In AEGEE, we are used to a lot of action days – or weeks, or months – to raise awareness for different topics or to encourage people to become active. Whether it is the Higher Education Days, the European Day of Environment or the

Logo of the Climate Impacts Day

Youth in Action Months, it is easier to activate people for a certain issue if you can focus on it for a specific period of time and offer them specific guidelines on how to get going.

During the Spring Agora Enschede, another worldwide action day took place, the Climate Impact Day. In the last decades, the man-made impact on climate became stronger and stronger. Unusual weather events are recorded all over the world, though people do not often make the link between these local events, rising CO2-emissions, and the changing climate worldwide. The aim of the Climate Impact Day is therefore to help people to “connect the dots”, to realise how the climate is changing and that global action has to be taken.

With the Environmental Working Group (EnWG), we wanted to add another dot to the picture by getting all Agora participants into one big dot and taking a photo of it. Fortunately we had the support of the

The Agora participants form a climate dot

amazing Agora organisers and could use the opportunity of the big group picture on the first day of the Agora to gather everybody into our climatedot; a dot that includes all participants, symbolising that we are all part of the change — and hopefully also of the solution.

We want to thank the participants as well as the organisers for the picture and are happy to see green topics becoming more and more mainstream.

Written by Hans-Peter Bretz, AEGEE-Aachen

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

For sure, the biggest and the most successful project in the history of AEGEE is the Summer University Project (SU).  A project that best fits to our association aim for promoting co-operation, communication and integration amongst young people in Europe. A project that strives for unified Europe, cross boarder cooperation and tolerance.

Is this what you have been thinking when you decided to apply for your last SU?

Is this what you have been thinking when you decided to dedicate your summer vacation for organizing the best SU ever? Maybe or maybe not.

Personally my answer would be NO! Or at least I would not try to express it as for an official AEGEE presentation. When I decide to go to a SU or to organize a SU, the picture in my mind that appears is young crazy people, ready to have great party and to see new places, taste new things experience new feelings or even people!

Well, this was till this summer! When I went in Spain for the collaboration between the “Higher Education Days” (HED) project and the Summer Events of AEGEE-Leon and AEGEE-Tarragona. This was the most not so “formal” way of involving the non-formal education (NFE) into HED project. In a way we decided to try to change our target and to make work more for the understanding of the NFE inside AEGEE but in one cool, provocative and interactive way.

The main idea was an introduction with NFE and its overall understanding by both participants on one side, and labor market and universities on the other side. During the 9 days of the SUs participants had the opportunity not only to see the beauties of amusing Spain and party endlessly under the ESpanish sky (or in some moments water sky), but also feed their brains with values and skills important to a young European worker. Through practical approach they were able to improve their communication skills, discuss about the common stereotypes, intercultural understanding and learn the meaning of cooperation and teamwork. What most surprised me was that the participants were much more than punctual for a SU and moreover – they were actively participating! It was more than a pleasure not only to see locals ready to mix they SU with a project that more or less not so easy to be understand for all AEGEE members, working and asking for HED opinion for little details part of the preselection and organization, but also to see smiling and awake participants (even after the European night) ready to collaborate in our workshops.

Why we choose exactly to use non formal learning? Simply because the NFE aims at giving young people the tools to further develop their skills and attitudes. And somehow this is what is special for the NFE – individuals, participants are the actors actively involved in the “learning” process. What better could be for a SU? What better would be for AEGEE? As this is what we all are keep on developing in one or another way every day inside AEGEE!

As I said in Tarragona   our life is like a school. Every day we take our classes, develop ourselves, enrich our knowledge and virtues.  We get promoted to the next level, the next class, by fulfilling one simple goal:  knowledge, improvement and perfection! But even if we make a  mistake,  we are supposed to  learn  from  it,  to be grateful  for  the  opportunities  and  of course  never, ever,   give  up!  NFE is the final ingredient that gives you the possibility to be full and to feel satisfied with what you are doing, with YOURSELF, to be satisfied with life!

Thank you AEGEE-Leon & AEGEE-Tarragona for changing my definition for a Summer University in AEGEE, for putting much more sense in it!

I do offer you another perspective for this summer HED collaboration, too! Just check it below!

Pavel Zbornik, president of AEGEE-Praha:

“I have some experience with NFE, being on several trainings, organizing SALTO training in Prague and lastly NFE experience from SU in Tarragona. It was nice combination of serious discussion with fun part so involved participants get knowledge in interesting way. Thanks to that I got new information in cultural understanding which enriched me and now I understand bit more to my internationals friends.”

Annika Lüdeking, president of AEGEE-Heidelberg:

“I do think that Non-Formal Education is very important for everybody, especially as we dealt with cultural understanding which is crucial for the teamwork in our network. Everybody learns non-formally already by observing his/her surrounding and by talking to other people and often we need some kind of reflection to fully understand the gained impressions and stories. Therefore we as Aegeeans should support our Higher Education Days and participate in some workshop or lessons provided and pass on the knowledge to our antennas. Personally I would have liked to go deeper and learn even more about have to overcome cultural borders, as we only scratched on the surface during our Summer University.”

Tünde Ress, a member of AEGEE-Piliscsaba:

“My first and only experience with Non-Formal Education and Higher Education Days Project was in the Summer University in Tarragona.  Although we discussed obvious things about this theme, after all it was really interesting and exciting. Because you had to express your thoughts about this serious theme in other language and you could talk about it with young people from other countries and maybe you hadn’t had the chance for it before. Thanks to the team works and games it wasn’t boring at all. I liked the idea that such people gave the presentations about for example stereotypes that actually studied psychology and knew about this things even more.  I have taught a lot about this theme and I’m really glad to have known other young people from foreign countries who participated and showed own culture and habits through these trainings. Totally worth it!”

Eduardo Di Mauro, a member of AEGEE-Tarragona:

“I think that Non Formal education is important because it lets people learn in a way suited to their attitudes. In my opinion NFE is valuable for such a student association like AEGEE, since it is a valid, effective and practical tool for students to teach to other students (more or less of the same age) remarkable matters. (For example last week I wrote to one of the “teachers”, Adela, a question about assertive communication, confirming that the lessons were not useless). It would be great to recognize it but since it does not include any exam, I can understand if institutions fear to give their approval  to that (people could just go to a NFE lessons, never talk and finally get some kind of paper). During the HED experience, the workshops were useful in my opinion, since everybody was giving his contribution, depending on their interest in the subject. It is normal that everybody has a different level of interest, but in this sense it is important to create a group of people that all have the same will to contribute to the workshops.”

Liliya Toneva, a member of AEGEE-Sofia:

“As participant at the Summer University in Tarragona I had the great possibility to learn more about the non-formal education. In my opinion non-formal education is and should be main part of the HED project. Non-formal and informal education become more and more important nowadays. Because we learn everywhere and at all times and this experience leads to additional skills, knowledge and competences. I strongly believe that, all of us in AEGEE should work for the recognition of non-formal and also informal education.

“And maybe we are like example of how it works.”

That was just an example how the participants took active role in their environment and contributed to the local student society. This was just another example how AEGEE promote European Integration ……..and may be something more!

Though I still have the question in my mind when we will realise that we are really build bridges for learning – once with the value of the NFE and twice with its recognition?

by me,

Diana Yolova,

AEGEE member !

written by Diana Yolova, Higher Education Days Project