OSE student organizations

Students that want to get involved and help build OSE can consider teaming up with other students at their school and starting a student organization. OSE would like to help students organize themselves and be as effective as possible at their university. Every school is different, with various cultures, procedures, and institutional organization but some basic steps are outlined below to help student open sourcers find the easiest route to get involved in OSE.

=Your University= Colleges and Universities officially recognize student organizations giving them certain rights and privileges and different kinds of assistance. To get access to meeting space and use bulletin board space you may need some sort of official recognition. Schools and departments may be interested in helping develop an OSE concept or have expertise in a field to share and may form more formal partnerships with OSE. Informal student groups are also encouraged. OSE may be able to assist in organization, finding speakers, or advertising your efforts. Students need to examine their university's environment and the level of student and faculty interest.

=What can you do= So you're a student but you don't have any experience or skills to contribute? You can still help OSE. Student organizations are as much about connecting like minded students together as they are engaging in extracurriculars. Starting an organization may be a way to bring together open minded students for discussions and debates, organizations can host speakers or technology demonstrations, members can use the organization to direct and enrich their education.

=Advantages and disadvantages of working within the University system=

=Setting up a student organization= Forming a student organization can be simple and done in matter weeks at some universities, while the process can take up to a year at others. Finding out the requirements of gaining and maintaining recognition are important considerations before proceeding. Most universities require a Constitution/Statement of purpose, list of members and executive board members, faculty advisor, agreement to university standards, and possibly a meeting with a student or administrative board. The first step in finding your student activities office and finding out the requirements for recognition. 1. Find student activities office 2. Find members 3. Find faculty advisor 4. Write Statement of purpose and submit paperwork 5. Gain official recognition 6. Learn about support ($) from university for organizations 7. Get active, recruit, start a project

=Sample Statement of Purpose=