What do Linnea, Henry, Krestina, Arnaud, Emylie, Youcef, Lærke, Nick, Julia, Nikola and Emil have in common? They were elected to represent the students of their respective universities, and as such, on 21-22 October 2019, were on the UCLouvain campus in Louvain-la-Neuve for the first Circle U. student seminar. The purpose was to gain a student perspective on the work already done by the coordination group and following previous meetings in Paris with administrative staff and in Oslo with academic staff.
On the agenda for these two days: exchanges, workshops, sharing, and, of course, fun moments ‘à la belge’. Demonstrating great interest and commitment, students were able to share what is important to them, including the sustainable and inclusive aspects of mobility. Both altogether and in separate groups, they reflected on solutions and proposals to foster the involvement of students within Circle U., and imagined the future of European higher education. All to create a Circle U. student experience with real added value!
“The students have shown us that they want to be stakeholders in the project and have given us very detailed and constructive recommendations. I look forward to continuing to work with these representatives of the new generation of citizens that Circle U. wants to train. ” Dana Samson, international protector.
All student representatives could attend thanks to Mr Beam, Louvain Learning Lab’s teleconferencing robot. Emil and Nikola, two Belgrade University students who couldn’t make the trip, were able to take part in discussions through this innovative device used by UCLouvain professors and researchers.
The next step for Circle U.? The integration of the comments from the three seminars (student, administrative and academic) into the writing of the Circle U. project, which will be submitted to the European Commission in February 2020.