The General Students' Committee (German: Allgemeiner Studierendenausschuss) or AStA, is the acting executive board and the external representing agency of the (constituted) student body at universities in most German states. It is therefore considered the student government and student representative organization. The AStA fulfils a similar function as the Students' Union

Students' union

A students' union, student government, student senate, students' association, guild of students or government of student body is a student organization present in many colleges and universities, and has started appearing in some high schools...

at a British university.

AStA committees are usually selected by the student parliament and consist of one or more chairpersons as well as a set of consultants from different fields of study.