Between 3 and 7 May, Board Meeting 80, abbreviated BM80, was held, and SFS's international committee Komit represented the Swedish students. BM is the European Students' Union's (ESU) decision-making meeting and is held twice a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn. SFS is a member of ESU and was one of the organizations that helped start ESU about 40 years ago. From Komit, the entire committee participated, including Patrik Henriksson, Linn Svärd and Matilda Ninasdotter Holmström.
What's happening at BM?
ESU has 45 members from 40 different countries in Europe and the ESU office is in Brussels. In addition to the decision-making meetings (BM), two European Student Conventions (ESC) are also arranged annually, which correspond to SFS member meetings. Both BM and ESC are arranged by the members, therefore the meetings rotate between different countries. Due to the pandemic, BM78, BM79 and BM80 have been arranged digitally and we have held the meetings from home, but it is expected that Komit will participate on site to represent Sweden's students, which means some travel around Europe. BM75 was held by Montenegro, BM76 by Bulgaria and BM77 by Malta. We look forward to physically meeting our European colleagues again when the pandemic is over!
This spring's BM had a number of mandatory items, such as the choice of presidium, board and auditors, decisions on the business plan and budget. As a consequence of the pandemic, the terms of office have been postponed by six months. The majority of the previously elected representatives chose to reapply to continue for another year, and will therefore serve a total of one and a half years. We would like to congratulate all the newly and re-elected representatives!
In addition to the mandatory organizational issues, a number of opinion documents were discussed and decided. ESU has several statements, policies and charters with opinions on things that affect students and higher education. This time, three policy documents were discussed, which we will delve into below.
"Statement on Internationalization at home"
The “Statement on Internationalisation at home” is about defining mobility that does not only involve exchange studies physically on site in another country and contributing arguments for not cutting the budget for physical mobility. The document describes that virtual mobility is not mobility, but should only be seen as a complement to physical mobility. At home, internationalisation means that it exists as a continuous theme in all parts of an education. In addition, the document addresses language barriers and cultural experiences, and that internationalisation at home should be financed separately from physical mobility.
“Students’ rights charter”
“Students’ rights charter” can be seen as a list of rights for students and at this BM the document was updated and ESU’s views were further deepened. Within Europe there are issues of varying nature that are important for students. SFS’s view is that higher education as a system should provide students with a good education and for this the student should also have good conditions for being admitted, undergoing and completing a degree in higher education. The Students’ Rights Charter is a potpourri of requirements for a good period of study.
Great discussion about Micro-credentials
Since spring 2020, the discussion about Micro-credentials, MC, has escalated and now it feels like we hear it in every other context. This applies primarily to the European arena, but it is also being addressed in the Swedish context - thus it was also an issue at BM and here ESU has now concretized the organization's views on MC. The Swedish system of independent courses is at the forefront and the freedom of choice and flexibility that exists for the student is what MC is trying to emulate. However, there are a number of aspects to keep in mind. The first concerns who gives the course, is it within the university or someone outside? In the Swedish system, we distinguish between polytechnics and academies. There is concern about what these MC are and that they should be outside the established quality assurance system. This view is monitored by Komit and ESU will continue to be engaged in the issue.
Dialogue with other Nordic countries
In addition to pursuing policy, Komit has also had many dialogues with our Nordic neighbors within the Nordic Chairs' Meeting (NOM). Almost all members of NOM are also members of ESU, and since our educational systems and cultural contexts are similar, we have a great deal of exchange in policy discussions.
If you have any questions about the committee's work, please contact Linn Svärd or [email protected].
Comet
Matilda, Linn and Patrik