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1.1. BFUG Working Group

ESU will work to ensure that the Social Dimension remains a priority for the working period 2021-2024 of the Bologna Process and especially will focus on the monitoring of the implementation of the Principles & Guidelines (PAGs). For the sake of continuity, ESU will oversee the work of the new Working Group, which will aim to (a) develop a system of monitoring of the Principles and Guidelines and (b) define indicators and benchmarks for the principles for SD. ESU will also advocate towards introducing thematic country reviews on social dimension within the EHEA.

1.2. Closing of TMF(wrap-up) – World Refugee Day 

After five years-duration and very successful results at the local level with student-led projects supporting young people with refugee backgrounds to access Higher Education, built friendship, and better awareness of their rights, the project as such will come to an end between June and December 2021. Final activities will be organised to celebrate the work done and the wide activist community built over the years. Alternative funding opportunities will be considered by ESU in partnerships with other organisations and youth-led organisations to keep working on social inclusion and access to HE for young refugees.

1.3. Access to Mental Health in a digital reality

Mental Health has reached a new peak of importance during the pandemic, and mental strain due to additional workload and the inability of social interaction makes us question how transferring support services of HEIs in a digital form will reflect on the general well being of the academic community. We will investigate good practices in assuring students` access to online mental health services in a safe, confidential, and beneficial way and give out recommendations on how to establish and/or access them wherever and whenever needed.

1.4. Mainstream and operationalise the Students’ Rights Charter European wide and globally

ESU will continue working on the Students’ Rights Charter; this entails working on options to operationalise it and mainstream it in a European setting, towards important other stakeholders in the EHEA as well as towards the EU. Further, ESU will – together with the Global Student Forum – work on a global implementation of a students rights charter based on the charter voted upon by ESU in order to mainstream a set of students rights globally – for example towards UNESCO –  on equal footing with other students around the globe.

1.5. Working conditions in HE and the impact on student population

ESU will start getting involved in a discussion on working conditions in HE and their effect on the student population in particular regarding the quality of teaching and learning and the social dimension of HE. This requires further networking with teacher’s and doctoral students’ unions, such as ETUCE and EURODOC, in order to discuss and plan further activities in that field.

1.6. Enhancing ESU’s commitment towards Gender Equality and Inclusion 

The European Commission underlines the importance of gender equality and moves towards a union of equality in its EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 and its LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025. 

1.6.1. ESU will work either independently or together with different stakeholders to raise awareness and develop campaigns on gender equality, topics that could be addressed are gender-based violence, gender gap in STEM, leadership disparities within Higher Education and discrimination that other minority groups are facing, such as LGBTQI+ people, people with disabilities etc. 

1.6.2. Regarding gender equality and inclusion, ESU will start the process of reviewing and updating its internal policy documents such as the Gender Mainstreaming Strategy (GMS) which was last amended in 2018. 

1.6.3. ESU should look into different ways of making ESU’s online and physical events and meetings more accessible for people with disabilities through best practice sharing of NUSes and other European Organisations. 

1.7. ESU mapping Grant and Loan Systems

ESU will map and do desk research on loan and grant systems in Europe. The aim is to assess possible changes within, and preferences towards, certain systems over the last years and the impact the pandemic might have had on these systems. In addition, the research should include mapping of financial support measures provided to students during the pandemic. This, alongside the research, should enable ESU to gather theoretical and ideological elements that can support ESU’s stance and advocacy and could outline the advantages of grant systems over loan systems.

1.8 Discrimination against neurodivergent students

In coordination with relevant partners, ESU will make a statement on the discrimination which neurodivergent students tend to face within the HE system, affecting their ability to fully benefit from HE or are even being denied the opportunities to access it. 

The statement should address the importance of assuring the necessary support measures for this group of students as well as call for an essential and proper understanding of neurological disorders throughout the HE system as a whole.

European Education Area

2.1. Revise the “Introduction to ESU’s policies in higher education” policy paper

In light of the proposal for a European Education Area and the upcoming Conference on the Future of Europe, ESU will revise the Introduction to ESU’s policies in Higher Education policy paper. ESU will amplify students’ voice during the Conference on the Future of Europe by lobbying the students’ vision on the future of higher education and supporting member NUSs engaging in national discourse.

2.2. Digital Education Action Plan

As part of the Transformative Agenda for Higher Education the Digital Education Action Plan will support the digital transformation plans at all levels of education and training. ESU will look for project opportunities concerning the developments in the area of digital education, its quality, and acquiring digital skills. Along with that ESU will monitor the developments of the Digital Education Action Plan and analyse the possibility of joining the Digital Education Hub.

2.3. Mapping of student rights and conditions within European Universities 

ESU will start working with the students` councils established under the European Universities to map out student rights and conditions within the alliances, analysing the possibilities and the obstacles towards bottom up improvement of student rights and conditions within the alliances.

2.4. Democratic student participation within European Universities

ESU will continue its advocacy work in ensuring meaningful, democratic student participation in the governance of the European Universities, as outlined in ESU’s resolution “European Universities: it is about the students”

Quality Assurance

3.1. Sustainability of ESU’s QA Pool- transparency and recognition

ESU will continue the work on sustainability of the QA Pool of Experts by developing and implementing procedures for the recognition of QA Pool members’ achievements in the scope of their work within the Pool. Additionally, ESU will assess how to assure higher transparency of the work of the Steering Committee and put the ideas into practice.

3.2. QA of the European University Networks and revision of the Quality Assurance system.

European University Alliances have started to develop more since the beginning of the pandemic, with the implementation of digital external evaluations of programmes and institutions. As traditional QA procedures do not include digital assessments, ESU will look into how they are organized and are they indicative of programme/ institution quality. Besides that ESU will participate in the discourse on the revision of European Council and Parliament Recommendations on Quality Assurance, as mentioned in the EEA Communication.

3.3. Analysis of QA approaches to students in Europe 

QA procedures necessarily involve students, both on national and international levels; however, those students do not have equal roles, responsibilities and are most often not paid equally to other panel members across different QA levels. ESU will address these issues by collecting national perspectives of ESU`s QA Pool members, in order to define key problems and propose potential solutions for assuring a stable and equal students’ role in the assessment procedures.

3.4. Developing the Policy Paper on Quality of Higher Education 

ESU will amend and improve the 2017 Policy paper on quality of Higher Education, to assure that the document is relevant, not only for the current work of ESU, but also taking into consideration the challenges of the future. Special attention shall be put on digital learning in higher education, automatic recognition of competencies and the implementation of microcredentials, which were previously not addressed from a practical perspective.

3.5. Automatic recognition implementation

Based on the outcomes of the I-AR project and the current practices for automatic recognition within European ENIC-NARIC centres, ESU will continue to closely monitor how the automatic recognition is being implemented and if the process is effective enough. ESU shall continue to support automatic recognition for all bilateral and multilateral institutional agreements. Special attention shall be given to the implementation of automatic recognition of competencies on a national level (for entering the labour market or the continuation of education), of all EUNs.

3.6. EUROPASS and Digital Credentials Infrastructure

ESU will monitor the developments of the digital credentialing system developed under the Europass, ensuring that the supportive tools and initiatives are designed in a student-centered way. Additionally, ESU will further cooperate with EQAR to further develop the DEQAR database in order to build trust within the EHEA QA system, institutions and stakeholders.

3.7. Micro-credentials 

ESU will continue to be actively involved in the developments of the micro-credentials and will use ESU’s adopted policies to support further development of more flexible and inclusive learning opportunities for life-long learners and people from different socio-economic backgrounds.

3.8. Learning and Teaching

ESU will ensure that during the 2020-2023 cycle of the BFUG the Advisory Group on Learning and Teaching prioritizes peer learning and capacity building actions that focus on the implementation of the Recommendations on L&T, as adopted at the Rome Ministerial Conference (online) 2020. ESU will advocate for developing criteria on L&T implementation to be later integrated into the Implementation Report.

Internationalisation and Mobility

4.1. Erasmus+ and Mobility 

4.1.1. ESU will consult with its NUSs and work with other organisations to monitor what post-Covid mobility will look like, assessing access, safety and student protection.

4.1.2. ESU will support Switzerland and the UK to lobby in the reassociation of the Erasmus+ programme; and continue to advocate towards making the Erasmus+ programme more environmentally and socially sustainable, and accessible to all groups of learners in Europe. 

4.1.3. ESU will work closely with Erasmus Student Network and other partners that will carry our research on Environmental  sustainability and develop a toolkit that can be used across institutions and individuals.

4.2. Brain Drain in Higher Education

ESU will work toward creating an annex document to the Internationalisation and Mobility Policy Paper, including mapping best practices, and recommending the way toward academic Brain Circulation within EHEA. ESU will take into account the issue of Brain drain in its future work and advocate for measures to mitigate the negative impact.  

4.3. Internationalisation at home 

ESU will actively be involved in the development of internationalisation at home and ensure that it is developed in a way that makes internationalisation more inclusive, and increases the accessibility of international competencies. ESU will develop a plan to lobby policymakers actively on the subject of internationalisation at home.

4.4. Global engagement and solidarity 

4.4.1. ESU will make an effort to strengthen global partnerships and look to expand its network further. It will foster the current cooperation and collaboration  with international student organizations and work towards engagement within the UN and its agencies. ESU will also support the recognition of education qualifications across the globe.

4.4.2. ESU will continue to defend the right to access to education, especially access for migrants and refugees lobbying for funded pathways into HEI’s, with the help of the human rights coordinator. ESU will work to highlight the link climate displacement has to the barriers to right for education as refugees. ESU should  lobby on the recognition of Climate Refugees and the impacts on climate migration. 

4.4.3. ESU will continue its cooperation with GSF to promote ESU’s policies within the framework of the G20 engagement group Civil 20 with the goal to influence the G20 2021 Ministerial Communique. 

Public Responsibility, Governance and Financing  of Higher Education 

5.1. Sustainability and Climate Education

5.1.1. ESU will advocate for and campaign around climate education through Environmental campaigns by supporting and working with organisations such as SOS international, Generation Clime Europe and UNESCO. ESU will ensure that in its work, the response to the climate crisis is rooted in changing educational frameworks, and will advocate for the inclusion of climate education in HEIs curricula.

5.1.2. Additionally, ESU will explore the possibility of finding funding to add the position of the sustainability coordinator, who will take charge of mainstreaming the climate and sustainability discourse within ESU’s work.

5.2. Belarus

ESU has used different avenues to support academic freedom and the right to demonstrate and freely express for students and Belarusian citizens. This has led to a declaration, endorsed by 24 Ministers of the European Higher Education Area, calling for the respect of academic freedom in Belarus. ESU will continue its support and advocacy work to the students and student organisations in Belarus demonstrating academic freedom and democracy.

5.3. Work in implementation of EHEA definition of Academic Freedom and definition of the other fundamental values

ESU will work alongside the BFUG towards the monitoring and implementation of the EHEA definition on academic freedom, as well as in the definition on other fundamental values of the EHEA.

5.4. Enhancing ESU’s capacity on students’ rights to academic freedom

ESU, through the support of the HRSC, PR cluster and a Task Force on Academic Freedom will work with its member unions and on the general European level to gather information on the level of understanding and engagement on the topic of academic freedom and academic integrity. Additionally, ESU will look into different support mechanisms (such as capacity-building activities and advocacy training) that students can access in order to promote students’ rights at the level of their HEIs, with a special focus on the role of students’ ombudspersons.

5.5. Strengthening academic integrity in Higher Education

ESU will continue being a part of international bodies addressing academic integrity and an effort will be put in to address the relevance of the topic, and the importance of students’ participation in preservation of academic integrity values. 

5.6. Next Generation EU and National Recovery and Resilience Plans

Next Generation EU is the single biggest investment initiative in the history of the European Union. ESU has campaigned for a minimum investment of 10% of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans to be devoted to education, as well as a meaningful student involvement in the design and implementation of the Plans. ESU will continue lobbying for a significant part of the education budget to go to higher education and research. ESU will continue the work by globally assessing the level of student involvement in drafting and whenever possible revising the Plans (in light of the European Commission’s assessment of the Plans) and empowering the NUSes in being involved in the implementation phase of the projects.

Organisational Development and Capacity Building

6.1. The needs of ESU’s membership

ESU will review the results from the survey and focus discussions on the needs of the membership (including associates) and will reflect those accordingly in the next Strategic Priorities. Furthermore, ESU will seek opportunities to improve the situation of the NUSes and Associates through Capacity Building and through the newly established buddy system.

6.2. Enhance the engagement of Full and Associate Members

ESU’s Membership Coordinator will look into creating opportunities to increase the cooperation between NUSes and Associate Members, such as organising a European Students’ Summit that will bring together ESU’s membership organisations. 

6.3. Review of ESU’s Membership Strategy

The Membership Coordinator will work closely with the Executive Committee and the board to review the Membership Strategy adopted in BM72. This review will take into account the work of previous Membership Coordinators and the result of the different membership procedures that exist in ESU in order to improve them through the Strategy. 

6.4. ESU’s 40 Year Anniversary 

To celebrate this milestone in 2022, ESU will begin preparations for it’s 40 year anniversary, seeking the involvement and participation of its members, alumni, partners and stakeholders.

Plan of Work 2021/2022 in PDF

The post Plan of Work 2021-2022 appeared first on European Students' Union.

ESU will continue to concentrate on executing advocacy with a clear strategy and goals further explained in this document and policy documents. You can download the full Plan of Work here

Plan of Work 2021-2022

Social Dimension 

1.1. BFUG Working Group

ESU will work to ensure that the Social Dimension remains a priority for the working period 2021-2024 of the Bologna Process and especially will focus on the monitoring of the implementation of the Principles & Guidelines (PAGs). For the sake of continuity, ESU will oversee the work of the new Working Group, which will aim to (a) develop a system of monitoring of the Principles and Guidelines and (b) define indicators and benchmarks for the principles for SD. ESU will also advocate towards introducing thematic country reviews on social dimension within the EHEA.

1.2. Closing of TMF(wrap-up) – World Refugee Day 

After five years-duration and very successful results at the local level with student-led projects supporting young people with refugee backgrounds to access Higher Education, built friendship, and better awareness of their rights, the project as such will come to an end between June and December 2021. Final activities will be organised to celebrate the work done and the wide activist community built over the years. Alternative funding opportunities will be considered by ESU in partnerships with other organisations and youth-led organisations to keep working on social inclusion and access to HE for young refugees.

1.3. Access to Mental Health in a digital reality

Mental Health has reached a new peak of importance during the pandemic, and mental strain due to additional workload and the inability of social interaction makes us question how transferring support services of HEIs in a digital form will reflect on the general well being of the academic community. We will investigate good practices in assuring students` access to online mental health services in a safe, confidential, and beneficial way and give out recommendations on how to establish and/or access them wherever and whenever needed.

1.4. Mainstream and operationalise the Students’ Rights Charter European wide and globally

ESU will continue working on the Students’ Rights Charter; this entails working on options to operationalise it and mainstream it in a European setting, towards important other stakeholders in the EHEA as well as towards the EU. Further, ESU will – together with the Global Student Forum – work on a global implementation of a students rights charter based on the charter voted upon by ESU in order to mainstream a set of students rights globally – for example towards UNESCO –  on equal footing with other students around the globe.

1.5. Working conditions in HE and the impact on student population

ESU will start getting involved in a discussion on working conditions in HE and their effect on the student population in particular regarding the quality of teaching and learning and the social dimension of HE. This requires further networking with teacher’s and doctoral students’ unions, such as ETUCE and EURODOC, in order to discuss and plan further activities in that field.

1.6. Enhancing ESU’s commitment towards Gender Equality and Inclusion 

The European Commission underlines the importance of gender equality and moves towards a union of equality in its EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 and its LGBTIQ Equality Strategy 2020-2025. 

1.6.1. ESU will work either independently or together with different stakeholders to raise awareness and develop campaigns on gender equality, topics that could be addressed are gender-based violence, gender gap in STEM, leadership disparities within Higher Education and discrimination that other minority groups are facing, such as LGBTQI+ people, people with disabilities etc. 

1.6.2. Regarding gender equality and inclusion, ESU will start the process of reviewing and updating its internal policy documents such as the Gender Mainstreaming Strategy (GMS) which was last amended in 2018. 

1.6.3. ESU should look into different ways of making ESU’s online and physical events and meetings more accessible for people with disabilities through best practice sharing of NUSes and other European Organisations. 

1.7. ESU mapping Grant and Loan Systems

ESU will map and do desk research on loan and grant systems in Europe. The aim is to assess possible changes within, and preferences towards, certain systems over the last years and the impact the pandemic might have had on these systems. In addition, the research should include mapping of financial support measures provided to students during the pandemic. This, alongside the research, should enable ESU to gather theoretical and ideological elements that can support ESU’s stance and advocacy and could outline the advantages of grant systems over loan systems.

1.8 Discrimination against neurodivergent students

In coordination with relevant partners, ESU will make a statement on the discrimination which neurodivergent students tend to face within the HE system, affecting their ability to fully benefit from HE or are even being denied the opportunities to access it. 

The statement should address the importance of assuring the necessary support measures for this group of students as well as call for an essential and proper understanding of neurological disorders throughout the HE system as a whole.

European Education Area

2.1. Revise the “Introduction to ESU’s policies in higher education” policy paper

In light of the proposal for a European Education Area and the upcoming Conference on the Future of Europe, ESU will revise the Introduction to ESU’s policies in Higher Education policy paper. ESU will amplify students’ voice during the Conference on the Future of Europe by lobbying the students’ vision on the future of higher education and supporting member NUSs engaging in national discourse.

2.2. Digital Education Action Plan

As part of the Transformative Agenda for Higher Education the Digital Education Action Plan will support the digital transformation plans at all levels of education and training. ESU will look for project opportunities concerning the developments in the area of digital education, its quality, and acquiring digital skills. Along with that ESU will monitor the developments of the Digital Education Action Plan and analyse the possibility of joining the Digital Education Hub.

2.3. Mapping of student rights and conditions within European Universities 

ESU will start working with the students` councils established under the European Universities to map out student rights and conditions within the alliances, analysing the possibilities and the obstacles towards bottom up improvement of student rights and conditions within the alliances.

2.4. Democratic student participation within European Universities

ESU will continue its advocacy work in ensuring meaningful, democratic student participation in the governance of the European Universities, as outlined in ESU’s resolution “European Universities: it is about the students”

Quality Assurance

3.1. Sustainability of ESU’s QA Pool- transparency and recognition

ESU will continue the work on sustainability of the QA Pool of Experts by developing and implementing procedures for the recognition of QA Pool members’ achievements in the scope of their work within the Pool. Additionally, ESU will assess how to assure higher transparency of the work of the Steering Committee and put the ideas into practice.

3.2. QA of the European University Networks and revision of the Quality Assurance system.

European University Alliances have started to develop more since the beginning of the pandemic, with the implementation of digital external evaluations of programmes and institutions. As traditional QA procedures do not include digital assessments, ESU will look into how they are organized and are they indicative of programme/ institution quality. Besides that ESU will participate in the discourse on the revision of European Council and Parliament Recommendations on Quality Assurance, as mentioned in the EEA Communication.

3.3. Analysis of QA approaches to students in Europe 

QA procedures necessarily involve students, both on national and international levels; however, those students do not have equal roles, responsibilities and are most often not paid equally to other panel members across different QA levels. ESU will address these issues by collecting national perspectives of ESU`s QA Pool members, in order to define key problems and propose potential solutions for assuring a stable and equal students’ role in the assessment procedures.

3.4. Developing the Policy Paper on Quality of Higher Education 

ESU will amend and improve the 2017 Policy paper on quality of Higher Education, to assure that the document is relevant, not only for the current work of ESU, but also taking into consideration the challenges of the future. Special attention shall be put on digital learning in higher education, automatic recognition of competencies and the implementation of microcredentials, which were previously not addressed from a practical perspective.

3.5. Automatic recognition implementation

Based on the outcomes of the I-AR project and the current practices for automatic recognition within European ENIC-NARIC centres, ESU will continue to closely monitor how the automatic recognition is being implemented and if the process is effective enough. ESU shall continue to support automatic recognition for all bilateral and multilateral institutional agreements. Special attention shall be given to the implementation of automatic recognition of competencies on a national level (for entering the labour market or the continuation of education), of all EUNs. 

3.6. EUROPASS and Digital Credentials Infrastructure

ESU will monitor the developments of the digital credentialing system developed under the Europass, ensuring that the supportive tools and initiatives are designed in a student-centered way. Additionally, ESU will further cooperate with EQAR to further develop the DEQAR database in order to build trust within the EHEA QA system, institutions and stakeholders.

3.7. Micro-credentials 

ESU will continue to be actively involved in the developments of the micro-credentials and will use ESU’s adopted policies to support further development of more flexible and inclusive learning opportunities for life-long learners and people from different socio-economic backgrounds.

3.8. Learning and Teaching

ESU will ensure that during the 2020-2023 cycle of the BFUG the Advisory Group on Learning and Teaching prioritizes peer learning and capacity building actions that focus on the implementation of the Recommendations on L&T, as adopted at the Rome Ministerial Conference (online) 2020. ESU will advocate for developing criteria on L&T implementation to be later integrated into the Implementation Report.

Internationalisation and Mobility

4.1. Erasmus+ and Mobility 

4.1.1. ESU will consult with its NUSs and work with other organisations to monitor what post-Covid mobility will look like, assessing access, safety and student protection.

4.1.2. ESU will support Switzerland and the UK to lobby in the reassociation of the Erasmus+ programme, and continue to advocate towards making the Erasmus+ programme more environmentally and socially sustainable, and accessible to all groups of learners in Europe. 

4.1.3. ESU will work closely with Erasmus Student Network and other partners that will carry our research on environmental sustainability and develop a toolkit that can be used across institutions and individuals.

4.2. Brain Drain in Higher Education

ESU will work toward creating an annex document to the Internationalisation and Mobility Policy Paper, including mapping best practices, and recommending the way toward academic Brain Circulation within EHEA. ESU will take into account the issue of Brain drain in its future work and advocate for measures to mitigate the negative impact.  

4.3. Internationalisation at home 

ESU will actively be involved in the development of internationalisation at home and ensure that it is developed in a way that makes internationalisation more inclusive, and increases the accessibility of international competencies. ESU will develop a plan to lobby policymakers actively on the subject of internationalisation at home.

4.4. Global engagement and solidarity 

4.4.1. ESU will make an effort to strengthen global partnerships and look to expand its network further. It will foster the current cooperation and collaboration  with international student organizations and work towards engagement within the UN and its agencies. ESU will also support the recognition of education qualifications across the globe.

4.4.2. ESU will continue to defend the right to access to education, especially access for migrants and refugees lobbying for funded pathways into HEI’s, with the help of the human rights coordinator. ESU will work to highlight the link climate displacement has to the barriers to right for education as refugees. ESU should  lobby on the recognition of Climate Refugees and the impacts on climate migration. 

4.4.3. ESU will continue its cooperation with GSF to promote ESU’s policies within the framework of the G20 engagement group Civil 20 with the goal to influence the G20 2021 Ministerial Communique. 

Public Responsibility, Governance and Financing of Higher Education 

5.1. Sustainability and Climate Education

5.1.1. ESU will advocate for and campaign around climate education through Environmental campaigns by supporting and working with organisations such as SOS international, Generation Clime Europe and UNESCO. ESU will ensure that in its work, the response to the climate crisis is rooted in changing educational frameworks, and will advocate for the inclusion of climate education in HEIs curricula.

5.1.2. Additionally, ESU will explore the possibility of finding funding to add the position of the sustainability coordinator, who will take charge of mainstreaming the climate and sustainability discourse within ESU’s work.

5.2. Belarus

ESU has used different avenues to support academic freedom and the right to demonstrate and freely express for students and Belarusian citizens. This has led to a declaration, endorsed by 24 Ministers of the European Higher Education Area, calling for the respect of academic freedom in Belarus. ESU will continue its support and advocacy work to the students and student organisations in Belarus demonstrating academic freedom and democracy.

5.3. Work in implementation of EHEA definition of Academic Freedom and definition of the other fundamental values

ESU will work alongside the BFUG towards the monitoring and implementation of the EHEA definition on academic freedom, as well as in the definition on other fundamental values of the EHEA.

5.4. Enhancing ESU’s capacity on students’ rights to academic freedom

ESU, through the support of the HRSC, PR cluster and a Task Force on Academic Freedom will work with its member unions and on the general European level to gather information on the level of understanding and engagement on the topic of academic freedom and academic integrity. Additionally, ESU will look into different support mechanisms (such as capacity-building activities and advocacy training) that students can access in order to promote students’ rights at the level of their HEIs, with a special focus on the role of students’ ombudspersons.

5.5. Strengthening academic integrity in Higher Education

ESU will continue being a part of international bodies addressing academic integrity and an effort will be put in to address the relevance of the topic, and the importance of students’ participation in preservation of academic integrity values. 

5.6. Next Generation EU and National Recovery and Resilience Plans

Next Generation EU is the single biggest investment initiative in the history of the European Union. ESU has campaigned for a minimum investment of 10% of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans to be devoted to education, as well as a meaningful student involvement in the design and implementation of the Plans. ESU will continue lobbying for a significant part of the education budget to go to higher education and research. ESU will continue the work by globally assessing the level of student involvement in drafting and whenever possible revising the Plans (in light of the European Commission’s assessment of the Plans) and empowering the NUSes in being involved in the implementation phase of the projects.

Organisational Development and Capacity Building

6.1. The needs of ESU’s membership

ESU will review the results from the survey and focus discussions on the needs of the membership (including associates) and will reflect those accordingly in the next Strategic Priorities. Furthermore, ESU will seek opportunities to improve the situation of the NUSes and Associates through Capacity Building and through the newly established buddy system.

6.2. Enhance the engagement of Full and Associate Members

ESU’s Membership Coordinator will look into creating opportunities to increase the cooperation between NUSes and Associate Members, such as organising a European Students’ Summit that will bring together ESU’s membership organisations. 

6.3. Review of ESU’s Membership Strategy

The Membership Coordinator will work closely with the Executive Committee and the board to review the Membership Strategy adopted in BM72. This review will take into account the work of previous Membership Coordinators and the result of the different membership procedures that exist in ESU in order to improve them through the Strategy. 

6.4. ESU’s 40 Year Anniversary 

To celebrate this milestone in 2022, ESU will begin preparations for it’s 40 year anniversary, seeking the involvement and participation of its members, alumni, partners and stakeholders. 

ESU will also continue being represented in the following boards:

The post Plan of Work 2021 (January-June) appeared first on European Students' Union.

In 2018, ESU will concentrate on executing advocacy with a clear strategy and goals further explained in this document and policy documents. ESU will actively provide information to NUSs about the current topics on higher education policy and social dimension in the EU and EHEA.

ESU will coordinate together with the NUSs to influence on the policies of the member states before the Bologna Ministerial Conference in May 2018 by actively using the Bologna with Students’ Eyes publication. The goal is to have ESUs priorities to be presented to the NUSs before the BFUG meeting so ESU and its members can come together on a joint message. Hence, the members would have the opportunity to advocate that message to its ministries and to have the student voice represented strongly. ESU will also start to create long term goals for conference in Rome 2020. ESU will focus especially on the fundamental values of student representation, academic freedom and institutional autonomy.

Download the full Plan of Work 2018 here.

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The post Plan of Work 2016 appeared first on European Students' Union.

As a result, the Executive Committee along with three selected coordinators has decided to propose the existing Plan of Work to remain active until the adoption of a new Plan of Work during the Board Meeting 76. This is due to two reasons:

• First and foremost, the Executive Committee and coordinators see fulfilling the existing plan of work as a priority, and do not wish to cut ongoing work short by proposing a new plan of work, which would only be in effect for half a year.
• Secondly, the Executive Committee and coordinators have decided to focus on fulfilling existing tasks rather than setting new goals. In 2019, ESU will continue to concentrate on executing advocacy with a clear strategy and goals further explained in this document and policy documents.

Download the full Plan of Work 2019 here.

For previous ESU Plans of Work see:

• Plan of Work 2018
• Plan of Work 2017
• Plan of Work 2016
• Plan of Work 2015
• Plan of Work 2014

The post Plan of work 2019 appeared first on European Students' Union.

Download the full Plan Of Work 2017 here.

1.    Mobility & Internationalisation

1.a. Mobility and Erasmus + (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 1a., 1b., 1c.,  1d. )
ESU will continue promoting accessibility to quality mobility programs while ensuring equality and equity for all students. The mid-term review of Erasmus+ will be used as an opportunity to further advocate for these principles.

• 1.a.a. Use the findings from ESUs Erasmus+ survey and other surveys on Erasmus+ in promotion of accessibility to quality programs, financial support and credit mobility.
• 1.a.b. Deliver an input for the mid-term Erasmus+ review and coordinate input to thex public consultation from the member unions.
• 1.a.c. Use existing data and advocate for collection of new relevant datasets to demonstrate the inequity in access for marginalised groups, and advocate for equal access to mobility for these groups.
• 1.a.d. Engage in and promote activities and projects that will aim to identify the different challenges that different marginalized group face in mobility and to target diverse solutions for each and every one of them.

1.b. International Students and Internationalisation (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 1e.)

The promotion of equal treatment and equal opportunities for international students in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) will be supported through identifying the position of international students in higher education and society as a whole.

• 1.b.a.  Identify best practices in the integration of international students in society and higher education institutions, and advocate for equal treatment of international students.
• 1.b.b.  Monitor the implementation of the Visa Directive providing an update to member unions.
• 1.b.c. Represent ESU in the in Bologna Follow Up Group (BFUG) Advisory Group 1 on International Cooperation ensuring legitimate student participation in the Bologna Policy Forum and the inclusion of social dimension of mobility in priority focus.

1.c. Global Student Cooperation (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 1f.)

As our higher education systems become increasingly globalised, and societal issues are shared across regional borders, it’s important that we continue to strive for strong worldwide cooperation with other student movements, in order to build cooperation and solidarity in facing the challenges these changes present. For example, a strong united voice of students in global agendas such as the sustainable development goals (SDG) is crucial. Cooperation worldwide will continue to focus on using shared struggles to develop common campaigns and facilitate the building of relationships.

• 1.c.a.     Support the development of global student cooperation, including participating in and facilitating global campaigns, such as Fund our future
• 1.c.b.  Monitor and promote the SDG, in particular SDG4, and support and encourage member unions to do the same.
• 1.c.c.  Advocate for the implementation of, and promote the importance of education for sustainable development, supporting member unions to do the same.

2.    Social  Dimension

2.a. Social dimension in a nutshell (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 2a.)
According to ESU policy, the social dimension needs to be the starting point on which strategies, visions and decisions should be built upon, but it is increasingly treated as side aspect within the higher education environment. In order to promote the student point of view on social dimension, ESU needs to redefine its own understanding.

• 2.a.a. A social dimension in a nutshell factsheet will be produced to facilitate the work of the Executive Committee to integrate the social dimension from a student perspective in all areas of higher education.
• 2.a.b. A basics of social dimension session will be provided at the ESC 33 lining out the importance of the social dimension for other working areas.

2.b. Social Dimension as a policy priority (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 2a., 2b.)
ESU needs to play a crucial role in safeguarding social dimension as a priority in the BFUG as no specific Working Group (WG) is foreseen to tackle the Social Dimension. Special attention has to be paid to the WG1 on Monitoring and the WG2 on Implementation. On the EU level, the position of the social dimension in the revision of the Modernisation Agenda shall be emphasized.

• 2.b.a. Support the collection of the needed data for the Implementation Report 2018, especially through a survey linked to Bologna with Student Eyes.
• 2.b.b. Assure that that the social dimension priority from the Yerevan Communique is adequately reflected in the agenda of WG  on Implementation.
• 2.b.c. Co-organise and participate in events related to the follow-up of the social dimension strategy from the ministerial conference Yerevan 2015.
• 2.b.d. Include the social dimension in the work related to the ET2020 WG on the Modernisation of Higher Education.
• 2.b.e. actively follow up on the creation of the Social Pillar of Rights to ensure that students’ viewpoints are adequately reflected in the Pillar

2.c. Marginalized groups (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 2a., 2b., 2d.)
ESU will be monitoring and evaluating marginalized groups in higher education – not only in higher education as a whole, but also in ESU as an organisation. A main focus will be put on students with disabilities. The available research and data shall be used to advocate for a sufficient student support system fostering equal access, retention and completion.

• 2.c.a. Specifically research experiences of disabled students and develop ESU’s strategy for tackling barriers met by students with disabilities.
• 2.c.b. Follow up on the definition of marginalized groups in Europe and their inclusion in the BFUGs strategy as well as on other European platforms emphasizing the inclusion of ESUs priorities in the relevant documents.
• 2.c.c. Use EUROSTUDENT and other available data as a starting point for an armamentarium for a sufficient student support system, cooperating with the public responsibility cluster.
• 2.c.d. Provide trainings and materials in order to enable ESU to act as a role model for inclusive organisations.

2.d. Promotion of Students’ Rights (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 2a., 2d.)

Starting from the Student Rights Charter, ESU will line out advocacy goals for fair treatment of students. Specifically, the situation on students in internships during and directly after their studies will be analysed.

• 2.d.a. Based on the ESU policy, a lobby strategy on how to fight against unpaid internships and inappropriate working environments both during and after studies will be developed. As a part of this, ESU will define and promote what a real internship is, to ensure that the word is exclusively used to refer to activities with an educational purpose.
• 2.d.b. Review the student’s rights charter and develop a set of indicators what fair treatment means and how they can be implemented.

2.e. Global Access Movement (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 2c.)

The global aspect of solidarity and the fight against an unjust and unequal higher education sector shall be the main aspect of ESU’s related work.

• 2.e.a Liaise with the European Access Network (EAN) and Global Access to Post-Secondary Education (GAPS) with the aim to define ESU’s role in GAPS while preparing the 2nd World Congress on Global Access on postsecondary education.
• 2.e.b. Support refugee students together with member unions through the funds in the re-granting scheme.
• 2.e.c. Disseminate the research done on the recognition of refugee’s qualifications amongst involved stakeholders.

2.f. Solidarity and Human rights (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 2e.)

2.f.1. Solidarity and partnerships. ESU will continue to stand in solidarity with students and academics when- and wherever there are breaches of academic and fundamental human rights. Our strengthened global network in the wake of the Bergen Declaration should be used as a platform for student unions to support each other on students’ rights to participate and to have a safe learning environment.

• 2.f.1.a. Use the global student movement as a platform for cooperation on human rights through existing partnerships and building new ones.
• 2.f.1.b. Build strategies to ensure safe student’s participation together with Scholars at Risk (SAR).
• 2.f.1.c. Engage actively to support the development of inclusive and democratic student movements in closed and non-democratic areas.

2.f.2. Promoting human rights and raising awareness about attacks. Representing a student perspective on human rights and academic freedom, our human rights and solidarity strategy clearly states that ESU should speak out against attacks on human rights including subtle ones which are seen more often in European countries. ESU will stress the importance of being vigilant of any minor violations and grey areas, as both physical and ideological attacks on education and academic freedom have been frequent last years.

• 2.f.2.a. Monitor and inform the organisation on concerning developments in the human rights area, seeking media attention when deemed necessary.
• 2.f.2.b. Hold courses and trainings on proactive students’ work to promote human rights, democracy and peaceful societies.
• 2.f.2.c. Advocate for the right to education in times of conflict.
• 2.f.2.d. Work for a pan-European students at risk scheme.
• 2.f.2.e. Ensure that all ESU activities are of a high ethical standard according to human rights.

2.g. Equality (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 2e.)

2.g.1. Capacity building and skills development and operational framework of ESU

Internal development in ESU is a core working area in the field of Equality and can be subsumed under two columns: first internal capacity building and skills development and second the statutory documents and operational framework.

• 2.g.1.a. Develop and conduct gender sessions and sessions related to the area of equality during BMs, ESCs and EC-Meetings.
• 2.g.2.b. Accompany and assist the work of the Task Force on Women’s Representation, assuring the examination of the participation by gender within the organisation and developing a toolkit for making the organisation more equal.
• 2.g.1.c. Revise the Code of Conduct and evaluate the Gender Mainstreaming Strategy and consider an (additional) Equality Strategy.

2.g.2. Policies External representation and policies

Students still face sexual harassment on a daily basis, but higher education needs to be a safe space and free of sexual harassment, towards which ESU will develop policies. For further input, the relations with existing networks shall be maintained.

• 2.g.2.a. Collect arguments against discrimination of women in higher education.
• 2.g.2.b. Maintain and strengthen the cooperation with relevant networks, such as International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Youth & Student Organisation (IGLYO) and European Women’s Lobby (EWL).

3.    Quality of higher education

3.a. Implementation of student-centred learning in practise (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 3a.)

ESU will increase awareness about and facilitate the implementation of Student Centred Learning (SCL) as a core accomplishment of ESU in the area of Quality. This is going to be aimed not only towards stakeholders, but also towards students’ unions. The activities will be based on PASCL project outcomes.

• 3.a.a. Integrate the peer assessment based on the SCL concept to the procedures of the QA pool of ESU.
• 3.a.b. Provide additional extensive trainings on the area of SCL to QA pool members.
• 3.a.c. Develop a platform of peer learning in the area of SCL for member unions
• 3.a.d. Assure the treatment of SCL as a priority topic in all three BFUG working groups

3.b. Policies on digitalisation and cross-border QA (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 3a.)

ESU will be revising its’ policy on Quality of Higher Education. There are a couple of important factors, caused by changes in education in recent years, which have to be taken into consideration: digitalisation, which is becoming a prominent tool, and cross border QA, which is starting to have a significant role in Quality assurance. ESU needs to assure that these are developing in a favourable way for increased quality of education.

• 3.b.a. Developing policy on cross border QA
• 3.b.b. Developing policy on digitalization and modernisation of the HE
• 3.b.c. Assure the adequate treatment of new developments in the field of quality of education in the BFUG WG 3 on New Bologna Goals

3.c. Developing guidelines on constructing learning outcomes in non-formal and informal education (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 3e.)

Learning outcomes in non-formal and informal learning are difficult to define due to lack of insight in all parts of the learning process. ESU will tackle the difficulties in definition, in order to remove barriers for designing flexible higher education programs.

• 3.c.a. Developing official guidelines on learning outcomes in non-formal and informal learning.
• 3.c.b. Disseminating of the guidelines among member unions and other relevant stakeholders
• 3.c.c. Revising and extending policy on non-formal education and informal learning

3.d. Monitoring and promoting of the European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 3b.)

The ESG 2015 need to be common knowledge of stakeholders, full understanding of the revision has to be promoted. ESU will monitor their implementation and understanding throughout Europe, supporting the member unions.

• 3.d.a. Use EQUIP project materials and deliverables to raise awareness about the ESG revision and collect feedback of students on the implementation of the revised ESG.
• 3.d.b. Support member unions to accompany the adjustments of QA systems in their country through a webinar.
• 3.d.c. Provide additional and extensive trainings on the area of ESG to QA pool members

3.e.  Collection of good practices of quality in education (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 3a., 3b., 3c., 3e.)

The challenges within quality in education are rapidly developing. NUSes can learn from each other how to overcome obstacles and improve their practices in that field. ESU should create an accessible platform for sharing knowledge among Board members.

• 3.e.a. Collect good practices in an open and accessible way from ESUs members.
• 3.e.b. Evaluate the input given by the board until BM Malta.
• 3.e.c. Explore possible further use, ways of publication and in in-depth research in the gathered good practices

3.f. Advocate for automatic recognition of degrees and accreditation decisions

Different aspects of recognition are discussed in the European arena in 2017. ESU will participate in the related meetings in both the relevant EU and EHEA bodies, while emphasizing the students view according to our policies.

• 3.f.a. Monitor development and take active involvement in the revision of the Key Competencies Framework.
• 3.f.b. Monitor and contribute to the process of revision of the Recommendation on the European Qualification Framework
• 3.f.c. Assure the discussion of Learning outcomes in the BFUG AG 4 on the Diploma Supplement

4.    Public responsibility, financing and governance

4a. Commodification (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 4.a.)

With the increasing interest in public higher education from businesses and policymakers as a tool for employability, economic growth of the society, and for the short term interest of the industries, we are seeing an increased level of commodification of higher education.  ESU will work towards creating awareness of the dangers of commodification in higher education.

• 4.a.a. Use data from the questionnaire on commodification of higher education to map the level of commodification in higher education systems in Europe, to be used as a tool for advocating against the dangers of commodification.
• 4.a.b. Create an overview of the policy updates on commodification from stakeholders within higher education to be used for further strategic advocacy.
• 4.a.c. Deliver a set of actions aiming to create a room in the public space for highlighting the dangers of commodification.

4b. Public funding (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 4.b.)
With the ongoing massification of HE, ESU will work towards increased public funding for higher education, addressing the funding gap and austerity measures. ESU will also work towards improving data availability for the use of NUSs as a support tool for leading national struggles

• 4.b.a. Advocate for more public funding to support the aim of quality education for all by  strategically cooperating with key stakeholders in education on European level, identifying common challenges and mobilising on advocacy.
• 4.b.b. Improve the availability of transparent data concerning student support mechanisms and tuition fees within Europe to be used by the member unions. Use EUROSTUDENT for more effective means of data collection and popularise it for more data sets where students are the main source of data collection.

4.c. Meaningful student participation (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 4.c.)

Higher education is used as a tool to solve an increasing number of problems that society is facing today. In order to face these changes, the affected partners are required to be involved in all stages of the decision-making. ESU would like to see a strengthening of the involvement of students and students’ unions in the governance and policy making regarding higher education and other areas that have an effect on students.

• 4.c.a. Showcase good examples of increased student participation in decision making processes to facilitate peer learning through them.
• .4.c.b. Advocate for students’ and students’ unions being included in developing National Skills Strategies and implementing the actions laid out in the New Skills Agenda for Europe.

4.d. Multiple Purposes of Higher Education (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 4.d.)

As a cross cutting issue, ESUs views on the multiple purposes of higher education shall be integrated in the work throughout the clusters.

• 4.d.a. Advocate towards inclusion of ESU positions in the proposal on tertiary education graduate tracking mechanism developed by the European Commission.
• 4.d.b. Give input to the Council of Europe (CoE) initiatives supporting the multiple purposes of higher education, especially regarding democratic competences.

5.    Organisational development and capacity building

5. a.  Internal strategies and structures (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 5.a.)

Internal strategies and structures shall be put in place in order to assure the smooth internal proceedings between Presidency, EC members, Coordinators and staff.

• 5.a.a. Involve the whole EC and coordinators in policy development towards BFUG, EU, CoE.
• 5.a.b. Take the necessary steps to assure the timely preparation of Bologna with Student Eyes.
• 5.a.c Create an informal network between the EC and member unions on information sharing and to coordinate advocacy work related to BGUF meetings and in general on EHEA/BFUG topics.
• 5.a.d Help and support member unions in their struggle to be heard by their ministries on issues related to the BFUG and the upcoming Ministerial Conference.
• 5.a.e EHEA/BFUG to be one of the topic addressed at either ESC34 or BM73 seminar. Particularly the topics of New Goals and Implementation.
• 5.a.f Prioritise the aims lined out in the financial strategy, such as neat financial management and decreasing debts towards ESU.
  5.a.g Ensure a stable situation in the secretariat and promote a productive and pleasant work environment for employed staff.
• 5.a.h Establish a culture of feedback and follow up of fulfilment of tasks at EC meetings for EC members and Coordinators including the work regarding the buddy system.

5.b. Capacity building (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 5.a.)

Capacity building in ESU is serving the purpose of organisational development. It does not only address the (s)elected representatives, but shall as well be functioning as a support measure for the whole organisation. The field needs better definition and additional information about the Pool of Trainers in order to make it accessible and facilitating the transfer and exchange of experience, knowledge and good practice amongst our member unions.

• 5.b.a. Encourage ESU (s)elected representatives and staff who provide training sessions to to attend external training sessions for additional input.
• 5.b.b. Develop an effective procedure and a platform for discussing policies before events and ensure sufficient time slots for unions for sharing best practices.
• 5.b.c. Raise awareness of cultural differences and foster openness between networks at internal meetings through training sessions.
• 5.b.d. Explore different/new ways of capacity building in addition to the traditional ones. For example, by evaluating the use of the online platform for the Fund our Future Campaign for sharing best practices
• 5.b.e. Find funding for training for trainers and concentrate on training for the most crucial areas which NUSes need the most.
• 5.b.f. Promote the Pool of Trainers among members and encourage its usage.
• 5.b.g. Develop a user-friendly environment for member unions applying for the Pool of Trainers’ support.
• 5.b.h. ESU will support the work of member organizations in sharing information on ongoing EU policy making processes so that NUS that are willing to do so can support ESU’s work on national level.

5.c. Membership (Strategic priorities 2015-2017 5.c.,d.,e.)

• 5.c.1 Towards a revised Membership Strategy. ESU’s membership policy became a hot topic for discussion among the Board members. The adopted Membership Strategy did not meet the expectations raised in internal motions related to membership issues. The main concern while shaping the membership policy is to communicate all the intended changes with Board members to a large extent.
• 5.c.1.a. Work with Board inputs on the Membership Strategy from workshops and on-line consultations in order to propose the revision of the Membership Strategy at BM72.
• 5.c.1.b.   Implement the main recommendations from the Membership Strategy at the BM73.
• 5.c.1.c. Find a widely acceptable solution for reassessment of membership and a tool for monitoring members’ activities and compliance with ESU Statutes, if not included in Membership Strategy.

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