A Postcard Campaign
I have been asked to contribute to this Postcard Campaign by ESN, the Erasmus Student Network, by a 1-page article themed around inter-cultural dialogue – on behalf of ESU. We student organization geeks are simply obsessed by this topic. Well, all I can say is that I am living it right now, and I’m loving it. This is what I came up with:
Embracing a vision of a European higher education system which embodies the principles of equity, quality and accessibility, ESU (The European Students’ Union) is the umbrella organisation of 47 national unions of students hailing from 38 countries.
ESU’s mission is to represent and promote the educational, social, economic and cultural interests of students at a European level, in the belief that everyone, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, financial status or social background should be enabled to participate fully in an education of the highest quality and complete a learning path tailored to his needs.
Amongst ESU’s main missions is the building of a stronger student movement across continents. ESU acts as both a capacity-builder for student organisations and as a promoter of the ‘4 pillars’ of the student movement – democracy, independence, openness and representativity, and has pledged to remove barriers across borders, particularly by being actively involved in the UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education held in July 2009, towards a new platform for global student cooperation.
ESU is amongst the front runners and a key player in promoting student mobility across the globe as a right for all students and academic staff alike, leading to increased and strengthened intercultural dialogue. Mobility creates a space where people with significantly varied cultural backgrounds come together and share knowledge, skills and competences, making of us better students, set for the challenges that our futures and careers are to hurl at us.
In a joint effort with EI (Education International), ESU worked on a mobility project and campaign entitled “Let’s Go! – Where to Now?” which culminated into the French Presidency of the EU adopting ESU’s 20% by 2020 mobility target in October 2008, a target which was subsequently endorsed by both the European Commission and the 46 members of the European Higher Education Area. The project was also aimed at removing obstacles to mobility that exist across the globe, such as a lack of financial assistance or visa problems, and to identify solutions to ensure that they are tackled in the coming years. It also secured mobility issues firmly at the top of the European education agenda.
Above all, I hope that this has helped you familiarise yourselves more with ESU and its role in this world.
What next?
- Next post: My geekier side …
- Previous post: Café des Artistes
Geek bil-provi