How can we ensure that higher education institutions offer equal opportunities for everyone? How use the possibilities offered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) to address the challenges it poses? In the run-up to the European Parliament elections, students from different European universities tried to find solutions to these and nine other challenges at the European Student Assembly (ESA).
After a selection process that took several months, two ECIU Ambassadors from Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) – Gurban Shukurov, an Informatics student, and Narmin Mammadova, studying Public Governance and Civil Society, were selected to go to Strasbourg and participate in the Assembly. Both KTU students were assigned to the groups working on their chosen topics: Narmin was discussing “A Place for Everyone” and Gurban – “EU Artificial Intelligence Act”.
“Each student had the opportunity to choose three priority topics, and then one topic was selected for them to work on,” says Mammadova, happy that the topic she worked on was the one she was interested in the most.
From the end of January to April this year, KTU students worked remotely in groups with students selected from other universities chosen for the Assembly.
Thus, the students could learn the topics more closely and start drafting policy recommendations.
“We met with experts, participated in online training on policy development and moderation, analysed the political and legal context and identified the main challenges in this area. Based on the results of the discussions, we decided on the priorities we would like to address,” said Shukurov.
Students were also responsible for proposing solutions to the presented challenges, which stakeholders should implement at different decision levels.
According to Gurban: “Although all students had different academic and cultural backgrounds, each of them demonstrated professionalism, the ability to analyse and to think openly. Overall, I have never seen such strong and high-quality teamwork as I experienced at ESA.”
After more than two months of long-distance discussions, the 3rd European Student Assembly took place in Strasbourg on 10–12 April. More than 250 students from 170 different institutions, participating in more than 40 different alliances, gathered at the European Parliament. This meeting aimed to generate a lively debate on topical issues, to finalise policy recommendations for the future of Europe and to advocate these recommendations among stakeholders and decision-makers.
“I believe, this Assembly has had a really big impact. We were promised that the recommendations we proposed would be discussed in the actual meetings of the European Parliament. I think that the role given to young people comes with a lot of responsibility and at the same time it is very stimulating. We were there to represent many voices; I have never in my life had such a huge responsibility for other people’s lives,” says Mammadova.
The main objectives of the Student Assembly were to provide a space for European students from different countries, backgrounds, disciplines and levels of study to share their views; to promote student participation in the European University Alliances (EUA); to advocate for deliberative processes as a way to rebuild European democracy and to bridge the gap between citizens and decision-makers; to encourage students to engage in European politics at local, national and European level and to increase their participation in Europe’s democratic processes.
“I hope that at least some of the ideas we have proposed will be incorporated into the EU law. In that case, we will see a real change initiated by us, young motivated students who are trying to make the world a better place. I believe that the ESA project should continue so that even more young voices can be heard in the years to come,” says Shukurov.
The full set of policy recommendations discussed at the Assembly can be found here.
