FAQ for new students
What is THS?
THS, which stands for Tekniska Högskolans Studentkår, is the student union at KTH and was founded in 1902. Back then the learning conditions for the students were quite harsh and there was no platform for the students to express their views towards KTH. Now, more than a 100 years later, THS and KTH have a close collaboration and a common goal: to keep improving the quality of our education and our study environment. We are students who work for students and their best interests. THS consists of 21 chapters (THS Lokalt), which roughly correspond to each of the programmes at KTH. These chapters focus on each of the programmes associated to them, whereas THS Centralt often deals with issues that affect students as a whole. Learn more about the history of The Chemistry Chapter here.
What does THS do for you as a student?
As a student you get a lot of benefits from THS. The work we do as a student union can be divided in four different comprehensive cornerstones:
Education: Our main objective is to monitor the education at KTH. We want to make sure your studies at KTH have top notch quality and that your rights as a student are respected.
Future: We want to make sure all students at KTH get the opportunity to establish contact with potential employers and that they have multiple options as to where they’ll go on to when they graduate. We accomplish this through different events with the industry and business sectors including Armada, which is the career fair for engineering and architectural students that takes place every year in november.
Student welfare: Even though education and future are our main objectives, we know that students need meaningful activities during their leisure time to be able to complete their studies without completely disregarding their mental and physical health. As such we work together with the chapters to offer a broad variety of activities and events which we hope will satisfy most of our members.
To accomplish different goals in each of these divisions we work together with both the chapters and KTH. We express to KTH what the students want and need and try to make sure your studies at KTH are as rewarding as possible.
How do I become a member of the chemistry chapter and THS?
You can either visit Kårexpeditionen (the reception desk) in Nymble and tell them you want to be a member, or you can follow this link: Become a member. It's super easy! Just follow the link and fill in the form and that's it! Super easy right? If you have any questions regarding the membership or what it means to be a member check the FAQ regarding membership here!
If you are a new student at KTH you first need to be registered as active by your department in the system KTH uses for all their students, this is something that should happen automatically. This information is then sent to our membership register at Kårexpeditionen. At school start this may take a few days when there are a lot of new students.
Student card/ID
As a student at KTH you get a student ID from Mecenat which gives you right to a number of discounts at different stores and chains. This student ID is sent out based on the records we get from KTH, because of this the IDs are only sent out about two to three weeks after school start. There is also another version of the student ID which has the THS-logo on it, this is proof of your membership at THS. This card is sent out about two weeks after you pay your membership. If you want to access any of the card before they are sent out you can install the Mecenat-app and see it there as well. The app is available for Android and iOS.
What's up with all the overalls?
At KTH many students have an overall or a tailcoat (B-frack) which represent what chapter or association you belong to. Every chapter has their own color, that is how you can identify people from different Chapters. Generally overalls are used at parties or during the Reception. The patches on the overalls can be from different parties you've attended or associations you've been active in. At the Chemistry Chapter we sew on our names on the right leg and the "kajan" on the left cheast pocket. TLC sells and design all of the Chapter's patches.
Do I have to dress up in overalls to be a part of the events and activities at the chapter and THS?
Not unless you want to, it is never a requirement. Generally they are quite popular during activities related to the reception, but not as popular during career events. It’s worth noting that the overalls are your personal belongings and not a ”uniform” of some sort.
What is a chapter? (Sektion)?
Every programme at KTH is linked to a chapter at THS. When you join THS as a member you are automatically joining the chapter that corresponds o your programme. A chapter is an association that brings together those who study in the same program and take care of issues that are specific to the programme they are linked to. All chapters are a part of THS. Chapters organize their own events and activities including reception, a bunch of parties, career fairs, pubs, evenings activities, study monitoring, course evaluations, ski trips and much more.