CLUB RULES

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1.1 Formal requirements

Prerequisite for an ordinary membership in the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria is a successfully completed degree or a successfully completed course of study at the FH Upper Austria. Prerequisite for an extraordinary membership is an upright status as an ordinary student or the full-time or part-time exercise of a teaching or administrative activity at the Upper Austrian University of Applied Sciences. It is also necessary to fill out the online application form completely (or, until 31.12.2020, to send in the official declaration of membership as a PDF file). Student members must provide a private e-mail address when registering. E-mail addresses assigned by the faculties will not be accepted. Unlike student members, full-time FH Upper Austria employees* must register with the e-mail address of their place of work.
The Alumni Club FH Upper Austria is a club with informal communication structures, in which all members - regardless of their age and status - meet at eye level. This means that we are on a first-name basis in correspondence as well as in personal contact, which takes place in the sphere of the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria. The only exception to this is the communication between students and their lecturers. All our members agree to this.

1.2 Payment of the membership fee

Another requirement for a regular annual membership in the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria is the payment of the annual membership fee. This is currently EUR 25. The amount due is collected in the first quarter of the respective membership year. It can be paid by all new members who register from December 2019 onwards, exclusively by direct debit order (SEPA direct debit mandate). The direct debit mandates to be issued in this context will be used exclusively for the collection of the membership fee. In cases where we do not obtain a handwritten signature for the SEPA mandates, we offer newly registered members the opportunity to cancel the direct debit order within three weeks of registration. We will point this out again in the registration confirmation sent by e-mail.

A member-side conversion of the payment method to bank transfer in the member portal is no longer possible in future. In exceptional cases, but only if there are comprehensible reasons (e.g. issuing the invoice not to a member but to a company), can be sent by e-mail to alumni@remove-this.fh-ooe.at a conversion is requested. The mere expression of the wish to pay by bank transfer in future is not sufficient for a changeover. If a member revokes in writing the SEPA direct debit mandate issued to us to debit the membership fee, this is tantamount to immediate withdrawal. If you have any questions regarding this, please contact your section's chairman.

Students enrolled at the Upper Austrian University of Applied Sciences are not required to pay the annual membership fee until the successful completion of their studies or until they leave the university for another reason. At the beginning of the respective current calendar year, the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria checks whether student members have graduated or otherwise terminated their studies by the cut-off date 31.12. of the previous calendar year. If this is the case - and if no notice of termination has been received by the cut-off date of 31.12. of the previous calendar year - the changeover from student to fee-based membership takes place.

Graduates who are members of the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria  and who will later resume their studies at the FH Upper Austria are exempt from paying the membership fee for the duration of their studies. The prerequisite for this, however, is that the member proactively informs the Alumni Club that he/she is enrolled at the Upper Austrian University of Applied Sciences again.Membership for employees of the FH Upper Austria is also free for the duration of their full-time or part-time employment. Irrespective of whether the employees of the Upper Austrian University of Applied Sciences are persons who have obtained an academic degree at the Upper Austrian University of Applied Sciences or not, membership in the Upper Austrian Alumni Club automatically ends with the employment relationship. Former employees of the Upper Austrian University of Applied Sciences who are also graduates of the Upper Austrian University of Applied Sciences can register for a dues-based membership after leaving the Upper Austrian University of Applied Sciences or apply for a change of their account directly by phone or email. The association will not make any unsolicited conversion.

1.3 Origin of the obligation to contribute
 

From 2020 onwards, all graduates of the FH Oberösterreich living in Austria and abroad who were registered with the Alumni Club up to and including 31.12. of the last calendar year or who have joined the Alumni Club up to that date shall be liable to pay fees without exception. For members who declare their resignation up to and including 31.12. in the form stipulated in point 1.4, the obligation to pay fees for the coming calendar year shall expire. A termination in the respective current contribution year, e.g. after receipt of the current contribution invoice, will become effective at the desired date, but does not release from the obligation to pay the membership fee. In exceptional cases, it is possible to waive the collection of the membership fee in the event of termination during the year. A retransfer of received membership fees in case of cancellation during the year is excluded in any case.

1.4 Termination of membership by members

The termination of membership in the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria is possible at any time, but without exception on the appropriate Cancellation form. This must be completed in full. Basically the following applies: There is no notice period. The termination shall take effect on the date requested by the member, provided that it is received during the respective contribution year. If the membership fee for the current year has already been paid, the membership will be maintained until 31.12. of that year if requested. If the fee for the current calendar year has not yet been paid, membership ends right after we have received the cancellation form, the latest at the end of the respective month. If you cancel your membership in the same in which you have joined the Alumni Club, your membership ends in the moment we receive your cancellation form. The Alumni Club will in any case promptly inform the member of the receipt and termination of the membership. confirmed in writing. Concerning the storage of personal data we refer to the current Privacy policy.

1.5 Termination of membership by the association

The Alumni Club FH Upper Austria reserves the right to unilaterally cancel memberships at any time if there are good reasons. Reasons for exclusion are e.g. a violation of the obligation to update data (see point 1.6), conduct on the part of members that brings the reputation of the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria and the organisation FH Upper Austria into disrepute as well as non-payment of the annual membership fee. If the membership fee is not paid within 14 days of receipt of the invoice or if the announced debit order fails due to incorrectly deposited bank details, the members in default shall receive payment reminders. A total of three payment reminders will be sent at intervals of 14 days. If the last reminder is also not complied with, the membership will be cancelled by the association at the latest eight weeks after the invoice has been sent.

1.6 Obligation to update data continuously

All members of the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria commit themselves to keep their contact, address and bank details up to date. The updating can be done independently via the Memebership portal where you can log in with your membership number and password. Alternatively, it is possible to inform the Alumni Club by letter or e-mail about the change of data. Club members are reminded of this obligation several times in the course of each calendar year by e-mail.
Since our e-mails sometimes end up in the spam folder, we recommend that you check your folder regularly. To prevent our e-mails from repeatedly ending up in the spam folder, you can right-click on it and select the option "no spam" or "no junk" to confirm that you want to have e-mails from our address delivered regularly in future.

Darüber hinaus behält sich der Alumni Club das Recht vor, Mitglieder im Falle wiederholt nicht zustellbarer E-Mails von geringer Wichtigkeit (z.B. Newsletter) bzw. erstmalig nicht zustellbaren E-Mails von hoher Wichtigkeit (z.B. Rechnungen, Änderung der Vereinsbedingungen etc.) per Post und/oder SMS um die Aktualisierung ihrer Benutzerdaten zu bitten. Dieser Versuch wird zweimal binnen sechs Wochen unternommen. Werden die entsprechenden Kontaktdaten nicht spätestens binnen 14 Tagen nach der zweiten Aufforderung aktualisiert, wird die Mitgliedschaft einseitig vom Alumni Club FH OÖ aufgekündigt.
For all unreachable members, who have deposited "Abbucher" as payment method, the membership fee will be collected one last time and the membership ends on 31.12. of the year of membership fee. For members with the payment method "bank transfer" the membership ends with immediate effect.

1.7 Transparency obligation of the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria

All members will be contacted during the registration process via the Online-form – in the form of a short text with link - to the general rules of the association and the data protection declaration in the respective valid form.

This information is also contained in the same form in the automatically generated joining e-mail, which is sent to the new member after successful registration. Furthermore, this information can be found at any time on the website of the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria. In addition, towards the end of the membership year, members receive a reminder e-mail, which links to the association rules and data protection declaration and points out any changes to them as well as the obligation to update membership fees and data.
No later than ten working days before the annual membership fee is debited (if a direct debit mandate has been issued), the current fee invoice is also sent out, indicating that the fee will be debited on a specific date. At the latest five working days before the annual membership fee is debited, a reminder e-mail is also sent, asking the members with the chosen payment method "Abbucher" to update their bank details.

1.8 Exclusivity of services

There are offers of the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria which can be used by all graduates of the FH Upper Austria or by external persons. These include the Participation in events and that Insertion of job advertisements on the job portal. Other services, however, are exclusively available to members of the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria and its corporate and cooperation partners.

Exclusive services include, for example, the use of the internal member area, the inclusion in our closed XING and LinkedIn group, the sending of the faculty-specific newsletter and the use of advantageous offers. The use of other digital services, which will be introduced gradually, is also reserved for members of the Alumni Club FH Oberösterreich.

Please note that the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria takes photos of the participants* at all events organised by the club - no matter where they take place - for the purpose of documentation. All members agree that these photos may be published after the event on the online communication channels as well as in printed material of the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria. It will also be clearly visible on the spot or verbally explicitly pointed out that photos are taken at events.

3.1 Registration and participation fees

Registrations for events are only possible via the online form of our event management tool eveeno. The receipt of a booking request is always confirmed in the form of an automatically generated e-mail. In the case of a free event, this message corresponds to a confirmation of the reservation of a place. If there is a fee for participation in an event, it must be paid in advance by bank transfer - or in exceptional cases in cash or by card on site (see point 5). The booking confirmation will be sent only after receipt of payment.

Participation in most events organised by the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria is free of charge. Only a few formats such as workshops, excursions or travel are subject to a fee. The fee for the participation in Alumni Club workshops with costs is at most EUR 30.00 for Alumni Club FH Upper Austria members and EUR 60.00 for external participants*. For other event formats (ski days, trips, etc.), members will be invoiced proportionately for the actual costs incurred - less a subsidy contribution, which will be borne by the Alumni Club FH UAS Upper Austria.

3.2. Keeping your contact information up to date

The prerequisite for participation in our events is the complete completion of the information requested by form. This applies in particular to the contact details e-mail address and telephone number, as these are required to be able to inform members in the event of a short-term cancellation (see point 4) by the association. Those members who do not fill in the mandatory fields correctly take note that they may not be contacted in time or not at all in case of a short-term cancellation.

3.3 Allocation of free places

Seat bookings for events are always considered in chronological order. However, external attendees will be ranked next if the contingent is fully booked, if a member who requests a place later needs one. Members also have the option of being placed on the waiting list for fully booked events. In case of short-term cancellations of registered participants, the members on the waiting list will move up in chronological order of their registration. Registrations for events of the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria are only possible up to the date specified on our posted posters, on our website and in the respective registration form. Registrations received after the official deadline will not be considered.

3.4 Consequences of delays and no-shows

Events always start on time - that is, at the time specified in the reminder e-mail sent to the participants a few days before the event. Individual delays of the participants can therefore only be taken into consideration in exceptional cases. Especially for events held at the FH Upper Austria  Campus Linz, we strongly recommend an earlier arrival due to the parking problem (see point 6). Every member who has regularly registered for an event is obliged to cancel the event with the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria by email, SMS or phone call if he/she cannot attend.
If members repeatedly stay away without excuse from an event for which they have bindingly registered, the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria reserves the right to subordinate their registrations in the future, i.e. to automatically put these members on the waiting list.

The Alumni Club FH Upper Austria reserves the right to cancel any event organised by the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria if there are important reasons such as the minimum number of participants is not reached Cancel at short notice by e-mail and/or SMS. In case of a cancellation on the part of the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria, all duly registered participants payments made for this event fully refunded. For all more damages (travel expenses, loss of earnings, etc.) incurred by registered participants in connection with a cancellation at short notice, but may no compensation claims can be asserted.

Please note that we require advance payments for workshops, excursions and travel for short term cancellations (less than 7 days before) or the non-appearance of participants only if a valid reason for prevention can be proven (e.g. illness, death in the family etc.). Costs incurred by the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria due to late cancellations by participants will be retained to the extent paid in advance.

The refund of fees for justified cancellations (see point 5) as well as advance payments for events that do not take place due to lack of participants will be made collected twice a year (once at the end of the summer semester, once in mid-December). In order that cancellations can be recognized as justified and thus taken into account in the repayment of fees paid in advance, the following deadlines must be met for cancellations: mid June or early December at the latest unsolicited written evidence to send to the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria (e.g. doctor's confirmations, damage reports or sponsorship slips).

Since the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria is responsible for the responsible handling of membership fees and the association has incurred high costs in the past due to short-term and/or unexcused cancellations of registered participants*, the collection of participation fees was changed to advance payment in 2020. Participation fees for workshops, online trainings and other fee-based event formats will only be collected on the day of the event in exceptional cases from 2020 onwards. From May 2019, receipts will only be issued in digital form and sent by e-mail. The prerequisite for issuing a receipt is payment in advance or by card at our terminal. Cash payments are only accepted in an appropriate manner, as we cannot offer an exchange service.

As a rule, invoices are sent either immediately after the binding registration (automated via our event management tool eveeno) or collectively (at the latest 14 days before the event). In order to make a binding booking for places at events, the amount shown in the invoice must be spätestens einen Tag nach Ablauf der Buchungsfrist (eight days before the event date) to the bank account of the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria (separate conditions apply for travel). This will be explicitly pointed out again in the reminder e-mail sent the week before an event. All reservations which cannot be converted into firm bookings by payment in due time will be cancelled by the association without exception.

For events with a short lead time (less than three weeks between the first announcement and the event), bookings can be made up to three days before the event date. In this case, members will still be granted a payment period of at least 7 days, which means that payment can also be made in the days following the event. If such an event is attended, payment is obligatory. If this does not happen, the defaulting member will be excluded from participation in events in accordance with the board resolution of 21.07.2020 until the outstanding invoice has been paid.

The headquarters of the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria is located at FH Upper Austria Campus Linz in der Garnisonstraße 21, 4020 Linz. Unless otherwise stated, this is also where the in-house events are held. Among the buildings of the FH Upper Austria Campus Linz there is a public underground garage the AREV (entrance Semmelweisstraße). This is fully accessible to third parties, which means that at peak times (e.g. on Friday afternoons) it may be heavily or completely occupied. Therefore, we may suffer the participants* for the duration of events do not guarantee an underground parking space. We generally recommend that participants use those underground parking spaces that are not marked or reserved for FH Uppper Austria employees. We explicitly advise against parking in parking spaces that are reserved for companies or law firms.

It is possible to park your own vehicle temporarily in the short term parking zone with fees directly in front of the FH Upper Austria Campus Bauteil B and on the opposite side of the street as well as in the short term parking zone free of charge in Glögglweg and Planckstraße. Free exit tickets are output for all events.

The Alumni Club FH Upper Austria basically tries to support partners* and students to get enough participants for their project and study surveys. However, since these requests are received in large numbers, these in accordance with the resolution of the Management Board of 20.03.2019 no longer individually by e-mail and/or in the form of separate Facebook postings be distributed to our members.

Instead, we offer all members, students, partner universities and cooperation partners* the opportunity to post their surveys in the form of a widget on our website to publish. All we need in this context are

• the Specification of a short title/research question (max. 65 characters),
• the Specification of a direct link to the survey
• the Name of the organisation (or the company),
• the Name of the faculty (or the department),
• the Name of the study programme (or the contact person)
• as well as the Duration of the survey (beginning and end).

If you are interested in making use of this service, please send us the aforementioned information in a structured form by e-mail to alumni@remove-this.fh-ooe.at to send.

As soon as we get the information be of the required quality and the survey on their relevance and thematic suitability we will place it on our homepage, so that it remains visible for our members until the specified expiry date. After that the survey will be automatically hidden on our site. Apart from that, the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria distributes the reference to the currently available surveys at intervals of your choice in the social media social networks and through the four section newsletters.

Members of the Alumni Club FH Upper Austria also have the opportunity to submit their surveys themselves in our Facebook-, XING- and LinkedIn-group to post. The Membership is free for students until the end of the calendar year in which they graduate or completed their studies.