Erasmus+ has long been a cornerstone of European education, providing students with opportunities for mobility, intercultural exchange, and professional development. Cuts to this essential programme would disproportionately affect students from disadvantaged backgrounds, many of whom rely on Erasmus+ grants to access international learning experiences.

At a time when the European Union has set ambitious goals—such as the development of the Council recommendation for the European Degree Label, the strengthening of European University alliances, and making mobility more inclusive for students—these budget cuts seem particularly untimely, detrimental and unaligned with the set priorities. Furthermore, in times when polarisation and nationalism are rising, with more and more citizens not feeling like they have a European identity and questioning Europeanism, downgrading the most successful EU programme to foster intercultural dialogue and exchange is a direct threat to the democratic and intercultural vision of the EU.

The European Students’ Union (ESU), and the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) jointly urge the EU Council to consider the recommendations of the European Parliament’s Budget (BUDG) and Education (CULT) Committees during the upcoming trilogue negotiations. Both committees have called for preserving and expanding Erasmus+ funding, in alignment with the EU’s broader goals.

Background information:

Notably, the budget cuts result from the wish to cover debt from interest rates, while the budget for education and culture is already tiny compared to the budgets for Agriculture and Cohesion. In times when the Erasmus+ programme was considerably largened in its missions and objectives over the last years, these cuts will seriously impact Erasmus+, as national agencies have estimated that a doublement of the budget is required to be able to continue the current work, not taking into consideration even the new programme components that have been added in recent years (keeping in mind that according to the NA directors actually a fivefold increase would be needed to be able to fulfil all aims of the Erasmus+ project).

The post Urgent Call to Preserve Erasmus+ Funding appeared first on European Students' Union.

Tanguy Guibert, vice president of the European Students’ Union, remarks, “The European Students’ Union is proud to join the first democratic youth constituency for climate action, and elevate the voices of European students—from Portugal in the West to Ukraine in the East, and from Sweden in the North to Italy in the South—in the climate space. Democratic organization is key to maintaining political will, and implementing sustainable policies throughout the region.” 

The post ESU Joins First Democratic Youth Constituency for Climate Action appeared first on European Students' Union.

The European Students’ Union (ESU) is appalled by the irresponsible, heinous attacks of Georgia Meloni, prime minister of Italy, against the legitimate, democratic and necessary demands and endeavours of our member union, Unione degli Universitari (UDU), to ensure the proper management, public accountability and adequate implementation of the EU Recovery and Resilience funds by the Government of Italy and requests swift reaction from European authorities.

During the summer, UDU sent a letter to the European Commission underlying that Italy is not spending as planned and required the funding received from the European Union, based on the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of Italy. Instead of creating new student housing facilities in a country with intense social pressures and housing shortages for students, UDU reported to the Commission that the government counts already existing places as new and that instead the funding is redirected to the private sector without meaningful benefits for students.

Instead of taking note of the issues signalled by UDU and trying to fix them, Italy’s prime minister embarked on a spurious campaign on national TV to rebuke students’ voices and concerns and falsely downgrade the importance of the situation. Even more concerning is that the Prime minister claimed that UDU ‘hates Italians’ for signalling the mismanagement issues to the Commission, which could result in a potential temporary halt of funding.

We stand in solidarity with UDU and support their future actions to protest this severe injustice. ESU strongly affirms that no student or any citizen should be afraid of raising up legitimate concerns and shed light on authorities’ wrongdoings, and we condemn this obvious attack against the fundamental values of higher education and the principle of student self-governance. 

Since the inception of the Recovery and Resilience Fund, ESU emphasised and advocated for strong, compulsory and meaningful stakeholder engagement and participation in the elaboration, implementation and monitoring of National Recovery and Resilience Plans. It is obvious, from Italy’s case, that the reality is far from the objectives of EU regulations.

We are calling on the European Commission to ensure that the reputation of supporting stakeholder engagement is maintained. Thus, we expect the Commission to announce that the issues signalled by UDU will be further analysed together with them and that the Commission will investigate the situation of stakeholder participation in the governance of the NRRP in Italy, a situation highlighted by UDU for a long time.

“The statements of prime minister Meloni have blatantly crossed yet another red line. We are demanding the prime minister and the government of Italy to urgently retract the accusations and to meaningfully engage UDU in solving the obvious issues related to the use of EU money for student housing. We are fully behind our member union and will further engage with the Commission to ensure an adequate follow-up on UDU’s complaint. This clearly shows that much more needs to be done in order to make stakeholder participation in the use of NRRPs a reality, and the Commission is accountable for the trust that society puts in this process‘ declared Horia Onița, president of ESU.

“At the beginning we tried to speak to the Government, but our reports were ignored. We turned directly to the European Commission, reporting the inflated numbers of beds communicated by the Italian authorities” says Camilla Piredda, general secretary of UDU. “In fact, we discovered how private student residences that had existed for years were reporting themselves as new. Meloni, instead of assuming her responsibilities, preferred to attack CGIL, the main Italian trade union, and UDU on the main Italian television network. Together with ESU we strongly claim the need to involve the social partners in the implementation of the NRRP, as well as the right to contact European bodies directly to express student voice.”

The post Statement On The Vicious Attacks Of Prime Minister Meloni Against The National Union Of Students In Italy: You Cannot Silence The Student Voice! appeared first on European Students' Union.

Norway will no longer be one of the few countries in Europe with free education for all. On the 6th June the majority of the Standing Committee on Education and Research sent a proposal to the Norwegian Parliament (Storting) to change the law in order to allow the charging of tuition fees for students from outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland. 

Matteo Vespa, President of the European Students’ Union: “This is a tragic day for equal rights to education. The continuing trend of abolishing free access to education in Europe is deeply concerning. ESU reiterates that education is a fundamental human right irrespective of one’s origin. It furthermore creates great uncertainty for the international students that have already applied for this academic year, adding even another layer of irresponsibility to what is already a bad political choice”.

The leader of the Norwegian students’ union NSO, Maika Marie Godal Dam continues: “This is a betrayal in many ways! The government and the majority in the Storting have refused to listen to what consequences this will have for students and for higher education in Norway. We had expected far more from our top elected officials.”

Background information:

In the national budget of 2023, the Norwegian Parliament decided to introduce tuition fees for international students from outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland. This implies that the higher education institutions are forced to demand a cost-covering fee, from the fall of 2023. This budget proposal will also be followed by a change in the law, by introducing a new group of students in Norwegian higher education, third-country students. The vote on the change of the law will take place on Friday 9th June in the Storting. The introduction of tuition fees will break one of the most important principles of the Norwegian education system – the principle of free education. Moreover, it is also in conflict with the ruling government (consisting of the Labour party and the Centre party) political platform, which states that: “Higher education in Norway will be free of cost, also for international students”. With the introduction of fees, the government is violating their own platform and their own political programmes. Amidst massive opposition from the entire higher education sector SV, the Labour party and the Centre party could have reversed the decision: instead they are burying the principle of free education.

Other countries such as Denmark, Sweden and Finland have already had this in place for a few years and have seen a massive reduction in the number of students from these countries. Moreover, the case of Baden-Württemberg in Germany serves as a compelling example of the ineffectiveness of imposing tuition fees on international students. In 2017, the federal state introduced tuition fees for third-country nationals under the pretext of financial considerations. However, the same state government is now considering reversing this decision acknowledging the fees as a “genuine locational disadvantage” due to the decline in the number of international students enrolled in Baden-Württemberg since 2017. This decline not only hampers the internationalisation efforts of Baden-Württemberg as an academic hub but also adversely impacts tax revenues and exacerbates the shortage of skilled labour in the job market. As a result of the negative consequences, other German federal states refrained from their own plans to introduce such fees.

At its most recent Board Meeting in May 2023, the Board of the European Students’ Union adopted a resolution calling to stop the introduction of tuition fees in Norway.  In the resolution, ESU underlines that higher education is not a commodity, and that the principle of equal right to education should be the keystone in Norwegian higher education policy, as affluent countries need to contribute more to higher education globally. The introduction of tuition fees will not improve the quality of education: on the contrary, it will threaten smaller professions and disciplines and will hinder student mobility, in a moment when increased internationalisation is necessary to answer the global questions of tomorrow.

You will find the press release of the Norwegian national union of students (NSO) here: https://student.no/aktuelt/pressemeldinger/gratisprinsippet-gravlegges-av-norske-politikere 

The post We denounce the end of free education in Norway appeared first on European Students' Union.

PRESS RELEASE

STUDENTS DEMAND A MORE SOCIAL ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK

On the 9th of November, a communication from the Commission was released outlining the vision of the Commission in regard to the reform of the EU economic governance framework. As a civil society organisation concerned with many social aspects of the EU, the European Students’ Union (ESU) is reacting to the announcement of the communication by calling for more concrete actions to meet the challenges of the moment, especially when it comes to the youth – ‘the Future of Europe’ – and their education.

“Even if some of the most extreme elements of austerity have been watered down, including a more medium-term perspective and more focus on the European Pillar of Social Rights and digital and climate plans when assessing the reform paths, the focus is still too much on the ‘stability’ and too little on the ‘growth‘“- estimates Matteo Vespa, President of ESU. “Crucially, the ‘golden rule’ that certain investments, such as in education, should not be included in debt calculations and debt reduction measures is completely absent, and this is probably the biggest weakness of the communication.”

“In the Communication, the European Semester is given the role of surveillance of the reforms agreed in the debt reduction plans. Once more, the social element of the European Semester is missing: we need to monitor and steer investments in education based on the framework for the social dimension of the Bologna Process as a way to support the convergence of student rights across the EU” – says Iris Kimizoglu, member of the Executive Committee.

“The Stability and Growth Pact without a Growth instrument is a half-empty tool. Today we have the Recovery and Resilience Facility, but we should discuss a future instrument that can consistently fund investments, also on education, at the European
level. At the same time, we need to take stock of the lack of involvement of national and European stakeholders in the National Recovery and Resilience Plans and include thorough stakeholder consultations as integral part of the instrument” – concludes Horia Onița, vice-President of ESU.

Point of Contact:

Communications Manager of the European Students’ Union
Maciej Rewucki – maciej.rewucki@esu-online.org

The post Students demand a more social economic governance framework appeared first on European Students' Union.

PRESS RELEASE

STUDENTS NEED TO BE AT THE CENTRE 

OF THE EUROPEAN YEAR OF SKILLS

Loading...

Taking too long?

Reload document

| Open in new tab

Download

The post Students Need To Be At The Centre Of The European Year of Skills appeared first on European Students' Union.

Learn more about the project :

Many students suffer from problems of malaise, as shown by numerous studies and research. Some groups of students are particularly vulnerable to issues of well-being, due to the discrimination they already face (e.g. refugees, people with disabilities). Since the beginning of 2020, the health crisis has had a strong impact on students’ well-being (virtual absence of student life, need to adapt to new learning methods, integration difficulties, significant deterioration in mental health, etc.). In addition, new forms of malaise are emerging, such as eco-anxiety, which affects 15% of young people (2016 IPSOS survey). The well-being of students, therefore, represents a huge challenge for higher education institutions, but also for student organizations acting in favour of their peers, which are more and more numerous to take up this issue.

Student life is an essential dimension in HEI’s strategy and it’s recognised as complementary to academic learning. Lately, the Covid crisis has shown us how important is the social, cultural and civic part of student life for the well-being of students. This project is specifically focused on student life which is an important part of their well-being. By student life, we mean all activities that make the daily life of students: lessons, cultural activities on their campus, social relationships, citizenship activities and volunteering on their campus, student restaurant, health services, and other facilities. It seems necessary for universities and student organizations to take action and cooperate better in order to improve well-being and student life in Europe. 

In this context, the WISE project promotes and encourages well-being in student life within the European Higher Education field. This project aims to identify what is important for the well-being of students and how universities and student organizations can act within student life policies in favour of student well-being. Along the 3 years of the project, the consortium will: 

• Develop expertise to understand better what’s a stake for student well-being within student life: quantitative and qualitative research and reports
• Develop resources and training to help HEI and student organizations to take into account and act for well-being in student life: vademecum, toolkits, training.
• Develop proposals and communications to promote student well-being and student life as essential components in Europe.

Six partners are involved in this project: Animafac (a student association network in France),  European University Foundation (EUF, a university network based in Luxemburg), European Students Union (ESU, a student union network, based in Belgium) and 4 universities throughout Europe (Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra in Portugal, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, Transilvania University of Brasov in Romania, Charles University of Prague in Czech Republic.

Different steps of the project

All along the project, the consortium will create the following intellectual outputs:

1. A quantitative survey: “European panorama of innovative initiatives in favour of student well-being” (2022)
2. A qualitative study: “innovations in favour of student well-being in European higher education” (2022-2023)
3. A platform “The European university of tomorrow for student wellbeing” (2023)
4. A training kit for university staff to implement student well-being initiatives (2023-2024)
5. A training kit for student organizations to implement student well-being initiatives”  (2023)
6. A European Guide of recommendations on student well-being” (2024)

Two training sessions will be held: 

• An internal consortium training on student well-being (April 2022, online) ; 
• A training course “Acting in favour of student well-being” (March 2024 in Belgium)

Six dissemination activities of the project results will be organised in order to share and promote the result of the project in different countries in Europe:

• December 2022 in Romania
• February 2023 in Czech Republic
• September 2023 in France
• March 2024 in Portugal
• April 2024 in Greece
• September 2024 in Belgium

Eventually, WISE wants to reach the 28 countries of the European Union, 300 higher education institutions and 150,000 committed students.

The post ESU teams up to work on students’ well-being: introducing WISE project appeared first on European Students' Union.

What would the ideal Erasmus grant system look like, taking into consideration inclusiveness and affordability requirements?

The ESU team, comprised of Tiziana Fantucchio and Stanimir Boyadzhiev, participated in the discussion with 8 participants from various nationalities – Polish, Armenian, Indian, Dutch, Belgian, Slovakian, Albanian, and Bulgarian – and with varying mobility experiences – outgoing and incoming Erasmus+ Programme students, and students who have not yet participated in a mobility but are interested in doing so.

Participants provided valuable feedback on the importance of the E+ programme as well as the improvements that need to be made to its grant. While the grant is a motivating factor for any student to participate in mobility because it covers the main and basic expenses, the amount of the grant was a deciding factor for many other students in deciding whether or not to carry mobility and in which country. The Erasmus Plus programme should take more into account the various costs of living in the different program countries, even if they are in the same group of countries. Housing is a common issue for international students. Many cities are not prepared to accommodate a large number of incoming students and lack student dormitories.

Furthermore, students expressed a desire for the grant to be based not only on the costs of living in the host country but also on the area where a student is from – for example, rural areas – and to adjust the travel grant amount accordingly. Also, while grateful for the enriching opportunity provided by the mobility program, a more inclusive grant would allow many students to enjoy their mobility experience without being concerned about financial issues.

Some participants did not participate in Erasmus exchanges because they were unaware of the opportunities. Universities should provide more information and engage students in mobility. In this regard, ESN Culture and Education Policy Assistant Anna Kowalczyk made a significant contribution by supporting the event and presenting the key findings of the research report on Student and Staff Perspectives on Diversity and Inclusion in Student Exchanges. Anna provided an overview of the mobility opportunities and encouraged and motivated the participants.

Thank you so much to everyone who participated for your helpful suggestions and feedback!

PDF version of the article available here

The post Student Social Lab – Erasmus For All appeared first on European Students' Union.

According to the communicated scope of the project, ‘[t]he EUC is a grassroots initiative gathering students and academic staff from European Universities’, in order to ‘ be the voice of European students in the Conference for the Future of Europe’. The ‘inaugural session of the European Student Assembly […] will be the first of a series of gatherings that will give students a public voice in the European Union’. A first result of the project was the drafting of a ‘Manifesto on the Future of Universities in Europe’, written by 16 students ‘with the assistance and under the supervision’ of staff from the participating universities, owing ‘much to discussions and exchanges with dozens of other European students’. The Manifesto was presented to the European Union’s (EU) Higher Education Ministers and the Commissioner for Education at the Forum of Universities for the Future of Europe, organised under the French EU Council Presidency. 

The European Students’ Union, as the autonomous, democratic, representative organisation of the students across the European Higher Education Area through its 45 member unions in 40 countries, welcomes any projects that allow students to meet and discuss transnationally on common challenges and perspectives, especially under the framework of the Conference on the Future of Europe. That is why we published the ‘Student manifesto on the future of Higher Education in Europe’, approved by Europe’s national unions of students as the result of several months of consultations involving our members, of an event with the student councils of the European Universities alliances, and a public event open to all students in Europe, involving hundreds of students in the representation of 20 million of their peers. 

The basic understanding of stakeholder representation in Europe is that it needs to be democratic, autonomous, representative. That is why we find problematic the claim that an ‘initiative gathering students and staff from European Universities’ can be defined as ‘the voice of European students’ to give them ‘a public voice in the European Union’. A student organisation that is ‘supported and supervisioned’ by the university staff, whose selection criteria are unclear and seemingly not based on a democratic mandate from students, and whose internal proceedings ostensibly do not meet democratic criteria can hardly claim to be autonomous, democratic or representative. Furthermore, the initiative per se is open only to students from the European Universities, which make up only 5% of European Higher Education Institutions and only up to 20% of European students, which makes a claim to be defined as generally ‘the voice of European students’ factually untrue. As per what regards ‘giving students a public voice in the European Union’, the European Students Union not only gives the opportunity to students to voice their interests and defend their rights publicly, but it has punched above its weight in organising and democratising a diversity of student voices and movements in order to establish more sustainable mechanisms of influence towards the European Union. The impact that ESU has had in its 40 years of existence on the European and, through its national student unions, the national levels can be glanced by ESU’s number of collaborations with the European Higher Education policymakers and stakeholders, by its involvement in all the significant policy discussions on Higher Education (from Erasmus+ to the future of Higher Education in Europe). In more notable cases, ESU proved itself a key leader in European Higher Education policy development, most recently by its role in the creation and adoption of the Principles and Guidelines to Strengthen the Social Dimension of Higher Education in the EHEA, as well as by holding the first seat in the history of the Bologna Process given to consultative members (thereby putting ESU in parity with the countries chairing the BFUG) in the drafting committee of the 2020 Rome Ministerial Communique of the European Higher Education Area. We, therefore, welcome this renewed focus in giving student voices a place within the discussions of the EU Council: we expect that space to be provided according to the democratic legitimacy, autonomy and representativeness of the organisations. 

The emerging reality of the European Universities and their student councils add a new framework to student representation. While ESU underlines the role of National Unions of Students in representing all students, we understand that this new, transnational layer has its specificities and even interests. That is why we propose a path of mutual acquaintance and collaboration between ESU and the student representatives of the alliances:

• ESU will organise and promote thematic events of discussions between alliances’ student councils and national unions of students, starting from the discussion of a legal statute for the alliances and the proposed European degree;
• ESU will support and collaborate with the alliances’ student councils in their advocacy efforts on common goals vis-a-vis EU policy-makers and even other academic components of the alliances;
• ESU will work together on a project under Erasmus+ to map out student rights and conditions within the alliances, analysing the possibilities and the obstacles towards the bottom-up improvement of student rights and conditions within them, which will be submitted for approval.

The European Universities Community and its Actions are a commendable project to connect students to discuss common visions, hopes and challenges to contribute to the discussions of the Conference on the Future of Europe, and we wish the participants of the Strasbourg event an enriching, interesting and fruitful experience. For what regards the representation of the interests of the students from European Universities, the European Students’ Union stands ready to that task, both through its National Unions of Students and through the aforementioned collaboration avenues with the student councils of the alliances, as well as others that can be discovered together.

Declaration on the European Universities Community and the ‘European Student Assembly’ inaugural session, 3rd – 4th March 2022 in PDF

The post Declaration on the European Universities Community and the ‘European Student Assembly’ inaugural session, 3rd – 4th March 2022 appeared first on European Students' Union.

The Coimbra Group is launching almost 80 scolarships for young professors and researchers with the goal of internationalizing their research and helping them building contacts in Europe! The initiative will support short-term visits to one of the 20 participating HEI in Europe.

You can check all the programs, along with the eligibility criteria and the requirements to meet by clicking on this link: https://lnkd.in/eQ5zi-xQ

You have until April 15, 2022 to submit your application.
Don’t miss this chance!

PDF version of the following press release available here.

COIMBRA GROUP LAUNCHES SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME FOR SHORT RESEARCH STAY IN EUROPE 

The programme is intended for young researchers and staff from universities in Latin  America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the European Neighbourhood. 

Brussels, February 01, 2022 – Coimbra Group member universities are offering almost 80 scholarships for  young professors and researchers that are both national and residents of Latin American, Sub-Saharan Africa  or European neighbourhood countries. 

With the aim to enable scholars to internationalise the research they perform at their home institution and  help them establish academic and research contacts in Europe, the initiative will specifically support short term research visits to one of the 20 participating universities on the European Continent.  

How to apply 

Applications should be submitted online through the official Coimbra Group website: www.coimbra group.eu/scholarships. Please note that each regional scholarship programme has specific requirements and that a letter of acceptance must be provided by an academic supervisor at the host university. The  deadline for submissions is 15 April 2022 at midnight (Brussels time, UTC+01:00). 

About the Coimbra Group Scholarship Programme 

Since 1999 the Coimbra Group has offered young researchers from outside the EU the opportunity to carry  out part of their research for a period of one to three months at a Coimbra Group University. While this  scholarship programme was initially established to assist scholars from disadvantaged areas in Central and  Eastern Europe (modelled on the Oxford Hospitality Scheme for Polish Scholars), it was expanded several  years ago and consolidated into a set of three programmes for young researchers from the European  Neighbourhood, Sub-Saharan Africa, and young professors and researchers from Latin America. In 2021,  Coimbra Group received a record number of applications, and its member universities offered a record  number of scholarships to young researchers. This success will hopefully be repeated this year.

About the Coimbra Group 

Founded in 1985 and formally constituted by Charter in 1987, the Coimbra Group is an association of long established European comprehensive, multidisciplinary universities of high international standard  committed to creating special academic and cultural ties in order to promote, for the benefits of its  members, internationalisation, academic collaboration, excellence in learning and research, and service to  society. It is also the purpose of the Group to influence European education and research policy and to  develop best practice through the mutual exchange of experience. Please visit www.coimbra-group.eu to  learn more.

The post Coimbra Group Launches Scholarship Programme for Short Research Stay in Europe appeared first on European Students' Union.