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Dear Friends,
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A very Happy New Year to all of you! 2009 is only three weeks old, and
already ESU has hit the ground running. As usual, a change in EU
Presidency means a whole new set of policy priorities and key
decision-makers to get to grips with, while new projects are taking off
in every direction. Planning and strategies are the words of the
moment as we gear ourselves up for the Bologna Ministerial Conference
in the Spring, preceded by our Board Meeting in Brussels, shortly
followed by the European Parliament elections where we are keen to
garner support for higher education support from the next generation of
MEPs. This is in addition to major new projects such as the
snazzily-entitled ESCBI project, centred around increasing the student
contribution to the implementation of the Bologna Process reforms. The
first six months of 2009 in particular are going to be critical times
for students and the higher education section alike due to the amount
of activity taking place at the European level, and we're going to have
to our wits about us to keep up with it all.
Read more...
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Czechs take charge of the EU
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 The Czechs are at the helm! This month has seen Prime Minister M.
Topolánek and co. take over the Presidency of the EU from the French
under the banner of a 'Europe without barriers'. At a meeting in
Prague on 6th January, the Prime Minister and his deputy launched the
official work programme for the next six months, highlighting their
priorities as the three 'E's': Economy, Energy and Europe in the
world. While it is sad, but unsurprising, that education is not one
of the three priority 'E's, this Presidency like any other will be
steering Europe's education policy over the coming months. So what lies
in store for higher education under the Czechs? Will it be 'more of
the same' or might there be a shift in emphasis? Time to take a look
at what is being promised on paper...
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Students suffering from HE shutdown in Malta
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Caught in the crossfire. That is the situation being endured by
students in Malta who, over the last 7 months, have had their
university education majorly disrupted by a dispute in which they are
playing no part. Instead, they have found themselves to be a pawn in
an ongoing battle between the teachers' workers union (UMASA) and the
Maltese Government. In May 2008 when the dispute started, UMASA issued
a directive to all its members asking them to withhold the results of
final examinations and assessments in June, which was followed by a 1
day lecturers' strike in September 2008. Malta's National Union of
Students, KSU, has been working tirelessly to mediate the dispute
between the teachers' union and the Maltese Government so as to protect
and uphold the rights of Maltese students to a high quality
education. With the negotiations currently at a standstill, Malta's
student population is still working with the prospect of further
disruption to their learning hanging over them.
More...
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Upcoming Events
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15th-19th Feb: 17th European Student's Convention, Prague
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Making student voices heard in the Bologna Process
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Progress has been made, but there is still a long way to go. That
is a summary of the implementation of the Bologna Process, the single
most significant reform of higher education across the whole of
Europe. To aid the implementation process and to ensure that student
voices are fully represented within it, ESU is launching a new project
with the support of the Commission's Education and Culture
Directorate. ESCBI, or 'Enhancing the Student Contribution to Bologna
Implementation', will be delivered over the next two years in
partnership with several national unions of students (NUSes), OBESSU
(Organising Bureau of School Student Unions) and the University of
Ljubljana. The project will seek to address the fact that,
while the Bologna Process has had a positive impact on the higher
education systems across Europe with systems becoming more aligned,
qualitative and attractive to foreign students, studies have found a
tendency towards an 'ŕ la carte' and inconsistent approach to
implementation in some countries. Equally, it has been revealed that
the student experience on the ground at universities across Europe has
not changed is often failing to match the progress highlighted on paper
at high-level meetings. More...
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HE under the French: Assessing the second EU Presidency of 2008
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Six months of the French Presidency drew to a close at the end of
December, and with it a very hectic period of meetings and conferences
for ESU staff. But what was the outcome of all this frenetic activity
in terms of higher education policy at the European level? Were there
some real achievements, or rather a lot of talk and little action?
There
are a lot of positives to be drawn from the French tenure at the top of
the EU. Firstly, ESU would like to express it sincere gratitude for
the substantial support received for organising the 'Let's Go!'
mobility campaign validation conference in Lille, which rounded off a
year of high-level work on student and staff mobility across Europe.
Secondly, the French Presidency has been a pioneer in opening the
debates of education decision-makers to students by inviting ESU
representatives to attend the informal meeting of ministers in charge
of education and higher education in Bordeaux. This initiative
demonstrated a spirit of openness and inclusion that was deeply
appreciated.
The support received for the Lille mobility conference reflected the
high priority given to mobility as an issue during the French
Presidency. While we do not share one of the main conclusions of the
Nancy mobility conference "Europe of Higher Education: a mobility zone
to strengthen" that a key mobility obstacle is lack of motivation on
the part of students, we applaud the increased investment that was made
in various mobility programmes and the commitments made at the Bordeaux
conference. Equally impressive was the high-level mobility target
which France has set for itself of 20% mobility by 2020. This is
precisely the target that ESU is campaigning for at European level
through the "Let's go!" project, and setting an example in this manner
should serve to encourage other Bologna Process countries to follow
suit. We were also pleased by the French Presidency's work on lifelong
learning, which included several good initiatives such as asking the
European Universities Association (EUA) to draft a Lifelong Learning
Charter, and calling on Member State Governments to get more involved
with this area of work.
More...
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Prepare to be empowered : ESC 17 is coming !
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In keeping with the tradition of holding European Student
Conventions in the country at the helm of the EU Presidency, ESU, its
member organisations and other student and youth representatives will
converge on the Czech capital of Prague for ESC 17 in February. With a
theme of 'student empowerment through participation at the national,
continental and global level', the event will consist a wide range of
sessions designed to support, strengthen and build the capacity of the
student movement across Europe and beyond. Attention will focus on
analysing the recent history of the student movement and appraising its
strengths and key challenges, while a series of working groups will
examine in detail gender and wider equality issues, knowledge transfer,
student participation, capacity building, international cooperation,
student unions and the environment, political lobbying and the
financing of student unions. There will also been a strong emphasis on
preparing for student participation and activism around the Bologna
Process and the Leuven Ministerial Conference in Spring 2009.
With
so many skills and strengths within ESU and its constituent
organisations, ESC 17 will represent an invaluable opportunity to share
learning, achievements and lessons, and to benefit from the diversity
and dynamism inherent in the European student's movement.
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Add your voice to make mobility a reality for all!
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Do you believe that
mobility should be a reality for all students and staff across Europe?
Do you want to help us make this message heard loud and clear at the
Bologna Ministerial Conference in Belgium this Spring? If so, all you
need to do is simply add your signature to our Mobility Petition. Please,
help us to send the strongest possible message to Europe's education
ministers. Mobility is not only good for the individuals concerned,
but for society as a whole due to the sharing of skills and experience
across borders which it involves. Add your voice to our campaign now! Many thanks.
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Capacity building in Kosovo
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As part of its continued commitment to student development in the
Balkans, ESU made a special trip to Kosovo in December to train
students at two of the country's top universities. At the invitation
of Dutch NGO SPARK, a member of ESU's Student Union Development
Committee (SUDC) spent several days with students at both the
University of Mitrovica and the University of Pristina training
students on a number of the key higher education issues at European
level. This included a special focus on the Bologna Process, academic
mobility in general and the specifics of the 'Let's Go' campaign in
particular. The training session was the first in a series that will
continue right through 2009, with an emphasis on barriers to academic
mobility, solutions to these problems and campaign techniques that can
be used. There are a number of important structural issues that need
to be addressed - students are represented through student parliaments,
but these lack autonomy, as well as any kind of gender equality
strategy, and do not cooperate with any of the private universities.
Nevertheless, the future looks promising. 'Students in Kosovo are
motivated to improve their situation, ' notes Jens Jungblut from the
SUDC who was responsible for delivering the training, 'And although
there are still issues to be worked on, they are on the right path. If
they can maintain their level of dedication, they will be able to solve
a lot of the problems facing students in Kosovo today.'
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European Students' Union
20 Rue De La Sablonničre
1000 Bruxelles
Belgium
www.esu-online.org
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