ESU and EMUNI provide assistance for democratic change in North Africa

BRUSSELS – The European Students’ Union (ESU) and the Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI) have set up a partnership to assist and support democratic change at universities in North African and Middle East countries, such as Jordan, Egypt, Libya and Tunesia. Revolutionary changes have taken place in these countries in recent months, making it necessary to set up a solid foundation for a democratic civil society.

ESU’s Chairperson, Bert Vandenkendelaere, said: “In the light of recent immigration flows from North Africa to France, Spain and Italy, it is of tremendous importance to improve the quality of education in North African and middle East countries. They need our assistance in setting up high quality universities with the aim to improve the future life prospects of young people over there.”

ESU (1) and EMUNI (2) are offering to organise a range of trainings and workshops to support democratic change and promote human rights in higher education institutions. This support will be offered in Egypt and Jordan in 2012. ESU and EMUNI will ask for support of a range of international organisations, such as the UN, EU, UNESCO and OECD

The partnership aims to create the right foundation for matters relating to students’ participation in governance, cross-border mobility, diploma recognition and the social dimension of the Bologna Process. The European Universities Association (EUA) and the Euromed Permanent University Forum (EPUF) will also be asked to join the exceptional partnership.

EMUNI (www.emuni.si), one of the key projects of the Union for the Mediterranean (EuroMed), is an international network of universities from this region. President of EMUNI University, Prof. Dr. Joseph Mifsud, said: “Our priorities have ranged from land highways to higher education and research. But we have also focused on the development of schools, summer schools, research seminars and European projects where we bring together young people to work together and to speak together the same language, the language of research and excellence.”
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 Published: 4 May 2011

For more information, please contact:

Tadeja Jerovšek, EMUNI University, President’s Office: +38640450932 or tadeja@emuni.si
Bert Vandenkendelaere, ESU Chairperson: +32473669892 or bert@esu-online.org

Marianne Slegers, ESU Communications Manager: +32473669894 or Marianne@esu-online.org

(1) The Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI University) based in Slovenia is one of the six priority areas of the Union for the Mediterranean. It was established as an international network of universities. The mission of the University includes approving the quality of higher education through the implementation of postgraduate (master’s and doctorate) study and research programmes with a special focus on cultural diversity. For more information, please visit www.emuni.si.

(2) The European Students’ Union, headquartered in Brussels, is the umbrella organisation of 45 national unions of students from 38 European countries. ESU represents and promotes the educational, social, economical and cultural interests of students at the European level. Through its member unions, ESU represents over 11 million students in Europe. For more information, please visit www.esu-online.org