From the 21st to the 23rd of April, AEGEE-Budapest hosted the conference “Education for the present, Democracy for the future”, which was the winner of the Franck Biancheri Award 2017. The event was organised together with Europe on Track and the Civic Education Working Group, with the support of the Association des Amis de Franck Biancheri. We talked to Álvaro González Pérez, one of the participants, to get to know more about it. 

The AEGEEan: Why did AEGEE-Budapest decide to organise the conference? Which where the highlights of the event?

Álvaro: AEGEE-Budapest had been dreaming of organising another big thematic event since their popular Agora in 2012, so the opportunity to help bringing to life such an important conference as  “Education for the Present, Democracy for the Future” was something they did not want to miss. Furthermore, and as the participants of the conference had the opportunity to learn in detail, civic education and democracy are two topics very much discussed currently in Hungary.

Regarding the highlights, there are way too many for me to mention all of them, but on a personal level I would underline on one hand the fact that the conference fired the starting gun for the arch-popular Europe on Track 4 (since both teams departed from Budapest), and on the other one the lecture given by a Hungarian university professor and activist, Marie Heller, on the current political and educational situation in Hungary, which gave us the foreign visitors a greatly enriching and enlightening local perspective.

Did they collaborate or had a partnership with other organisations?

The content of the conference has been organised by the Europe on Track Project and the Civic Education Working Group, which did an amazing job. I cannot avoid mentioning the incredible job that María Ballesteros Melero did, who was close to being omnipresent.

Regarding the collaborations, the “Association des Amis de Franck Biancheri” (AAFB) supported the conference with its experienced speakers and trainers during the whole duration of the event, and the Central European University (CEU) provided us with the necessary space and material.

How many organisers were involved in the organisation of the conference? 

There was a content team led by María Ballesteros, and formed by Maria Maris, Nicola Guida, Sofia Lobakina, and Balint Toronyai. The sessions were given by several members of the AAFB, the Comité Directeur and the CEWG, as well as by several guests that are a part of the Hungarian civil society, such as the a forementioned professor or a high school student involved in early activism. The organisational side was handled by AEGEE-Budapest and Petra Buruzs as main organiser, who made an amazing job and could not have made our stay in Budapest more comfortable and enjoyable.

Can you tell us something about the programme?

As shown by the name of the conference, the core of the conference was civic education in Europe, and the whole programme was based on this topic, whereas the first day the sessions were more based on the legacy of Franck Biancheri, regarding his life and his more than relevant role in AEGEE. In this sense, both of these elements were combined in a way that we dealt with the past, present and future of AEGEE and Europe, with interesting workshops dealing with diverse topics such as the current state of civic education in Europe, the role of civil society in the shaping of active and responsible citizens or the possibility of the democratisation of the Eurozone. The dynamism of the conference made it impossible to get bored: we had several parallel sessions that we could choose depending on what we felt like would fit us the most, as well as a World Café.

Is there something that we did not ask that you would like to share?

Especially remarkable is the fact that the place where the conference was held, the CEU, is currently in danger of being closed by the Hungarian government, because of several reasons dealing directly with the topic of civic education. For this reason, not only this university was suitable for us from a practical point of view, but also from a symbolic one.

Finally, I want to underline once again how enriching the lecture by Marie Heller on education and politics in Hungary was, not only for me, but for numerous participants. Even though the results of the evaluation are not out yet, I am convinced it will be close to the top of the best evaluated sessions, and it will come with no surprise:  getting to know the culture, society and politics of a certain place in that very place and by locals with expertise on the topic gives an unmatchable and an extremely educational insight.

Written by Paola Letizia Murru, AEGEE-Cagliari

During Autumn Agora Cagliari, Policy Officers were established as a body of our Network. President Paul Smits and Secretary General  Antonija Parat on behalf of the Comité Directeur presented a proposal to formally establish them in order to set some rules. The proposal was accepted with an overwhelming 94.49% of votes in favour.

The position of Policy Officers was launched in 2012 by the Comité Directeur 2012-2014 to  to express the  views and concerns of the Network and bring them up to the policy level. The Network has now four new Policy Officers who will work for one year on the Focus Areas of the Strategic Plan 2014-2017 (Youth Mobility, Youth Employment, Europtimism and Civic Education). But this is not all. The Comité Directeur (CD) 2014-2015 decided to also address two other topics this year, namely Education and Gender Equality. Six positions were created, but the CD strongly encouraged applicants to develop their ideas on a topic that was not mentioned, but could be important for the Network. A lot of applications suggested the topic of LGBT so the CD decided to appoint a Policy Officer to work on that topic too.

Pablo Hernández Rodríguez, Policy Officer on Youth Participation

For the second year in a row Pablo Hernández Rodríguez willwork as a Policy Officer: “Last year I was Policy Officer on Youth Participation, something that helped me to develop skills to work better on Youth Employability now”, he says. Member of AEGEE-Alicante since 2010, he became active in AEGEE right after Agora Alicante 2011 “having strong references like Miguel”. Being a Policy Officer (PO) for the second year is a spur for Pablo: “I decided to continue as PO mainly because now I’m better prepared to work on this position being in the place where I can contribute the most”. As uncertain as it is nowadays, Employment is a big issue for youngsters and according to Pablo “AEGEE understood its responsibility and put this issue on the stage so, now, what we need to do is to give solutions and support initiatives that make us think positive in this field”. He continues: “I think that young people have to have proper internships and future perspectives in their labour live, something that I want to put a lot of effort into. It’s also very important to look for a solution for the lack of local job opportunities so young people don’t have to go to capital and big cities or abroad but also find job places in their home towns.”

Teo Šarić, Policy Officer on LGBT

Teo Šarić is the Policy Officer on LGBT. Member of AEGEE-Zadar, he got motivated to apply for the position of Policy Officer when he “was a member of the Y vote Bus tour in UK, a campaign to engage First Time Voters in the Elections of the European Parliament in May 2014. We were speaking a lot [about LGBT ed.] with people on the streets about this topic”. LGBT is the suggested topic and for Teo “very important to AEGEE because a lot of young people are feeling insecure and do their “coming out” when they are students. So it’s nice to see that there are people who are interested to help, advice and support you and who are working on the topic in your own association”. Teo has a lot of experience with the topic of LGBT issues, being one of the organisers of the Pride Parade in Split (his hometown) and in Zagreb. “The first gay pride in Split in 2011, where anti-gay protesters were throwing rocks, tin cans, tomatoes, tear gas and glass bottles at the LGBT activists, motivated me to be an activist. It was very sad and emotional to me to watch, sit and do nothing. I had to take actions”. For his work as Policy Officer Teo has a clear idea: “I want to make sure that no one is taken down by the actions, language and attitude of others. It is particularly important that everyone demonstrates mutual respect and avoids any attitude that would be hurtful or dismissive. It is important that we are aware of our own attitudes and actions, and that we are willing to challenge our own prejudices in a constructive and respectful manner”.

Alfredo Sellitti, Policy Officer on Youth Mobility

In the aftermath of the deletion of Visa Freedom Working Group, visa issues and youth mobility have never been so important. The Policy Officer on Youth Mobility is Alfredo Sellitti, member of AEGEE-Salerno since 2006. “Youth Mobility is a wide concept. If we want to bring it to our interest, I would say that youth mobility is a great (if not the first) engine to build up a real European civic sense, in the broadest possible meaning”, Alfredo says. “This tool is probably the most powerful to increase cross-border competencies that will influence, besides the natural effect on personal development, a civic development and boost the economy by bringing new experiences and know-how in the system”. When asked why he applied for such a position, he stated that he “has always been interested in the policy making field, and when I was in CD I realised how little support we had from the Network, as the organisation had plenty of great ideas but not a good structure to canalise them. Therefore, when I saw the open call, I thought it was a great opportunity to keep  working on something I like and help AEGEE to improve its structure to better lobby for our interests”

Turgut Tosun, Policy Officer on Civic Education

Former president of AEGEE-Ankara, and member of the local since 2007, Turgut Tosun is the Policy Officer on Civic Education. “After spending years in AEGEE and gaining lots of experience, I decided to transfer what I learnt from my journey to other motivated AEGEE members”, he says. “It was my turn to help youth workers and activists with a subject that I trust myself. Then, I found myself writing my application for being a Policy Officer”. Even if we are living in democratic countries, there are many other theories that Europe is going through an anti-democratic process. “I believe that AEGEE will use civic education for strengthening and supporting members to be active citizens so that we can help Europe be more democratic and have young people who are aware of it”. Says Turgut, “In AEGEE, I think that we can integrate civic education in our local or regional training courses in order to raise the awareness of active citizenship and democracy among our members”.

Sofia Lobakina, Policy Officer on Education

One of the two girls elected, is Sofia Lobakina from AEGEE-Voronezh, who is Policy Officer on Education. Very active on the Local Level, this is her first experience on the European level, but she has “the motivation to contribute, a relevant experience to base my contribution on and an eagerness to learn more and develop the topic of Education in AEGEE”. Even if Sofia feels a huge responsibility in presenting the vision of the Network on the topic of Education, she finds that “AEGEE, one of the largest students’ organisation in Europe, is missing a clear basic position on the topic of Education, though we have some successful projects, like Higher Education Days (HED) and Europe in Exchange (EiE)”. She continues: “What is more important, is to advocate non-formal education and informal learning and their future recognition and quality assurance”. In fact, according to her vision, Education “is like a time bomb, the input you make now will be visible only in years. So the boldest experiments should be time-proved. However some things stay clear, high quality and equality are the basic points of it, and education is an always-going process and not just a place, list of courses or diploma”.

Miha Ilc, Policy Officer on Europtimism

Student of European Studies in Ljubljana, but now living in Estonia for his Erasmus, Miha Ilc (AEGEE-Ljubljana) is the Policy Officer on Europtimism. Tightly connected with his field of study, Europtimism is a “wide field, so it is going to be a really challenging task for me, but I’ll do my best. I usually compare it with a mosaic. There are different pieces that compose the whole picture (politics, economy, welfare, taxes etc.). Currently this “whole” in Europe doesn’t have a nice look and we need to fix it in the interests of all of us. Europtimism is at this point on the lowest level since the establishment of the European Union and the beginning of European integration, which is definitely not good for the future of Europe”. The scepticism on an united Europe is high, but for Miha “just criticising and observing it passively won’t change anything. Therefore we need active debates and discourses about the future of European Union.We have the capabilities and knowledge to improve the general opinion of the EU, to promote Europtimism and shape our future in a positive way. The only thing that we need is will and a long-term strategy”.

Léa Charlet, Policy Officer on Gender Equality

Léa Charlet (AEGEE-Paris) is the Policy Officer on Gender Equality. Member of AEGEE-Paris since September 2011 she was the Project Manager of the Y Vote 2014. Always a strong supporter of the thematic work within the Association, she now works for the Association of the friends of Franck Biancheri, an organisation which aim to promote the idea of our founder. “Gender equality is a topic I am extremely interested in for some year now, and since Agora Zaragoza I am trying to find people interested in the subject to start a project after the end of Y Vote. A lot of people were interested, so when the open call arrived I was ready to go for it and become policy officer”. says Léa. Her idea about gender equality is to reach a perfect equality where “everything is in the nature, let’s just not put people into boxes and accept the combinations around us. When we are dividing the world into Men/women we are taking a lot of people out of the equation”. Regarding her work she see that the mail concern is the awareness. “I think both me and Teo (Policy officer on LGBT, ed)  have this challenge to overcome as policy officer, that before being able to give AEGEE an official position, we need to make people aware of the subject, give the tool for people to think and then finally, ask for an opinion”. She concludes.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia.

After eight successful Y Vote conventions all around Europe, finally the time came to gather for one last meet up – and what place would be more suitable for this than Brussels?

By this time all AEGEEans probably know how it goes: 40 young people, finding time and motivation, came together with the desire to learn more, share their views and opinions, discuss hot topics and exchange experiences, with a few Belgian beers on top of it this time.

Maybe the fact that this was the last convention made us a very active and ambitious group of people. The atmosphere was always exhilarating and saturated with fresh ideas, orchestrated by excellent trainers who led inspiring sessions and workshops. We, the lucky participants, were pampered by great sunny weather and had an important task ahead of us: we had to go through all the recommendations that participants from previous conventions had been working on, and try to connect, transform, enhance and further incorporate them into the Student Agenda for Europe. Tough and mind challenging!

But wait a second: let’s first remind ourselves the previous Y Vote 2014 conventions.
It all started with the kick off convention in Valladolid: “Ignite the youth spark!”, followed by: “Bridging the EU democratic gap” – Las Palmas, “Youth unemployment” – Agrigento, “Austerity vs. Solidarity” – Berlin, “Gender equality” – Paris, “The role of the EU in the world” – Vienna, “Education, research and mobility” – Krakow and “Pluralism of media” – Cluj-Napoca.  And finally, the Brussels convention on the topic “More Europe, but which Europe?”. Want to know more about what made this last convention so special? Read on about the highlights!

A convention in the heart of the EU

Not only were we able to experience the “EU capital lifestyle”, but we also had a privilege to hold our debates in the European Parliament. First, the traditional debate with Members of Parliament(MEPs) was organized, followed by a discussion with NGOs(Non-governamental organizations),  who presented different innovative forms of democratic participation. Having discussions in the place where much of the decisions that affect our daily lives are made left a big impression on all of us, because it felt more realistic and transparent this way.

Education as a key matter
Although during these five days we discussed many different topics, it seems that we always returned to one subject – education. During the convention, a lot of problems about the current  education systems were identified and addressed.

According to Kostas Tsole (participant from AEGEE-Aachen), some of the problems that seem to reappear in our European society (e.g. lack of solidarity and a selfish approach towards solving problems in a strongly interdependent society and economy), might be due to education and the way we were “shaped” to think, accept and process information. Next to this, Régis Dumoulin (participant from AEGEE-Brussel/Bruxelles), stated that through education, which is expected to provide us with the right tools to be able to make the right choices, truly responsible citizens are being raised. The key is to teach “how” to think, rather than “what” to think.

It is important to underline that the concept of education was seen as the starting point to reshape our society in several conventions, even without consulting the drafts made during the “Education, research and mobility” convention.

One of the conclusions we think is vital to spread around our network is certainly the idea of “proactivity”. We include the definition of this term below and invite all of you to think about it!

PROACTIVE: (Of a person or action) creating or controlling a situation rather than just responding to it after it has happened.

Empowering young people: YOU(th) got the power!
This event definitely helped all of us to change the image of the community we live in. For some, it renewed their faith in Europe or ignited their enthusiasm again. For others, change came from within: it was truly astonishing to see how learning from others and simply exchanging helps you grow as a person. As Mauro Bellani (AEGEE-Bergamo) states, this convention prompted personal development of all of us: “I’m impressed how the Y Vote conference can change yourself! After the conference you feel more “complete”. If earlier your idea about your status as European citizen was quite unclear and confusing, after meeting new people you can learn how to add value to your opinion and what you can do to start being and remain active.”

In addition, all the workshops were great facilitators that allowed us to make our own conclusions about what “our” Europe needs. Furthermore, reading and revising the existing recommendations, made us take a step back, look at the results of all earlier Y Vote 2014 conventions and shape one final outcome. “Having those recommendations in my hands and knowing that actual policy-makers would read them made me feel empowered! And that is not an easy-accessible feeling”, says Alba Perez Barrera (AEGEE-Valladolid), although we are sure this feeling was widespread amongst all of us!

Conclusion(s)?
A lot of them! But here are the most interesting ones, ranging from very concrete to more abstract.

This convention gave us the opportunity to get information about the EP Elections in a very accessible way, through some attractive tools to play around with, such as the VoteWatch (www.votewatch.eu/), MyVote (https://www.myvote2014.eu/) and a very interesting online debating platform which has been getting a lot of attention from MEPs (www.debatingeurope.eu/), as Juan Vallés (AEGEE-Zaragoza) points out.

For Tessa Speelman (AEGEE-Utrecht), this experience was an eye-opener: it made her realise that we all have different views on the EU and its future, but we share common values and ideas. Our future is in Europe and we, youth, should never stop dreaming, participating and influencing the European decision-making.

After this final convention, we all went back home, glad for having taken part in it, and extremely happy to have met such amazing people. Because, at the end of the day, it is always about the people you meet. And this, we believe, is one of the strongest messages of AEGEE.

What are the next steps?
The EYE 2014 event was held  in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, gathering more than 10 000 young people concerned about the European Union. And, after a tour bus in the UK, the Y Vote 2014 team is leading another tour in beautiful Spain! Stay tuned, follow daily news through the Facebook page and don’t forget to vote – starting from today.

Follow daily news through Y Vote 2014 Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/YVote2014?fref=ts

Written by Hana Hudak (AEGEE-Paris) and Tessa Speelman (AEGEE-Utrecht)

These are days of uncertainty. The crisis threatens to make Europe a smaller and darker place. What is the future of education in Europe? What can we do to improve it? In the Y- Vote Convention on Education, Research and Mobility organized by AEGEE-Kraków (from the 4th to the 9th of march0) some responses were given.

Erasmus +
The convention began with the new Erasmus+ program for 2014-2020, which became effective on January 1, 2014 and has caused great confusion. The main novelties are the unification of the old programs of formal and informal education Youth in Action, Erasmus, Comenius, etc. and its extension to sports education and vocational training, as well as greater opportunities for agreements with partners outside the EU. It is expected that the new Erasmus will simplify the paperwork for new agreements, to ensure a more equitable system of scholarships and to reach the entire European population (students, teachers, workers, etc.).
Following this, the importance of mobility programs and the need of institutional support was discussed. The wide range of social and personal skills they provide are useful when entering the labor market. In addition, cultural exchange and knowledge of reality they provide are vital for a united, educated and democratic Europe.

Quality of Education
Then, the discussion focused on “quality of education ” and the need for an education that meets the needs of the individual and society despite cutbacks situations under the excuse of the crisis. Education is not a cost: it is an investment.
Regarding the normal, non-formal and informal learning, it is also necessary to improve the poor recognition caused by public authorities and companies and the lack of tools to measure it.

“Visit” of MEPs
A visit of two Polish MEPs was scheduled for a colloquium. To everyone’s disappointment, they did not come, alleging scheduling problems. So we had to throw our questions about the European policies to their assistants. We got the feeling that there are going to be only a few solutions from the highest levels and that the Erasmus generation will have to make a change, so that working on platforms like AEGEE in the near future will become more important than ever.

Students Agenda for Europe
During the last few days of the event, we wrote the final document which will be presented to the next European Parliament: the recommendations for Students Agenda for Europe.
The process started with identification problems within the competence of the EU and then the proposition of feasible, concrete and clear solutions.

Y Vote?

Lately, disappointed by the political situation that led to disaffection of young people regarding the system, rather than in rebellion, had resulted in disinterest in politics. Why vote? Because in the Parliament the future is decided. Your future. Our future. You can decide with your vote. If you do not vote, no one else will decide for you. Vote. And even if you disagree with all political options and even with the same system, do not make abstention: vote spoiled ballot-paper. Abstention is just to renounce to a right. Voting is to decide. Decide.

More European
It was not just a meeting on education but also on Europe and its people. Every day and night, the great organisers of AEGEE-Krakow showed us the charm of their city, the university capital of Poland. It took us a week to learn about the customs, the past and the dreams of the others. And about ours.

And the last night came. Find the missing sock across the room. Zips. “I have to spend the last zloty: let’s go for beer!” Then a shower and the European Night.
And back to your city. But only to your city. Because all the time you were at home.

On May 25, do not forget to vote in the European Elections.

Written by Javier González Moreno (AEGEE-León).
Pictures courtesy of Karina Kubis (AEGEE-Kraków) and Karolina Kubala (AEGEE-Kraków).

It all started from an on-line debate, and now it is about to become an AEGEE-Europe project. Last December, the Culture Working Group (CWG) set up a Skype debate about History textbooks and how they are influenced by nationalisms in Europe. EurStory is a newborn in AEGEE, but it’s ready to rock the Network and to make ‘History’!

We cannot deny that nationalism in textbooks leads to lots of contradictions on the ways the subject is taught in many countries. Kristóf Papp, president of AEGEE-Budapest, saw a brilliant opportunity in the past debate held by the Culture Working Group about Textbooks & Nationalism and decided to take the lead on making a project about European History textbooks come true. This is how EurStory was born.

EurStory team members Luca Gallyas and Kristóf Papp (AEGEE-Budapest) in the Agora Fair in Rhein-Neckar

“I felt this project was perfectly describing me”. Kristóf grew up in a small city close to the Croatian border, which has a great Ottoman influence. Besides, during several AEGEE events, “I met the different aspects of the interpretation of History in the Central-European region”. All these facts, combined with his passion for History, pushed him to take up the challenge of leading such an ambitious project.

But what is exactly EurStory about? “We want to show Europe that there is a History we are all part of, and that we all have different points of view”, Kristóf explains. There is still a big amount of sensitive topics in European history. EurStory aims to observe and gather the different points of view on relevant historical facts from high school textbooks, and to highlight both their similarities and differences.

The Project Team of EurStory gathered for the first time last May in Brussels, and agreed in their objectives and outline for the project. According to Kristóf, “in order to present all the information, we want to publish comparisons and debates, interesting facts reachable for students as an additional source, and a website with a timeline”. The second part of the project aims to lobby for changes in school textbooks, and to “free them of nationalistic approach”.

The project is still in the planning and recruitment part, but there are some other challenging goals ahead: “we are planning to have a Training Course where we can teach people how to represent the different aspects of History”, Kristóf says. And then comes the cherry to the cake: the Project Team of EurStory plans to visit high schools and give workshops all over Europe, in a similar way like the YOUrope needs YOU! project did in its time.

Positive feedback from the Network and externals

EurStory’s logo, by Benjamin Doll (AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden)

Even though EurStory has just started walking, it has already found a strong support throughout the Network. So far, it has supporters and team members from almost every region in Europe, thanks to its presence in several European events such as the Spring Agora Rhein-Neckar or some Summer Universities. Kristóf admits that the whole project has been changing since the beginning, because of the feedbacks received: “I think I can say that people is excited about the project and everybody has been trying to help us with their opinions and comments”.

Marta Astorgano, member of AEGEE-Barcelona and History student, led a workshop in the TSU between AEGEE-Barcelona and AEGEE-Las Palmas. Looking back at the workshop, she is happy with the outcomes it gave: “we had a couple of members who were really touched by our goals, got in touch with us and asked to be a part of the project”. However, she admits that it’s hard to make most of the members keep its interest in History. “I understand that it’s a heavy subject and it needs concentration, so in a workshop at a Summer University is normal that people lose their attention quite easily”, she says.

Furthermore, EurStory counts with a strong supporter who might be quite well-known for many AEGEEans. It’s Dr. James Skelly, who has taken part in some panel discussions in AEGEE’s Statutory Events. Kristóf Papp approached him in the EBM Valletta, and was offered lots of materials and support from the beginning: “he [Skelly] said it has a huge potential. Since the EBM I met him several times, and we were discussing about the possible working method. He suggested to make the comparisons between exact events, which became the fundamental base of the project”.

A great idea that expects great outcomes

“We have lots of hours of reading, writing and contrasting ahead us, but I hope the outcome is great, because the idea is”, Marta says. There are many ways you can get more information and get involved in the project: the EurStory project team members plan to give a workshop in Autumn Agora Zaragoza, and you will hopefully see them on stage, too!

You can also reach them through:

– Facebook group

– Contact mail

Let’s all make history in AEGEE!

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

Pictures by Dasha Onokhova, AEGEE-Moskva

Can a young girl’s dreams affect the world? In the new century the answer is simple: YES!

The world is following a girl who has a very deep passion for her rights. This girl is Malala Yousufzai. She is a brave education activist girl from Pakistan. Her vision is to teach us again about the importance of the problem of female education.

Her story began with her blog on BBC website about living under the Taliban. The idea came from her father and she was only 11 years old when she started writing. She wrote in Urdu. Her region, Swat Valley, was controlled by the Taliban and they applied their austere interpretation of sharia law rules. They banned music and television, as well as banning shopping and education for women! She described her life under Taliban rules and she was not happy. Taliban destroyed 150 schools and stopped education for women. She did not accept that and she campaigned for women education rights on her blog. First she wrote anonymously and used the name Gul Makai but after she got famous and received some peace prizes her identity was revealed.

The Daily Telegraph’s correspondent from Pakistan, Rob Crilly, said “Malala Yousufzai was one of the few brave voices who spoke out” about her blog.

I want to give some extracts from her blog. They show how bad it is to live and study there.

In 3 January 2009;

”I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taliban. I have had such dreams since the launch of the military operation in Swat. I was afraid going to school because the Taliban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools. Only 11 students attended the class out of 27. The number decreased because of Taliban’s edict.

On my way from school to home I heard a man saying ‘I will kill you’. I hastened my pace… to my utter relief he was talking on his mobile and must have been threatening someone else over the phone”

In 14 January 2009;

“I was in a bad mood while going to school because winter vacations are starting from tomorrow. The principal announced the vacations but did not mention the date the school was to reopen.

“The girls were not too excited about vacations because they knew if the Taliban implemented their edict [banning girls’ education] they would not be able to come to school again. I am of the view that the school will one day reopen but while leaving I looked at the building as if I would not come here again.”

Along with many locals, Malala and her family went into exile from Swat Valley when a government military operation attempted to clear the region of Taliban militants. After that she began to appear on television and advocate her campaign for female education. For many Pakistanis, Malala became a symbol of resistance to the Taliban. She wanted to become a doctor but after her experiences she decided to be an activist and politician. After all her works she was nominated for the International Children Peace Price on October, 2011. Her public profile rose even further when she was awarded Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize two months later in December. The prizes and fame can be nice, but they can be very dangerous too. After she became famous, the Taliban published death threats in newspapers, and also made threats on the internet, but these never stopped this brave girl. She continued to work for women education rights.

On October 9, 2012 Malala was shot to her head by a Taliban gunman. Pakistani Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility, saying that ”She was anti-Taliban and secular”. After getting medical care in her country she was transported by plane to Birmingham, United Kingdom. Attack on Malala created a big reaction all over the world. From Madonna to UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon, everyone denounced the attack. She became a hero of education.

Female Education Problem

Education is a basic human right. Every girl and boy should have an access to it, no regardless of gender, geography, disability… But the truth is not so easy. 66 million girls have no chance to go to a school. Girls are less likely to access school, to remain in school or to achieve results. Education helps men and women claim their rights and realise their potential in the economic, political and social arenas. It is also the single most powerful way to lift people out of poverty. Education plays a particularly important role as a foundation for girls’ development towards adult life. It should be an intrinsic part of any strategy to address the gender-based discrimination against women and girls that remains prevalent in many societies. The following links will further explain the necessity of girls/women’s education.

One of the important problems related to female education is sexual abuse. Adolescent girls in particular have much to gain from education. Those who complete primary and secondary education are likely to earn a greater income over their lifetimes, to have fewer unwanted pregnancies, to marry later, and to break cycles of poverty within families and communities.

Education is number 2 in the United Nations Millenium Development Goals. Here is some information about the education in the world:

–        Enrollment in primary education in developing regions reached 90 per cent in 2010, up from 82 per cent in 1999, which means more kids than ever are attending primary school.

–        In 2011, 57 million children of primary school age were out of school.

–        Even as countries with the toughest challenges have made large strides, progress on primary school enrollment has slowed down. Between 2008 and 2011, the number of out-of-school children of primary age fell by only 3 million.

–        Globally, 123 million youth (aged 15 to 24) lack basic reading and writing skills. 61 per cent of them are young women.

–        Gender gaps in youth literacy rates are also narrowing. Globally, there were 95 literate young women for every 100 young men in 2010, compared with 90 women in 1990.

Organizations like the UN, World Bank, UNICEF etc.. working so hard to solve education problems in the world. This is a challenge we must solve for better and stronger future. We must take on more responsibility. The challenge is to ensure children’s access to quality education. Education must include learning relevant to the needs, rights and aspirations of girls and this learning must be delivered in safe school environments that are free from gender bias and promote gender equality.

We Can Do It

This article is not an academic research. The only goal is giving some important information about the problem of education in the world and giving motivation to work on that. If you want to learn more you can visit the following links:

United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative / www.ungei.org

Mother & Child Health and Education Trust / www.educationforgirls.org

ActionAid / http://www.actionaid.org

Global Campaign for Education / www.campaignforeducation.org/en

Global Education First Initiative / www.globaleducationfirst.org

Women Deliver / www.womendeliver.org

Girls Learn International / www.girlslearn.org

Save The Children / www.savethechildren.org

Good luck on your journey…

Some information also here.

Written by Özgün KAPLAMA, AEGEE–Istanbul

Education Working Group Board Member

What do AEGEE members understand when talking about sustainability? Where did they learn about this? And how would they like AEGEE to be involved with this topic? Finding out the answers to these questions was the aim of the survey on sustainability which was completed by almost 120 people from over 60 locals all around the network. Both multiple choice and qualitative answers were analysed and quantified, and will serve as input for AEGEE’s position paper on sustainability.

Sustainability is…

… a buzzword/often misunderstood/a way of thinking/ a clear path for action/ all of the above. One thing is clear: ask 120 people about their understanding of sustainability and you will get 120 different answers. This can however only enrich the debate, as a concept as complex as sustainability can only be understood and operationalised by looking at it from multiple angles at the same time. So — at risk of generalisation — what do AEGEE members think of sustainability?

Sustainability is the way of living, creating public policy and economic growth that takes into account environmental issues and will help to preserve natural resources for future generations.”

This explanation by a respondent from AEGEE-Poznań perhaps succeeds the best at capturing the wide range of ideas and definitions collected through the survey. For when analysed the answers fell broadly into a number of categories, of which the most important keywords are (in order of frequency): Future, Resources, Green, 3 elements, and Balance.

One in two respondents focus on long-term thinking and planning, preserving our planet and quality of life for future generations. This requires a different approach at resource usage and the introduction of closed-loop production and consumption systems. While many respondents mentioned the classical 3 components of sustainability — economy, society, and environment — and the balance between them, over 20% however, still see sustainability in a predominantly green light.

Education for sustainability

So even though 91% of respondents have at least some notions of sustainability, there is still some room for improvement. How much do AEGEE members — and youth in general — know about sustainability, and how much of this did they learn at school? It is true that the basics are being discussed in primary and secondary school — think water cycle and geography field trips —, but this “decreases as you pass to the next level of education, as the education becomes more specific and ‘serious’”, says a member of AEGEE-Valladolid.

Almost three in four respondents feel there is not enough attention for sustainability within formal education and 48% even estimate that sustainability-wise their time at school was a waste of time, with another third only learning a little about it.

On the other hand less than 25% believe they don’t know enough about the topic to do anything themselves. So where do people get their knowledge from then? This is where non-formal education (NFE) comes in, says Bogdan from AEGEE-Bucureşti: “I only found out about this from my AEGEE local.”

For one in three respondents, NFE is also a more suitable method for teaching sustainability than formal education. “Non-formal education is better in showing people ways to live more sustainable instead of simply telling them what to do”, says Wieke of AEGEE-Leuven, and Nolwen (AEGEE-Toulouse) continues: “Sustainability is about reforming our societies deeply and fundamentally, it therefore requires non-formal education, out of books, it requires to learn by doing, by discussing.”

Time for action

While playing a big role in teaching young people about sustainability, NGOs (28%) score significantly lower than e.g. national government (33%) when respondents are being asked to rank 6 stakeholders in order of importance to take initiative in making life more sustainable (weighted average 30%). It is therefore crucial to cooperate with all stakeholders in pursuing sustainability, including national and local government, business, youth and other NGOs, citizens’ initiatives, and individuals.

What role do respondents then see for organisations such as AEGEE?

Like many things, sustainability starts at home. For Guillermo Garcia Tabares of AEGEE-Barcelona, we should “first of all establish some obligatory criteria for all events. Secondly, create best practices which are easy to follow.” Only then, he says, should we start working on bigger projects. Again analysing the answers, we can see that respondents suggest a number of possible approaches.

More than one in five support Guillermo’s proposal for internal sustainability standards, while slightly more people would like to see Environmental Working Group and others to provide assistance to members and organisers to become more sustainable. Most respondents favour the raising of awareness and spreading of knowledge through workshops, but as this was not a multiple choice question, this serves mostly as a first step towards a more active engagement. Finally, remarkable are also the 15% who suggest raising our voice externally, by lobbying institutions for more sustainability or partnering with other youth organisations.

And now?

Credits to Jjpacres on Flickr

After defining the topic and conducting a survey to gather the first input, the next step is to launch an online consultation on the topic of sustainability — more in particular education for sustainability. This process will be informed by a lay of the land in Europe, and will define the basis for future lobbying for more attention for sustainability in both formal and non-formal education.

On sustainable entrepreneurship, the second subtopic proposed at Agora Budapest, not sufficient knowledge and outspoken opinions seem to be available within AEGEE at the moment. While I will continue to research the topic and share useful opportunities, it might be too soon for AEGEE to take a position on this. Rather, more time and efforts should first be invested in raising people’s understanding of, and experience with entrepreneurship as such, e.g. through successful projects such as the European School on Entrepreneurship or collaborations with Startup Pirates and other specialised initiatives.

Written by Mathieu Soete, Policy Officer on Sustainability

Last week, AEGEE-Europe was invited to join debates taking place in Grenoble, France. The event aimed to gather politicians, young people, citizens and experts on the topic of youth. In this context, I was invited to moderate a panel discussion on the topic of Higher Education in Europe, in which the Minister of Higher Education and Research of France was one of the panelists.

Moderating this debate proved to be extremely interesting and made me think about the place of education in Europe. I believe that AEGEE, as a student organisation, is expected to address this issue and to get involved in order to make sure that the development of a European Higher Education Area answers to the need of young people.

What does Europe have to do with education?

As you might know, education is a national issue. The European Union only has a complementary role in this and can advise the member states, without forcing them to any commitment. The EU budget for education is therefore very low, barely reaching 2% of the EU budget. A few years back however, the first initiative for a common area in Higher Education was implemented, well known under the name ‘the Bologna Process’. This initiative did not aim to harmonise national educational systems but rather to provide tools to connect them. The intention was to allow the diversity of national systems and universities to be maintained while the European Higher Education Area improves transparency between higher education systems and provides tools to facilitate the recognition of degrees and academic qualifications, mobility, and exchanges between institutions. What has been the real impact of the Bologna process on young people? Has it really made their mobility in Europe easier?

Apart from that, currently, education is one of the elements most discussed: while the Lisbon Strategy placed knowledge and innovation at the base of our society, there is still a lot to do in order to ensure a stable, innovative and dynamic European area, and in that context, the education of young people is one of the key elements which will influence it. However, there is currently a youth unemployment rate of 25% in Europe, and this situation has given rise to a lack of participation of young people in the society in general, visible in the low participation during elections.

Besides common challenges in European countries, there are also similar objectives in the field of education, for example increasing the number of young graduates, creating a more attractive knowledge centre, and solving the issue of discrepancy of universities with the labour market.

In this context, why not try to find common strategies to face those challenges?

Europe’s answer to education

The European Union is currently focusing on some specific aspects in the field of education, with the objective to create an attractive European area in the field of education and research.

On one hand, mobility is of course the field where the European Union is most active. We are the ‘generation Erasmus’, and many of us had the chance to study abroad for a certain period of time. We can say that mobility in the frame of education should be a right for young people. It is still not the case – access to Erasmus and other mobility programmes is very limited and connected to the countries of origin and the social background of participants.

One of the objectives I believe AEGEE should strive for, is the possibility for all young people to be able to study in any European country and university they wish, in order to be able to follow the best programme in the field of their interests. In this frame, it is necessary for Europe to be open and supportive, so that young people can get this chance. Indeed, not only does it help students to choose the best programmes in Europe, but it also provides them with an experience which goes beyond the knowledge they will acquire: studying abroad provides the opportunity to discover another culture, to learn a new language, to develop intercultural skills etc. Above all, studying in another European country considerably enhances our feeling of belonging to the European community, it brings Europe closer to us, and results in young people being more interested in Europe. AEGEE striving for European integration means to push for the European Commission to provide financial support and to make sure that mobility programmes for youth are accessible to everybody. Currently, the grants that are provided for a young person differ from one country to another, and in some countries, they even differ from one region to another. Young people do not have the same opportunities all over Europe, and the fact that parts of the grants are typically transferred only after their experience abroad also considerably limits the participation of students from a disadvantaged socioeconomic background.

Another element that was addressed during the panel discussion was the necessity to increase collaboration between universities, research centres and the business world. Universities are often criticized for providing young people with a diploma, but not with the competences that they need to join the labour market or to be an active citizen. For now, one of the greatest challenges of universities is the relevance of education and knowledge that they provide to young people, and whether it is adapted to the needs that young people have when entering the job market. Even if we must grasp education as a lifelong learning process, in the current context, the role of universities in preparing young people for the job market has to be scrutinised. Employers themselves stress that they prefer someone with more skills and fewer diploma to someone with two masters but who turns out to have no idea about the working environment or team work. In AEGEE, we always stress the unique role of non formal education and what being active in a youth organisation provides young people with, especially in the context of preparation in terms of skills, but also to understand one’s role in the society.

We should expect the education system to be a bit less rigid, and to introduce new methods, new forms of learning, which would provide young people not only with technical knowledge (of course needed), but also with civic competencies.

The European Union is currently pushing for more interactions among universities and the business world, which we find interesting, however, we need to make sure that the European specificity of education as a public service stays protected, not to transform it according to the US model, where the business world controls education systems.

But education should also prepare citizens, not just workers

Education and being a student is also about learning to become a citizen. Institutions seem to forget this sometimes, and see education only as tool for employment. However, we, in AEGEE, have the chance to be part of a youth organisation which enables us to experience democratic processes, to develop and raise our awareness about how the society works, the environment in which we live. AEGEE values learning to learn, and the need of young people to grow as citizens and to actively take part in their society. This is why I believe we should also encourage this process of participation to take place inside the universities themselves. If we want young people to become citizens aware of the opportunities they have to make their opinions heard, they need to be able to experience it within the universities already. Likewise and coming back to mobility, we can say that giving young people the chance to be mobile in Europe, will increase their awareness of the society in which they live, and will prepare better the citizens of tomorrow.

AEGEE’s role in this context is to represent the needs of young students in terms of education, to stress our wish to be able to study, work and live anywhere in Europe and to demand education to be addressed in a holistic perspective, giving young people not only skills for their future, but also citizenship education. Those are the values AEGEE strives for, and to reach this ideal, we need to make our students’ voices heard.

Bread, education, freedom: the three basic human rights according to students who started a rebellion on November 17^th, 1973 in Athens against the dictator, and finally managed to initiate something that would bring dictatorship in my country to an end.

But how different is our government today, especially on the subject of education? My country has been severely damaged by the economic crisis, making it difficult for many to even have food on the table for their family, or even for themselves. Also, freedom of speech has been wiped out by the media that, instead of focusing on the peace demonstrations fighting for our rights or opinions, they prefer to focus on the minority that joined the group and that starts vandalizing the city of Athens, and using it as propaganda and spreading havoc to the rest of the world, eventually creating stereotypes about my country. Freedom of speech is coming to an end, but what about education? In my country, a war has just started last week between the Minister of Education, and professors and students of third level education. But let me start from the beginning and get you to understand this better.

I study Accounting at the Technical Educational Institution (TEI) of Patra. It is, if not the best, one of the best throughout my country when it comes to Accountancy. It is a department within the  Faculty of Management and Economics (FME), where there are three other departments. The TEI of Patra has three faculties, and is one of the oldest TEI in Greece, with at least 25000 students altogether. Throughout the year, I heard that many departments of TEI throughout the country would either be absorbed by other departments, or would be closed down. “This is ridiculous,” was my only thought on the subject, and did not dwell on it more, because it sounded as if people were underestimating the Minister of doing something so stupid and creating rumors.

Thursday, January 31^st, 2013
As everyone knows, amidst exams all students  study and try to pass as many exams as possible, as I was doing as well. I logged on to Facebook to see if there might be anything on my departments group page that might help my studying (like notes), and I saw quite a few comments implying something I never believed I would see, but only telling us to catch the eight o’clock news.

So I did, and heard something unbelievable: out of the many TEI departments playing a dancing game on the map of my country, moving from one city to the other, absorbing into one department all departments throughout the country, was my department and all of FME moving. The TEI of Patra is threatened by the finally announced plans of the minister that it will lose one third of its students. The Accounting department would move to Mesologgi, and become one with the department there. “Has the minister gone nuts?” I was thinking, “Will the value of my diploma be downgraded just because a minister is taking me to Mesologgi in September 2013? Will the minister choose for me what to study, by broadening the subject of my studies in the new department, although I chose what to study myself? I must do something about it.” It seems that online were many students feeling the same, and a few implied that our professors are agreeing with us. We decided to have an FME meeting the next day.

Friday, February 1^st, 2013
What a great way to start your month, by knowing you are a pawn on a chessboard for a minister! What next? Does he want me to tour my country from corner to corner? My exams today were cancelled, because we chose to occupy all FME departments and have the meeting at 1pm, so everyone would be present. After a three hour meeting, because a meeting of 7000 students is difficult to manage, we decided upon two routes for our peace demonstration in the city center, on two separate dates: Saturday and Monday.

Saturday, February 2^nd, 2013
So our gathering today was at 12pm at Georgiou Square, in the center of Patra. Today our goal was to raise awareness of the people of Patra that they were losing 7000 students, and show them that this isn’t acceptable, even for their own community’s economy. Patra is a student city, and mainly depends on them. So by raising awareness of the population and permanent residents, we may be able to pressure the Minister himself! I mean, we are not the only city having students on the streets protesting! “You, staring at us walking on the street! Come and join our cause and help us stay in Patra!” was one of our cries while our peace demonstration on the streets. We walked for five kilometers, and by the time we finished our demonstration, all professors from FME had joined us! We were back at the square again, shouting for help and awareness of our cause.

Monday, February 4^th, 2013
Our meeting today was at 10am, and started from the one end of Patra, all the way to the center, walking once again five kilometers, to reach the mayor this time. Our professors had a meeting today at the TEI figuring out other proposals to negotiate with the Minister. When we started blocking the road to start our demonstration, the police arrived, only to tell us that they support our cause and would like to accompany us of the minimal possibility of anyone getting hurt. Of course no one got hurt, but it was nice that the police did not stop us and showed people in the cars behind us that they supported us. Our cry out of the many today was “We want diplomas of value, not passports to unemployment!”

So we reached the mayor after two hours of walking, and we spoke to him. After speaking with him, he said that he was on our side, and to make it official he would, that very day, declare it in the press and on the local channel. The channels that were there, not only invited the mayor for a live interview during the lunch news, but also students to go and speak on television about their cause and problems.

At 6.30pm, we went to the Responsible of the Western Region of Greece. There, came all representatives of all TEI of Western Greece (Arta, Mesologgi, Nafpaktos, Agrinio, Patra, Amaliada, Aigio, Pirgos, Kefallonia, Zakinthos), since they were facing similar problems as well. In a nutshell, Mesologgi will lose many departments that will move to Agrinio. Arta, Nafpaktos, Amaliada, Aigio, Kefallonia, Zakinthos and Pirgos will seize to exist in September of 2013, and Patra will lose one of it’s three pillars which will move to Mesologgi. After the two hour meeting, the Responsible of Western Greece gave a chance to us students that were attend the meeting in the same room, to speak about our problems to him. Finally, the outcome was that on the 18^th of February, another meeting would be scheduled to negotiate on proposals, and to send them to the Minister himself.

To be continued? Surely yes, but hoping the Minister of Greece takes back his future educational plan, and all of us would be able to say that this was only just a dream, but I may be dreaming myself for a day like this to come! I won’t leave Patra on their terms, especially for something like this, and for someone to downgrade my diploma!

Written by John Eikosidekas, AEGEE-Patra