Seven students from EUNICE partner universities will join this meeting which will take place in this French city in early March
Seven students from different EUNICE partner universities will participate in the first European Students Assembly, which will gather 275 students from European university alliances in Strasbourg, France, on 3rd and 4th March. As one of the main European Universities Community activities, this will be an inaugural session that will give way to a series of gatherings to give students a public voice in the European Union.
Aimed at designing recommendations to impact the future of Europe, this meeting will allow students from all over the continent to exchange ideas and opinions. Carlos Santos, who studies at the University of Cantabria (Spain), understood this Assembly as a place to “discuss with other young people from Europe” and added that “it is a unique opportunity for youths to be heard by European highest echelons.” In addition, he hopes that this event will give him different perspectives on the various issues to be discussed and serve as a link to meet new people from other countries, thus bringing him closer to other cultures. Martha Drelon, from Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, is also looking forward to “strengthening the links between universities and European youth.”
“Giving voice to European students regarding many different important topics for Europe’s present and future.” This is what another student from University of Cantabria, Javier Lanza, expects from this Assembly, as well as his peer from the Spanish university José María Cueto, who said this could be “a productive and rational debate on the European Union’s role in the present and future world.”
Another important aim of the European Students Assembly is to enable students to address some of the complex challenges that the EU faces today, as José María Cueto’s worries about “climate change, geopolitics and citizen participation.”
Moreover, this meeting aims to develop their skills for international environments through the European values. EUNICE encouraged its students attending the event by highlighting the strength that diversity and inclusiveness can provide. In fact, Rekaya Kouchlef, from Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, expects this event will “bring cultural richness, a source of reflection and a questioning of our own system of functioning.” With this self auto-critical but constructive sense another student from the French university expressed himself, talking about this assembly as an opportunity “to question our systems and note what works and what can be improved.”
Coming from Bachelor, Master and PhD levels at 140 universities and 28 countries throughout Europe, the students attending the European Students Assembly come from a large array of academic and professional fields.
