NOM in Riga, April 25-28.
On April 25-28, Andreé Lindahl and Némo Chentre from the international committee, Komit, were in Riga to participate in the 84th Nordic Presidential Meeting (Nordiskt Ordförandemöte, NOM), hosted by the The Student Union of Latvia, LSA. NOM is a Nordic-Baltic collaboration that brings together students from all over the Nordic countries and the Baltics, representing approximately 1.4 million students collectively. NOM is also one of the main platforms for cooperation within the European Students’ Union (ESU). A NOM meeting consists of seminar days with various guest speakers and workshops, as well as a formal meeting where decisions about the organisation and our collaborations within higher education are made.
Each NOM meeting has a specific theme that is given special attention, and this time the theme was “Work-life balance in student participation”, which included several interesting sessions. Each organisation got to do a presentation on the theme as well, where the SFS delegation, among other things, could discuss “SSO-Handboken” and our different networks available for student representatives. Other issues that were handled included the coordination of NOM, discussions about the upcoming ESU Board Meeting, and a session focused on the European Parliament election.
Thank you LSA for an interesting and fun NOM!
Board meeting in Genéva, May 6-11
A few weeks after NOM it was time for ESU’s 86th board meeting (BM). BM is ESU’s General Assembly and is held once every semester. This time it was held in Genéva, Switzerland. The delegation from SFS consisted of Komit members Emma Svensson and Andreé Lindahl, and Klara Dryselius, who arrived on Wednesday.
NOM-members in Genéva for BM86.
The week was kicked off with two seminar days. A session about ESU’s future strategic political priorities stood out as especially informative and interesting.
The seminar days were followed by the three day board meeting, where decisions were made regarding both political and organisational issues in ESU. Several documents were implemented and revised, such as ESU’s next year’s Plan of Work and budget, as well as policies and statements such as the Student Rights Charter, and a statement on Refugee students. SFS are happy to have gotten several amendments through, many in collaboration with NOM.
An issue that has been important for SFS for a while is the work environment in ESU, which was also discussed during this BM. SFS put forward and supported several motions aimed at improving the work environment, but only a few were passed. For example, as ESU is investigating the possibility of having fewer elected representatives, SFS argued that the plan of work should also be reduced, a suggestion that was not passed.
Elections
During this BM, the members also elected a new presidium and executive committee for the next operational year. For president, Iris Kimizoglu, from FZS, Germany, was elected. For vice presidents, Arno Schrooyen, from FEF, Belgium, and Lana Par, from CSC, Croatia, were elected.
To the executive committee the following persons were elected:
Duarte Lopes, from FAIRe, Portugal
Levente Varga, from HÖOK, Hungary
Tamara Ciobanu, from ANOSR, Romania
Lisa Schivalocchi, from UdU, Italy
Lauren Pray, from SKRVS, Czech Republic
Nora Angelova, from NASC, Bulgaria
Jens Bartnes, from NSO, Norway
This year’s executive committee includes one member, Jens Bartnes, who is a member of NOM. We are happy that a NOM-member was elected and wish Jens good luck! However, it should be noted that elected representatives of the ESU are expected to represent the organisation as a whole, and not their former national organisations.
Reassessment of SFS’ membership in ESU
Lastly, during this BM SFS was up for reassessment of our membership in ESU. All member unions in ESU get their membership reassessed on a seven year basis, and this year it was SFS’ turn to show that we continue to uphold the core values and meet the membership criteria of ESU. SFS was asked to prepare a self-evaluation in the form of several documents, including the SFS Charter, a self-evaluation on each membership criteria of ESU, a report on SFS activities for the past 5 years, and a financial statement. During the meeting, Emma and Andreé then got to present the SFS organisation based on these documents. We can gladly inform you that SFS passed the reassessment and will continue as a member of ESU!
All in all, it was a successful BM in Genéva! Komit brought many new experiences, perspectives and lessons home to Sweden and SFS, this together with many new contacts and friends. This was also the last international participation for Komit this year and we therefore take the opportunity to say thank you on our behalf and wish you a wonderful summer!
Apply to Komit!
If you are interested in international student issues and would like to represent SFS in NOM and ESU, don’t miss the chance to be a part of Komit for the next operational year! Admissions are open until 31st of May, you can find more information here.