They were more than 100 delegates from over 30 countries.   Representatives from the majority of ESU’s member unions travelled to Prague last week for the 17th European Student Convention, held in the Czech Republic as an official event of its presidency of the European Union.  Focusing on student empowerment through participation at the national, continental and global level, the event brought delegates together for four days of debates, information exchange and learning through workshops and panel sessions with a distinguished selection of guests from the higher education field.  Prominent amongst the many highlights from the week were an opening session with Ondrej Liska, the Czech Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, panel discussions on the student movement with Martin Bojar, one of the leaders  of a defining moment in the movement’s history; Czech student protests in 1968, discussions on how student unions evaluate themselves and ensure quality internally as well as externally with an expert in quality assurance, Henrik Toft Jensen of the European University Association, and a keynote speech on solidarity and development cooperation with Nicolas Richards, Senior Coordinator for Education International’s Solidarity and Development Unit.  

Delegates also brainstormed ideas and devised constructive proposals to strengthen the student movement in a series of workshops covering the Bologna Process, capacity building, knowledge transfer, environmental sustainability and quality assurance.  Key outcomes included ideas on how ESU can develop its own professional experts’ pool to meet the ever-increasing demand for qualified professionals to take part in quality assurance exercises.  With some NUSes already having their own pools in place, this was an opportunity for both ESU and national delegates to learn from other members.   Sessions on the Bologna Process, meanwhile, provided a vital opportunity to prepare delegates for the crucial Ministerial Conference at the end of April and to reach a consensus on the student perspective to be fed into the Ministerial, which resulted in our Prague Students Declaration (see above).

Documents from the ESC, including the speeches and presentations made, can be found on the official convention website:  www.esc17.cz

The next ESC will be held in Sweden on 15th-19th of October 2009.