European Student Assembly: Students shape the future of Europe

Vom 31. Mai bis 2. Juni 2023 fand im Europäischen Parlament in Straßburg die European Student Assembly (ESA) statt. Mehr als 230 Studierende aus den meisten europäischen Hochschulallianzen kamen zusammen, um aktuelle Themen zu diskutieren und politische Empfehlungen für die Zukunft Europas zu erarbeiten.

From 31 May until 2 June 2023 the European Student Assembly (ESA) took place in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. More than 230 students from most European University Alliances were gathered to debate current issues and draft political recommendations for the future of Europe.

The aim of the ESA is to give students a voice to influence the panel's issues, to engage them in policy discussions and to empower them to contribute ways of shaping the European Union. One of the participants as part of the European University ENGAGE.EU was David Avagian who studies in the political science master's programme at the University of Mannheim. In a review, he shared his experience at the ESA 2023, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of the event and the importance of networking with participants from diverse backgrounds.

For the event students from different academic backgrounds came together to form panels, work collaboratively online, and develop policy recommendations over a two-month period. As a student of political science David was immediately intrigued by the offer and took the opportunity to participate.

The event itself was divided in two parts: First there were online meetings among the participants for two months. The students were divided in ten panels and once a week they met in each panel with two coordinators. David was in panel ten which centred around the skills gap in European higher education. The participants had to self-organize and discuss on what to focus on in smaller groups. They had expert meetings, were free on how to frame the question and had special training sessions on writing policies.

„The coordinators played a crucial role in helping us organize during the online event, because participants came from different universities, each with their own schedules. The question was that there is a skills gap in the European Union. Members of the European Parliament are interested in this issue and are doing research and proposing some policy drafts that could theoretically encourage the European Parliament to address this issue”, explains David.

The second part was the event in Strasbourg in the European Parliament. Over three days the students had the unique opportunity to engage with policymakers and participate in lively discussions about current policies. „I was really surprised when students were given the opportunity to ask questions directly to representatives from prominent political parties“, David says. „There were heated discussions as the politicians started arguments which was a great experience. And a big advantage: everything takes place in English. When a political debate takes place in Germany, it is usually in the local language. Unfortunately, my German is not that good. So especially for international students I would recommend this event.“

Contrary to his expectations, the composition of the participants was very interdisciplinary – not only students of political science, sociology or law were present, but also engineers and people with technical expertise, which enriched the discussions and offered different perspectives on the panels. In the end the students had to vote on which of the proposed policy recommendations to pass on to the parliament.

In addition, the European University Alliances were also represented. This gave them the opportunity to get an idea where the students placed the emphasis in the different panels. “It was really great to see that the alliances are a functioning and active part of the higher education landscape”, David concludes. “Students do know, that they are part of it and that they benefit from the possibilities of the alliances at large. Overall I enjoyed it very much to meet real world members of the Parliament and meeting nice students from all round Europe.”