Student Engagement

AStA Sustainability Days

Collective sustainability action, discussing the issues, and learning more: This is what the Sustainability Days are all about. They are regularly organized by RWTH’s AStA Students’ Committee in collaboration with various stakeholders such as the AStA of FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences, the Studierendenwerk, various student initiatives, and various institutes. The event took place a total of three times in 2021 and 2022.

In June 2021, online lectures and outdoor events were organized due to the coronavirus pandemic. For example, those interested could practice riding cargo bikes and repair their bikes at the AStA bicycle workshop. The Sustainability Days in September 2021 were a step up from this. Among other things, there was a presentation on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, a walk to stores that sell unpackaged goods in Aachen, and a clothes swap at Templergraben. A total of 22 events were offered to anyone interested during the Sustainability Days in June 2022. Sewing workshops, garbage collection campaigns, a clothes swap, a picnic with food that was saved from the dumpster, and a workshop on building a mason jar solar light gave participants the opportunity to tackle the topic of sustainability in a very practical way. Discussions and presentations on the topics of the mobility transition in Germany, fair trade, raw materials policy, and effective measures to combat the climate crisis gave participants food for thought.

Campus Greenery

A lot has also happened in recent years in terms of student involvement by placing more green areas around the campus. In the campus greenery team, students are committed to increasing biodiversity by planting and maintaining flower beds. With the support of the Rectorate, the outdoor area maintenance department, the Studierendenwerk and the City of Aachen, new raised beds were installed at Mensa Academica and Templergraben.

The campus greenery team looks after flower beds at a total of four locations. In addition to greenery, the aim is to create relaxing outdoor spaces. Specially built seating furniture in the central campus garden behind the Audimax invites you to linger there. AStA’s seed library is also new. Students can hand in plant seeds in small bags and, in return, receive other plant seeds to take home.

Fair Trade at RWTH

RWTH Aachen University has officially been a Fairtrade University since 2022. The student body is actively involved in the topic. For example, with campaigns such as the distribution of fair trade roses in front of Mensa Academica in spring 2021 and 2022. During an Instagram series and a presentation by Weltladen Aachen, interested parties were able to find out more about the Fairtrade label. The quiz during “Fair Week” in fall 2021 and the goal wall event with fair footballs in spring 2022 were really effective. In addition, the topic of Fair Trade is anchored in the AStA of RWTH Aachen University as there is a project management position dedicated to it.

Report From AStA

Students and AStA were occupied with a wide range of topics in both 2021 and 2022. These include student mobility and the introduction of the 49-euro ticket. This is because the solidarity-based financing of the semester ticket is now legally questionable. To ensure that students are not forgotten, in 2022 AStA has launched a petition for a 129-euro semester ticket together with the NRW joint state student committees and is campaigning for affordable public transport for students with them. The topic of energy was also highly topical. The students have been actively involved in switching RWTH’s power supply to green electricity. They were successful! RWTH has now been using green electricity since the beginning of 2023.