Last week, April 8-9, NOM (Nordic Chairman's Meeting) held a digital meeting in which SFS's Committee for International Affairs, Komit, participated. NOM is a collaboration between the Nordic and Baltic student organizations where we meet and discuss common issues. Most of the participants are, like SFS, members of the European Students' Union (ESU). We, Linn Svärd and Patrik Hermansson, participated from Komit.
The hosting of the NOM meetings rotates between the organizations and this time it was EÜL, the Estonian equivalent of SFS. The first day usually focuses on guest lectures and seminars according to a certain theme. Each meeting has a theme and this time the focus is on the very important issues: environment and social responsibility.
Among other things, we had a guest lecture by former Finnish parliamentarian Oras Tynkkynen, who talked about why Nordic and Baltic countries should take greater responsibility for, for example, the climate when we represent such a small part of the world's population. An important perspective was that if all countries and regions that represent a small percentage thought like that, a very large majority would not think about the environment and climate at all.
We also had a visit from Kadris Kalle from Let's Do It Foundation who talked about the (potential) transition to a circular economy. Which is about how we take care of and reuse the resources we have. In a small poll that was conducted among the participants, we also had to comment on how hopeful we are for the future and unfortunately the answers were not optimistic. Here it becomes even more important to show the role of higher education for a sustainable future but also the responsibility of academia for society's possible transition to more climate-neutral alternatives.
In the evening, a digital intercultural night was held. Usually we meet physically around Europe, but due to the corona pandemic, NOM has also shifted to being held digitally. Intercultural night is traditionally used to get to know each other's cultures by having participants bring food, drink or something characteristic from their country and share it. It is a very good opportunity to get to know each other outside the meeting rooms and many great friendships are made here. This time we filled the time with the games Pictionary and Cards Against Humanity online! We also took the opportunity to celebrate one of the participants who recently had a birthday with a surprise gift.
The second day was a bit more political discussion among NOM members, with a particular focus on the upcoming Board Meeting (BM) where all members will decide on ESU's views on future European student policy and elect the next board and presidium. Some examples of what was discussed are the proposals for opinion documents concerning internationalization at home, microcredentials and student rights. Here, SFS gives us a great opportunity to see if we can get a hearing among our other member organizations for the opinions that the member bodies have decided on at SFSFUM. In addition, we also hear about the perspectives of the other student organizations on various issues that affect students.
NOM is just one part of the work that Komit does, and it can be quite intense for the two days, but it is also very rewarding for both SFS and the individual Komit member. The experiences of Swedish and European students are similar, which means that we get a lot of benefit from the international collaboration.
Come, Linn & Patrik
Do NOM and Komit sound interesting? Komit is currently looking for new members. The deadline to apply is May 3, read more about the mission and apply here.