Concerns about funding cuts bring students and teachers together
The European Students’ Union and Education International have signed an agreement, and will work together against tuition fees and increased trade in educational services.
ESU and EI have also reiterated their will to continue the cooperation within the Bologna Process arena, bringing attention to the topics of mobility, access to higher education, social dimension, student centred learning and academic freedom.
Students and teachers agree to meet and discuss issues of mutual concern, advocate for common policy positions and cooperate on different projects. They are concerned about the increase of trade and GATS negotiations influence on education and decrease of public funding of higher education.
“We share many joint positions on key policy issues, and hope to cooperate more both on European, national and local level”, says ESU Chairperson Ligia Deca.
“The partnership between students and teachers through their representative organisations is essential to develop and strengthen quality democratic higher education system for all,” says EI Deputy General Secretary Monique Fouilhoux.
The agreement further recognises the need for stronger involvement of students and staff in the promotion of employment rights of young researchers and quality assurance mechanisms in transnational education. Additionally, EI has repeated its commitment to support ESU’s efforts in international student cooperation.
One of many examples of the already well-established partnership was the European-wide “Let’s Go!” mobility campaign. This successful campaign focused on financing mobility, mobility and quality, diversifying mobility, mobility of social security and pensions and commercialisation in connection with mobility.
This year’s common campaign, ‘Time for a New Paradigm in Education: Student-Centred Learning,’ hopes to increase the understanding of student-centred learning among policy makers and students representatives across Europe through the sharing of good practices and research.
