The AEGEEan caught up with project manager Diana Yolova of the Higher Education Days Project, asking her questions about why her team should win The AEGEEans Choice Awards 2012 for best project.
The AEGEEan: “What was the main focus of the Higher Education Days (HED) project in 2011?”
Diana: “The focus of HED from the beginning until the end of the project will always be strengthening the students’ voice towards
higher education issues and striving for the recognition of Non-Formal Education (NFE). As young Europeans we do believe that youth has an opinion and in times of crisis and economic austerity it is even more important that we put efforts today so that we have result in the future.
We focus on young people as co-creators and partners in the delivery and governance of their learning experiences and decisions regarding their education.
HED project encourages educational and of course structural dialogue between its main actors, pointing out to the importance of establishing a solid platform for discussion about the most important problems concerning Higher Education in the European sphere of interest today.”
The AEGEEan: “Where did you organise events?”
Diana: We organised events in different parts of Europe. AEGEE-Beograd organised discussions regarding the implementation of the
Bologna declaration in Serbian education policy from students’ perspective, recognition of non-formal education and its role in the professional area, empowering and engaging students in their education and future career.
Another example is AEGEE-Yerevan who have organised a discussion of the European education system, new perspectives in the Armenian Higher Education system, Armenian academic quality, additional learning and lifelong learning, students-future labour market actors, the role of motivation in learning.
In connection with Summer Universities there were two Summer Universities organised last year, one in Leon and one in Tarragona which we found very productive and inspiring.
Then we also had an interactive workshop in Sofia, which included a discussion concerning the recognition of the NFE and soft skills from the business.
The AEGEEan: “What were your biggest achievements in 2011?”
Diana: “Well, for sure we consider as such the fact that there were and there are still a lot of AEGEE members and locals who believed in HED idea and importance, getting involved in HED or supporting us in one or another way.
One of the main pillars of AEGEE is not the Education or Higher Education itself, but what we are doing for their development. Should
we really miss it when we are seeing what is happening in almost every European country concerning the higher education? Should we miss the NFE when even the EU-CoE youth partnership stress on it with the symposium from November 2011 or when we see that exactly the recognition of NFE and youth pass are missing in the new “Erasmus for all program”?
Well, the answer is for sure LOUD NO! Otherwise I would say that we do not respect AEGEE aims enough!
Another thing that we consider as a big achievement is that we got approval from the previous Comite Directeur as a project of AEGEE-Europe, despite the administrative problems and the changes we needed to do in the project to reach this objective. Of course now, after Agora Skopje and the change in the CiA all projects are with the title “AEGEE project”.
The third thing which we consider as an achievement is that we are still here as a team of those of us who believe in HED, who still work many nights for our common cause. For sure my biggest challenge in AEGEE from 2007 when I joined AEGEE was getting the approval of our project, something that seems so easy but indeed is very difficult. We put a lot of effort into this project and stay up till five or six in the morning for the administrative part of AEGEE and not so much for the locals who were organising HED, which is for sure wrong, but surviving after all the arguments and problems is a very big achievement for me personally and for HED people as a whole.”
The AEGEEan: “Why is HED important for AEGEE?”
Diana: “One of our main pillars is the Higher Education and even if we cannot be the first power in Europe concerning the representation of students in Higher Education, we still can do a significant contribution. Maybe we are idealists for this – ok, say it this way, but remember that AEGEE started in 1985 with an idealistic cause too.
We are students, we are here and live in our future and as Manos Valasis once said “”A change in education is important, because we are important”. It is as simple as that!”
The AEGEEan: “What have you been working on in the beginning of 2012?”
Diana: “We started preparing the new round of one-day HED events and the great thing is that we are still having locals who are enthusiastic for organising HED and in some cases like in the Netherlands such round tables are more than needed now.
We have had a preparatory meeting in Lyon where we will have an event supported by YiA in May 2012.
Our “Bologna people” are communicating with the Bologna ambassadors from different countries and some student councils regarding their research over the implementation of the Bologna process.
We have been working on Youth in Action application together with AEGEE-Alicante that we are going to submit for the May deadline. Apart from that we already started working on the application for the final HED NFE conference for which we had strong support of the CD! Not to forget that we are having another eight days event which will be held in Sofia 2012 and it will be amusing as it will include in itself five big open conferences.”
The AEGEEan: “Why should you win this award?”
HED in León
Diana: “We do not think we have done something “extraordinary”. We already won our award from the locals that supported us, which found the value of organising something so serious and “boring” and different from our most successful project (SU) like an event about the implementation of the Bologna process. Here the biggest examples are AEGEE-León, AEGEE-Mannheim & AEGEE-Budapest who tried to get grant for such serious event, unfortunately not successful, but all the will and all the efforts they put was amusing for us to see it in the AEGEE network.
Yes, we are such a big network, such an old NGO, etc, it is so great, but somehow we need to go a long way before we will be recognised as a power in Europe, and all the locals who took HED as serious as it can be the biggest proof that we are on the right way and that not everything is pointless! Which more “awards” do we want?”
So Diana and the HED team may not aim for The AEGEEans Choice Award 2012, but they are for sure nominated, and with good reason as you see above.
Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København