European Students’ Union elects new Chairperson

BUCHAREST – Karina Ufert from Lithuania was elected as the new Chairperson 2012-2013 of the European Students’ Union (ESU) on 22 April in Bucharest. Ufert: “European governments are looking for ways to cut their spending to keep or get their economies back on track. Only by making the right choices and prioritising education, we can get Europe out of the crisis in a socially and economically sustainable way.” Ufert and her new team will take office on 1 July.

She added: “During my mandate, I will aim to consolidate ESU and make the voice of students heard during the budget discussions.” Next to a new Chairperson, ESU elected two Vice-Chairpersons: Rok Primozic (Slovenia) and Taina Moisander (Finland) and a new Executive Committee, consisting out of Elizabeth Gehrke (Sweden), Liliya Ivanova (Bulgaria), Nevena Vuksanovic (Serbia), Tinja Zerzer (Austria), Blazhe Todorovski (Macedonia), Fernando M. Galan Palomares (Spain) and Florian Kaiser (Germany).
During the Board Meeting on 22 April, two new full members were accepted by the Board as full members of ESU: SKONUS from Serbia and ASYOU from Azerbaijan. With these two additions, ESU is now the umbrella organisation of 47 national unions of students from 38 European countries.

Ufert concluded: “Budget cuts in education hinder the potential of our societies to progress in sustainable way. Students should call for the right priorities and take a united stand to protect education as a public responsibility and public good. For this we need a stronger union of European students.”

Karina was elected during the 62nd Board Meeting of ESU which takes place from 22 to 24 April in Bucharest. More than 150 participants from 45 national unions of students were present at this meeting.

Biography Karina Ufert
Karina (26, Lithuania) is currently ESU’s Vice-Chair and has been member of ESU’s Executive Committee in 2010-2011. She is finishing her master degree in Social Sciences at the Vilnius University. Karina has been very active on civil society work since 2007 when she became involved in Council of Europe activities on democratic participation of young people and in her involvement also in the European Youth Forum as a trainer. Before joining ESU, she served as a Vice-Chairperson at LSS, one of ESU’s Lithuanian members. Her work now includes the management of the ESU Secretariat and ESU’s work around policies of the European Union in higher education.

–END–

For more information, please contact:
Karina Ufert; Chairperson-elect: +32473669892 or Karina@esu-online.org

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