Mr Peter Minang from Cameroon has been at ITC for 15 months now, doing his Geo-information Science and Earth Observation MSc, with a speciality in planning and coordination, within the National Resource Management Programme. He has been president of the Student Association Board (SAB) for about a year and is now handing over to his successor, Mr Martin Sekeleti from Zambia. Mr Minang looks back on a term of office that has been rewarding for the students, for ITC and for himself.

How and when do the students elect the Student Association Board?
"The board members are elected every year. The new students start in September and four to five weeks after the two-week introductory period when students get to know one another they elect a class representative to the board. There are 12 representatives from the 12 groups that go beyond a nine-month course. Two class representatives are elected per programme, one for the 12-month Master's programme and a representative for the 18-month students. Besides the president, the board consists of a secretary general, an assistant secretary general / communication commissioner, a social commissioner, a finance commissioner, a sports commissioner, an academic commissioner plus a residence commissioner. The president oversees all activities. During my term of office we were able to bring in a representative for the 50 to 60 PhD students as well. They hadn't been represented before."

Why were you elected?
"I'm from Cameroon but studied at the University of Sierra Leone, where I was president of the foreign students. I think that more or less convinced my fellow students that I would be suitable."

What was your job as president of the SAB?
"The SAB has an academic and a social perspective. Suggestions for improving the academic programme, if any, go through the SAB first. That doesn't happen very often; the programmes here are pretty well organised. One thing we worked on when I came to office was the assessment of ITC teaching staff. That was an issue we took over from the outgoing executive. There is an assessment aspect within the course evaluation but to our mind the specific teaching skills of the teacher ought to be evaluated separately from the evaluation of the course itself. These are two different issues. So we set about developing an evaluation framework and a proposal was submitted to Educational Affairs. There has been no outcome as yet, however, because ITC is going to review the programmes and hopefully our particular point will be included."

Isn't a teacher evaluation rather subjective?
"In educational methods there are certain measurement parameters. You can measure the overall opinion of all the students, so it's not necessarily subjective. Besides, we 're confident that Education Affairs is sufficiently competent to understand the procedures for this kind of evaluation."

What about the social aspect of the SAB?
"That also has two sides to it. On one hand we have an annual programme and on the other we run the activities in the Schermerhorn Lounge at the Dish Hotel. As far as our annual programme is concerned, we work closely with the dean of students, Mr Jan de Ruiter, who attends to the administrative matters involved, asks for quotes, and contacts travel agencies and things like that. This year we arranged excursions to Paris, Vienna and the zoo. The Schermerhorn Lounge is basically managed by the SAB. There are various games, there's pool, and there's a bar that's open on Fridays and Saturdays. We also have a party every three weeks, at the end of a module. Our evenings and parties are very well attended."

What was the main issue during your term as SAB president?
"Undoubtedly the rise in rent. This year we were presented with an 8% rent increase, which we thought much too high. Unfortunately the outcome in this respect was not positive, but we did achieve something important: now the management of ITC and Dish Hotel also see the need for the SAB to be part of the Hotel Management Team. One of the alleged reasons for the rent increase was the energy consumption of some students who leave heaters and lights on when they go out. We suggested individual metering; this would prevent all students being penalised for the behaviour of some. We also suggested improvements in the facilities, such as a 24-hour telephone at the reception desk, since students come from all over the world. The hotel is currently looking into the possibilities. Hopefully they will find a solution soon, since this has been going on for more than two years now."

"We did not succeed in reducing the rent increase, but as a result of this issue we are now in a position to negotiate directly with the hotel and have established a good working relationship with ITC's Employees Council."

Did you enjoy being the SAB's president?
"Yes, I did enjoy it, and I learned a lot as well. ITC is a unique environment. There are people from more than 70 and up to 100 countries here. It's very interesting to be able to work with people from very different backgrounds and to get to know them better. We had a very good team and that made it enjoyable too." "I also got to understand a little bit more about the organisation of ITC than the average student does, and I came into contact with more people from outside ITC. Staff from Twente University, for instance, who also wanted to offer their foreign PhD students some social facilities. So they approached us and now, based on a permit costing the equivalent of the fee paid by our own PhD students, we can accommodate them as associate members, with the benefit of all our social activities." "I think it is a commendable thing that the students at ITC are represented on all sorts of committees. This is a very effective means of keeping in contact with the students, and in this way the SAB is important not only for the students but for the Institute as well. It's very rewarding to be able to serve the people and the organisation."

Did your SAB activities interfere with your own studies?
"Yes, as they did for every member of the Student Association Board. It's voluntary work; you receive no extra advantage. It takes time to be on the SAB, time you cannot dedicate to your studies. But still, it has been a very interesting experience."