Vienna this week!

Well after a week off I am certainly back into the grind of stuff again! I am off to an ESU event in Vienna, where I will be chairing a workshop on student campaigning and mobilisation - I am looking forward to that quite a lot! Of course I have managed to double book myself for an event this week but thankfully our Equality Officer will be able to step in to talk about integration of International students at a conference in NUIM.


Its only a few weeks to congress so we will be getting ready for that, I hope that we may even have a new Bilateral agreement to pass through our congress national council.

Back to Vienna, its a big week in terms of Bologna and the implementation of it on a pan European scale. Below is the statement from ESU regarding the situation:

European Student Summit 2010 (ESS2010)
Statement towards the Anniversary Bologna Ministerial Conference in Budapest and Vienna

The European Students’ Union, representing 11 million students, believes that the Bologna process has reached some of its goals, but is far from attaining the aim of building a functional European Higher Education Area (EHEA) by 2010. A follow up to the Lisbon Strategy has recently been launched under the flagship of ‘Europe 2020’. In both processes we stand at a critical point. Unless concrete and immediate action is taken, the tension between the two processes will increase, obstructing both from reaching their distinct aims. The Bologna Process should be the foundation for EU initiatives on Higher Education, thereby avoiding the creation of parallel conflicting agendas.

The Bologna process has created both a spirit of exchange between stakeholders and raised awareness of the ideal of student participation throughout Europe. Stakeholder participation is a fundamental factor in the quality-enhancement of higher education provision within the EHEA.

Bologna challenges

Á la carte implementation
The implementation of some of the action lines has been superficial and incorrect. Others in some national contexts have not been implemented at all. All Bologna action lines must be implemented concurrently, in order to avoid the creation of a dysfunctional and socially unjust EHEA. The current situation shows that if this does not occur, the result will be detrimental for the students and the entire academic community invested in the engagement of the Bologna Process.

The Bologna Process has been the scapegoat for ill-advised reforms under the guise of the implementation of action lines, when in fact those reforms only suited the priorities of the national governments. An example of this can be seen in some national contexts, where tuition fees have been implemented or student participation has been reduced, under the pretext of the Bologna Process. Consequently there is great confusion over what is actually ‘Bologna’. Due to this, there is no doubt that further implementation is unlikely to be broadly supported by the students, staff and leaders of higher education institutions.


A Viennese Waltz in search of rhythm

Each of the 46 Bologna countries had different starting points and priorities for the implementation process, resulting in disparity between the signatory states. Bologna with Student Eyes surveys show that in not one Bologna signatory have all of the action lines been correctly implemented. National Bologna agendas can endanger the realisation of Bologna goals, hindering the effective engagement of other countries in Bologna implementation due to a genuine loss of belief in the process.
Collectively the EHEA states ought to be concentrating on the achievement of a European dimension through true implementation of the Bologna Process, rather than increasing the attractiveness of individual countries for foreign students. It is only this cooperation that will result in higher education institutions reaching their targets and maintaining their societal value as a whole.

Higher Education: A right, a public good and a public responsibility
Addressing higher education as a competitive market creates significant barriers to realising the Bologna social dimension goal. The student body entering, participating in and completing higher education, at all levels, should reflect the diversity of national populations. This makes the social dimension one of our main priorities and a significant Bologna challenge for the next decade. ESU believes that overcoming this challenge would result in a quality higher education for all, reached through the full implementation of national strategies, with consolidated internal and external quality assurance systems.


Mobility

For the past 10 years, the Bologna Process has been a driver for academically meaningful mobility. In spite of this, several problems persist. For both personal and professional development, mobility is an enriching experience for students and academic staff and should not merely be a national tool for economic interests. ESU restates its commitment to the increase and diversification of the mobile student population. We urge governments to remove obstacles currently in place, so that 20% of graduates are mobile within the EHEA by 2020.

Student-centred learning

Student-centred learning has to be at the heart of the future Bologna Process implementation. From curricula reform, to innovative pedagogies and from student support to student participation, quality assured support is imperative for the realisation of the full potential of each student. Accomplishing this paradigm shift is the actual finish line of the Bologna Process in students’ eyes.

The Student voice

Students have always been constructively critical and active partners in the creation of a European Higher Education Area. The Bologna Process would not be the same today without student participation. Moreover, recent student protests have shown that the Bologna Process is far from reaching its intended goals. We, as European student representatives, stand in solidarity with all students fighting for a student-centred European Higher Education Area. What we celebrate in Vienna is the student contribution to the Bologna Process, but ESU believes that much remains to be done before students are able to reap the benefits of the Bologna Process. We urge ministers responsible for higher education to commit to:

Supporting the aims of the Bologna Process, whilst not allowing for further confusion regarding the main goals and tools of the process. This is especially important when looking at the parallel agendas being launched at the same time as the EHEA, such as the EU2020.

Holistic, In-depth and financially supported continued implementation of all Bologna action lines, with a special focus on the social dimension, mobility and student-centred learning.

Inter-governmental solidarity, to overcome the ill-effects of the ‘two-speed’ Bologna implementation, rather than an excessive focus on the individual promotion of national higher education systems.

Full student participation in all decision-making structures at national, regional and institutional levels.

It is only through the full commitment of both governments and stakeholders that we can hope for the establishment of an European Higher Education Area, representing more in ten years’ time than just the memory of a celebration.

The end of a good week....

Well it’s been a pretty decent week. I’m delighted that NUI Maynooth students have taken the wise decision to rejoin the national organisation. I am looking forward to formally welcoming NUIM SU back into the fold. Well over 70% decided that USI was worth joining and I think this is a particularly impressive figure given the amount of misunderstanding of what USI does and the negative campaigning from the no to USI side.

Having NUIM back in the fold will strengthen USI standing on a national scale and ensure that some new voices will be heard in our policy decisions.

We also had our Lobby of the Oireachtas on Thursday. Again another good turnout from the members of the Oireachtas with just over 100 coming over to see us. It was a long day – with us running from 8am to 6pm. As always Mary Upton was the first one in, we also had some of the newest senators visit us – James Carroll and Niall O’Brolchain. NUIG, WIT, IADT, Carlow IT and Tralee IT brought students to talk with the politicians and we had student unions from UCC, UCD, DIT and TCD present. All in all it was a positive day and after meeting with the department of education on Monday I am hopeful of getting the Student Support Bill back onto the agenda soon.

I am writing this on a bus from Dublin back to Galway where I will be having a bit of a birthday bash and I am looking forward to taking some annual leave next week!

A Defining Week?

Well this week looks like its shaping up to being one of the defining weeks of USI 2009 - 2010.

Two major events this week, the NUIM Affiliation Referendum and the Lobby of the Oireachtas. Details of each can be found on www.usi.ie.

The NUIM Referendum is on Wednesday 24th and here the students of Maynooth are being asked two questions, whether they want to re-join USI and whether they wish to have another referendum in three years to decide whether they want to stay in USI, should they choose yes for the first question.

Dan has been on the ground in Maynooth for almost a week now and we also have a cohort of Maynooth students helping out. USI officerboard will be taking to the campus on Monday, Tuesday and a big push on the Wednesday.

Here is hoping it goes well!

The second big event this week is the Lobby. This lobby, the second of our term so far, will focus solely on the grant and back to education allowance. It is 24 months since the student support bill was published. It is unnacceptable that there has been such a delay and that is why, as part of our campaign to get it back on track, we are hosting this lobby.

The thousands of students affected this year should send warning signals to policy makers and politicians as this will only get worse over the coming years unless we address the meltdown in the grant system.

We also have to ask why those on the back to education allowance will no longer be able to recieve the grant. A cut that only affects mature students.

I will be going to the department of education on monday for discussions on the bill and this will kick off - what I hope is our final big push - for the student support bill and reform in the grant system.

So another big week for us in USI and its also my birthday this week so sounds like a hectic week already!

SHAG Week is apon us again!

Well it is here! SHAG week has arrived, it’s been a long time coming - when you consider our offices were full of boxes of condoms, lube, envelopes etc!

So the launch happened today in the busy and boisterous Bolton street campus of DIT. The launch ad a good mix of students, media and student union officers and was a really great way to launch the flagship event of USI’s calendar.

As I pointed out today, USI officers used to get arrested for giving out condoms – now we have a week dedicated to sex and giving out almost 50,000 condoms to students. Of course the week is called SHAG week but this stands for Sexual Health and Guidance Week, so there is much emphasis on education and guidance as part of the overall campaign.

This week promises to be another busy week. Lots of media done today as regards the delay in grants and this is an issue that we are working hard to address in HQ at the moment.

Stay tuned for more information!

Student Services Charge - what is it funding??

Today was an interesting day, lots on my plate, SHAG week stuff to finalise, and Officerboard dinner, Quality documents, reaffiliation documents, mid year interm reports, grant queries, media enquiries re the esri reports, contacting politicians, reviewing the nus-usi bilateral agreement - just your general day as USI president!

But today the University heads, the IUA heand and the head of the HEA were up in front of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education. I will post the transcript of this presentation once it is ready but it was a very interesting event!

From what transpired today it was very evident that the reg fee is being used to supplement the core grant - it has become a tuition fee.

I'm sure more will be said about this over the coming days and it will be interesting to see what the response of the Minister will be to what transpired today.

Tomorrow I am off to an event in Aras an Uachtarain so I am looking forward to that!

Another brief update!

It was a busy week last week and looks like being a busy week again this week (and next week too!). With the launch of the ESRI reports tomorrow we have been busy in the office formulating a response and also the University presidents are in front of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education on Thursday so we await what will be said at that. I will also be meeting more members of the Oireachtas on Wednesday and on Friday the day will centre around a visit to Aras an Uachtaran!

The Activist Academy held in Athlone last week was a big success. I hope that USI is able to grow the event over the coming years as it is a very useful tool for student unions and students alike.

http://gplay.ipowow.com/player?v=mwhsrVfS3ec&w=480&h=390

Please visit this link and vote and have your say. This is a new departure for us here at USI. This is the first time we have used online interactice polling/voting technology and it is a great tool for us and allows us instant access to opinion.

Dublin as an International Student City

Today I was on at panel discussing Dublin as an International Student City help by the Dublin Mayor. It was a good event and I was impressed with Shelia Power, the head of ICOS, who it would appear think along the same lines as myself! While my background knowledge on international students I was very fortunate to have some excellent documents, available from the USI website (www.usi.ie) created by the USI Equality Officer, Linda Kelly, as part of that campaign.

I really do hope that some 'outside the box thinking' is done before any decisions or plans are made on creating Dublin as an international student city. These international students should not be solely there as a 'cash cow' for the educational institutions as these students will need integration and will ultimately require the educational institutions to provide services for them.

Also much needed discussion needs to happen before a long term view and plan is made about the role of international students in both education and wider society. We must recognise that events like this may happen http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/we-will-not-tolerate-attack-on-indian-students-australian-minister_100284439.html and it is imperative that we focus on proper integration and ask both international students and Irish students how to achieve this. We must also ask the wider community for their views.

For every 100 international students in Dublin about 17 jobs are created as a direct result according to a panellist today and this is an impressive figure that should be noted given we are in the depths of a recession. It is also imperative that the Quality Mark is realised immediately to ensure that rouge educational institutes, in particular some English language Schools, which do not have the students at the centre and provide shoddy service and education should be closed down.

Looking forward to reading the report when its finished and here's hoping that all involved in the educational sector gets this right.