Victoria Söderberg and Alexander Palme participated from SFS. The theme for the year was “Internationalization, migration and mobility in higher education”.
NOM89 was a good start to Komit's operating year. We gained a solid insight into how the work within NOM and ESU is done and we made contacts with Nordic and Baltic colleagues ahead of upcoming ESU meetings.
Finnish higher education policy
During the days we learned how student unions, student politics and higher education institutions work in Finland. We visited both universities, represented by SYL, and polytechnics, represented by SAMOK. We also met with Member of Parliament Fatim Diarra and Minister of Education Anders Adlercreutz. It was an informative introduction to Finland's higher education policy.
Internationalization
Each country told us how internationalization works at their universities, and we discussed how it can be improved. Based on that, we held a workshop where we developed ideas for how internationalization in the Nordic and Baltic countries can be developed.
The formal meeting
On day three, the NOM meeting itself was held. We reviewed changes to the statutes and talked about how NOM should cooperate in preparation for upcoming ESU meetings, especially ESU Board Meeting 92 in Yerevan. We also discussed the future of NOM and how we can gain greater political influence, both in our own countries and within ESU.
Finnish student culture
We also had time to experience Finnish student culture: a museum about student traditions and the history of student life, a classic Finnish sauna and an introduction to how a Finnish sitting, so-called “sitsit”, is done.
A joint statement
The meeting ended with NOM adopting a joint statement on internationalization and student mobility. In it, we demand, among other things, more resources for Erasmus+ and Nordplus, that financial obstacles to studying abroad be reduced and that international students receive better support. Read the full statement at SYL
Many thanks to SAMOK and SYL for a well-organized and educational meeting!
All's Well,
Victoria, Alexander and the rest of Comet.