of the students representatives. The Students Union is structured into: •
Studienvertretung: board of representatives for each study (or group of related studies). It consists of typically 5 members. person-based direct election. •
Fakultätsstudienvertretung •
Universitätsvertretung: board of
university students representatives. list based direct election. •
Bundesvertretung: The National parliament of the ÖH, formally known as Federal Representation. Its 55 members are voted on a national level. Additionally, the chairperson of every university has the right to an advisory role to send in drafts, but no full member or voting rights. Biannually, in every odd year there are general
elections. Turnout declined heavily over the decades, from about 70% in 1965 to turnouts in the 20% range in recent elections. Students are organized in political groups, called lists, which are somewhat independent from its counterparts in national politics, but usually linked to an Austrian political party. The bigger and historically relevant groups, the
Socialist Students of Austria are tied to the
Social Democrats,
AktionsGemeinschaft is influenced by the
Austrian Peoples Party, GRAS is a youth organization supported by the
Green Party, RFS is part of the
Freedom Party,
JUNOS students is the student organization of the liberal
NEOS. == History ==