ESU is the voice of European students and represents their interests and needs through a multitude of actions. Mainly, ESU participates and aims to influence the design and the implementation of European policy processes and political strategies on education, particularly from the lens of higher education. Over the next three years, the main processes ESU is and will be focusing on are the Bologna Process and the European Higher Education Area, the European Education Area and the European Universities Initiative, the Erasmus+ programme, the European Research Area, the Global Students Forum, Next Generation EU, and the Green and Digital Transitions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Throughout its advocacy and representation, ESU reiterates its commitment in defending and promoting students\u2019 rights, academic freedom, institutional autonomy, freedom of speech, recognition of democratic, independent student unions both at the European level and supporting national unions in advocacy, lobby and capacity building. ESU promotes solidarity among unions and concrete support between its members. ESU also strives to promote upward convergence of students\u2019 rights within the European Higher Education Area and European Education Area.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While advocating for students rights major problems like the commodification of education, inequity in access to higher education, threats to fundamental values and the climate crisis have to be addressed. The deteriorating mental health situation of higher education students following the Covid-19 pandemic also requires action and gives a framework for ESU’s advocacy work. ESU aims to continuously improve the international aspect of Higher Education, as it is an invaluable experience for every learner and can serve to build cross-border solidarity and cooperation to tackle the challenges of our generation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n ESU believes that education as a whole, and higher education more specifically, is not a commodity, rather a public utility, human right, and a social responsibility, the aim of which is to serve multiple purposes, including individual enrichment, global citizenship education, responsibility to the needs of the communities and societies, and acquisition of knowledge and skills to enable students to thrive in a rapidly changing economy and society.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n ESU has long stood against different trends of repression targeting academic and student freedoms in Europe and across the world. These range from systematic attacks to academic and student activists and repression of dissent to more subtle ways to decrease the organisational capacity of students to autonomously organise and to participate in the governance of higher education at the local and national levels. The democratic participation of students is one of the fundamental values of the European Higher Education Area. Unfortunately, the emergence of new institutionalised structures of cooperation between Higher Education Institutions at the European level so far mostly fails in achieving student democratic participation in decision-making processes, particularly on the national level.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Therefore, ESU will focus its work on:<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n <\/b> In an increasingly globalised world inclusive education serves as an indispensable characteristic of modern learning. Higher Education must recognise and respond to the needs of learners as well as the rapid societal changes that frame the learning environment of students. However, efforts cannot stop at acknowledgement but must lead to efforts of active inclusion. Inclusion in education is rooted deeply in the democratic principles of justice and equal opportunity. Consequently, inclusion involves modernising the provision of instruction, curricula, co-curricular, learning environments, assessment and learning outcomes to meet learning needs. Flexible learning pathways and the recognition of prior learning are among the main tools to achieve this. Furthermore, it is paramount to recognise the effects of dated frameworks of learning on student wellbeing. In recognising students’ needs, there has to be an effort to provide educational, as well as social, economic, and welfare student support services that align with these student needs. Moreover, it is necessary to foster a broader study and knowledge on the matter of student financing and student policy data collection in order to have a comprehensive view of students’ socio-economic conditions in the EHEA.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Therefore, ESU will focus its work on:<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed the perception of internationalisation and mobility. The health crisis has brought new ways of adapting to communication that were used for cross-border learning. ESU is continuing to promote that virtual learning should be used only in addition to physical mobility, not as its replacement. Our ambition of making higher education accessible is still jeopardised because there are learners left behind our higher education systems. ESU will hence advocate for creating better, sustainable and accessible conditions for mobility and internationalisation, taking into account its effects on countries involved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Therefore, ESU will focus its work on:<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n The responsibility of HEIs in general society cannot be ignored in a comprehensive approach towards a sustainable future. ESU is continuing to advocate for an innovative learning and teaching environment. Starting from the concept of climate justice, HEIs should implement study frameworks that are student-centred and sustainable at environmental, economic, and social levels. Focusing especially on environmental sustainability, the focus should be on combining investment in technologies and infrastructures with a stronger commitment for an eco-sustainable culture and responsible digital innovation. A major factor suppressing progress is the issue of vested interests in the funding of HEI.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Therefore, ESU will focus its work on:<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n ESU stresses that quality education for all should be the goal of planning, providing, and assessing higher education. Quality Education must continue to be a priority and primarily focus on enhancing the quality of higher education institutions and programmes, while ensuring that students are able to achieve the intended learning outcomes and their learning experience remains at the forefront of institutional missions. Quality assurance processes should continue to enhance learners’ experience in EHEA while gaining a higher level of ownership of their own learning, its delivery and quality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Therefore, ESU will focus its work on:<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n ESU will work on introducing different models and organisational development strategies to identify organisational problems and opportunities to produce\/sth techniques and processes for facilitating organisational and financial growth and improvement.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Therefore, ESU will focus its work on:<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n2022 – 2024 CORE PRIORITIES:<\/b><\/h1>\n
Defending Student Participation\u00a0<\/b><\/b><\/h2>\n
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\n<\/b><\/p>\nAn inclusive HE Environment\u00a0<\/b><\/b><\/h2>\n
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Internationalisation\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
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\nA sustainable and innovative HE\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n\n
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\nQuality Higher Education\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n\n
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\nOrganisational Development\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n\n
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