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Dear Friends,
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In a world where change appears to be the metaphor of choice, one
thing seems to be constant in amongst the tornado of transformation and
'progress' around us. And that is that no matter how many good
intentions are expressed on paper, regardless of how many encouraging
and inspirational words are uttered in meetings or conferences, and no
matter how many times 'stakeholders' churn out press releases or issue
policy responses lambasting the lack of visible progress, the change
from 'all talk', to 'talk plus action' continues so often to elude us.
This was the overwhelming realisation that hit me last week in helping
to draft ESU's Prague Students' Declaration towards the Bologna
Process. Reflecting on our message about aspiration needing to
translate into action, I realised that we had been making the same
point since the Process started a decade ago. Flicking through some of
the websites of the Brussels-based European media only served to
reinforce the point - regardless of the subject matter, regardless how
far back in time you go, the common feature is a call from those
lobbying the political elite from the outside for words to be matched
by actions.
So if this really is the nature of politics, if
it does, in fact, amount to a hefty amount of spin and only a
sprinkling of substance to create an illusion of 'change', shouldn't we
all just pack up and retire to a beautiful villa on the Portuguese
coast? Tempting, but perhaps not. For while so many of the words that
reach our ears from elected officials amount to little more than
additional C02 in the atmosphere, looking back from whence we started
to where we currently stand, the progress graph does, in general,
appear to be curving gently upwards. 'Hope for the best, plan for the
worst,' is a motto passed onto me by my father, which viewed through
the murky lens of political lobbying could be translated as, 'Demand a
Gucci bag, but prepare to receive a Mango purse.' Far from meaning we
should abandon the fight, it's more about accepting the political
realities that surround us, taking the words we see and hear with a
hefty spoonful of salt and feeling pride for each tiny step towards our
goals that we manage to eek out.
The road on which we operate can
sometimes feel like a circular highway with no exits. But instead of
dwelling on the fact that we're not travelling at the speed we'd like,
let's all remember that we wouldn't even have got the engine started if
we abandoned the game altogether.
Until next month,
Frances
Editor - The Student Voice
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Bologna to 2020: ESU launches its Prague Students' Declaration
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 ESU has kickstarted its campaign of work leading up the Ministerial
Conference of the Bologna Process in April by launching its student
declaration towards this crucial meeting. Gathering in Prague last
week (15-19th February), more than 100 national student representatives
from over 30 countries came together to analyse the progress made on
Bologna over the last 10 years, and to formulate a common voice towards
the shape the Process should take in the next decade to 2020.
Read more...
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Dismay over EU Ministers' 'commitmentphobia' on higher education policy
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ESU has reacted with dismay to the latest developments in EU education
policy following a recent Council meeting of Education Ministers. The
EU's recently published updated strategic framework on cooperation in
education and training, which sets the policy tone for the next decade,
was already lacking in benchmarks, concrete action on mobility and
proper public financing commitments. But at the Education Council
meeting on 16th February, the consensus among Member States was to
water down proposals even further, specifically the one calling for
Member States to commit to allocating 2% of GDP to higher education.
Although there was talk at the meeting of further 'bilateral'
negotiations in the next couple of months in order to reach an
agreement, the likelihood is that this target will either be removed
completely or watered down further when the strategic framework is
formally adopted at the Spring Council meeting, the EU's top
decision-making forum.
Read more...
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ESU calls for ERASMUS flexibility as Commission report recommends cutting students' length of stay abroad
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It's the Commission's flagship and arguably most successful education
initiatives. But new proposals from the European Commission for its
ERASMUS Programme could have serious consequences for students who want
to take advantage of the scheme in future. In its 2008 evaluation of
the Programme and its impact on higher education, the Commission finds
that ERASMUS has had multiple positive effects; systemic, institutional
and individual. Key systemic improvements can be seen, for example, in
terms of agenda setting, infrastructure and content on the Bologna
Process, quality assurance, ECTS and qualifications frameworks. At the
institutional level, ERASMUS has resulted in improvements in high-level
management, teaching and learning, research and student services. Read more...
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Promoting international cooperation on HE with South East Asia
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ESU is lending its support to a second European Commission-funded
project aimed at fostering greater international cooperation in higher
education. Funded under the branch of the Erasmus Mundus Programme that
is designed to enhance the attractiveness of European higher education,
the ACCESS-ASEAN project is seeking to build a range of innovative and lasting relationships with HE
institutions across South-East Asia.
Read more...
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Students centre on Prague for the 17th European Student Convention
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They were more than 100 delegates from over 30 countries.
Representatives from the majority of ESU's member unions travelled to
Prague last week for the 17th European Student Convention, held in the
Czech Republic as an official event of its presidency of the European
Union. Focusing on student empowerment through participation at the
national, continental and global level, the event brought delegates
together for four days of debates, information exchange and learning
through workshops and panel sessions with a distinguished selection of
guests from the higher education field. Prominent amongst the many
highlights from the week were an opening session with Ondrej Liska, the
Czech Minister of Education, Youth and Sports and panel discussions on the
student movement with Martin Bojar, one of the leaders of a defining
moment in the movement's history: the Czech student protests of 1968.
This was followed by discussions on how student unions evaluate themselves and ensure
quality internally as well as externally with an expert in quality
assurance, Henrik Toft Jensen of the European University Association,
and a keynote speech on solidarity and development cooperation with
Nicolas Richards, Senior Coordinator for Education International's
Solidarity and Development Unit. Read more...
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Upcoming ESU Events
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6-8 March - Equity training for NUSes, Timisoara, Romania
2-4 April - Equity training for NUSes, Tallinn, Estonia
19-26 April - Bologna Seminar and Board Meeting 56, Brussels
12-14 June, Equity training for NUSes, Austria
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Interesting bits from elsewhere
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A new weblog platform has just been launched for mobile students across Europe. Check it out at: http://mobi-blog.eu/
AEGEE
(Association des Etats Generaux des Etudiants de l'Europe) is currently
running a major campaign to encourage young people to vote in the
European Parliament elections in June. 'Y Vote 2009' involves a
series of 12 seminars taking place across Europe on the key issues that
affect young people. The results of these conventions will feed
into a Youth Manifesto to be delivered to the next Parliament.
More information on www.aegee.org
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News from partners
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Click here for the latest newsletter of the European Youth Forum
And you can read all the latest news from the European University Association here.
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Coming up...
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28-29 April - Ministerial Conference of the Bologna Process, Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
7 June - European Parliament elections
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Action for Belarus: Add your voice to bring democracy to Europe's last dictatorship
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It's Europe's last remaining dictatorship where citizens are denied the
basic fundamental rights and freedoms that the rest of us take for
granted. And once again, next month will see an outpouring of calls
across for Europe in support of democracy for Belarus. On the
night of 18th-19th of March 2009, JEF (Young European Federalists) will,
for the fourth time, organise a co-ordinated pan-European action in
different cities across the continent to show support for the
suppressed civil society and opposition movement in Belarus. The date
coincides with the country's last presidential elections in 2006. The
action will consist of gagging statues in cities throughout Europe and
the rest of the world that sends a symbolic message that the majority
of Belarusians are currently denied the right to free speech. The 2009
Action will call on Europe to stand up for democracy in Belarus in
defence of human rights. Signs such as "It's time for change... It's
Time for a Free Belarus" - www.itstimeforeurope.eu - will be hanged around the necks of the statues. ESU
has been working to support the student movement in Belarus for many
years and is lending its voice to calls for democracy to be brought to
the country. Last year, more than 80 cities joined in the
action. This year, there will almost certainly be more. To organise
an action or to join one near you, please visit www.itstimeforeurope.eu or e-mail belarus@jef.eu
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Welcome to ESU's new Project Officer
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The Romanian contingent
at just got stronger. In January, we welcomed Natalia Tarachiu,
our new Project Officer, to the Secretariat team at ESU. A
long-time resident of Bucharest, Natalia graduated with a Bachelor's in
Economics before starting off her career the most logical way - as an
economist in both the private and local government sectors. This
was followed by a move into more project management roles where she
gained 10 years of experience, firstly in an NGO environment and later
in the consultancy sector. She therefore brings to ESU a wealth of
professional experience, including extensive knowledge of European
financial instruments and programmes, strong project management skills
and experience of working in a multicultural environment with people
from all across the world. We are delighted to have Natalia with
us, and are already putting her to good use as she gets to grips with
ESU's myriad of projects, past, present and future.You can contact Natalia at: natalia@esu-online.org
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European Students' Union
20 Rue De La Sablonnière
1000 Bruxelles
Belgium
www.esu-online.org
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