The Eastern Partnership countries will cooperate in developing student self-government at national and regional levels. At the same tome, effort should be made at national level to develop and strengthen student self-government. The issue was developed in the Eastern Partnership student self-government forum organized by the Eastern Partnership Youth Regional Unit (EPYRU), which is financed by the European Union in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sport, IPN reports.
In the forum, representatives of the central public authorities and national student self-government bodies of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine exchanged experience concerning the statuses and functioning of student self-government bodies and identified common points and the specific features of the participating states. There were discussed the encountered difficulties, including the juridical status of the student organizations of universities. It was agreed that the exchange of experience between the national student bodies of the participating countries will be intensified.
EPYRU international expert Karina Ufert said the student self-governments are created to deal with problems faced by students. She presented the good practice and experience of the EU states in this respect.
The participants in the forum underlined that the reforms in this field are very important, but the mentality should be changed. Additional effort in the EaP states is needed to reach the level of democracy and attitude towards student participation existing in the EU, where the students are listened to. Student self-government is important because every generation of students comes with new approaches and proposals for improving things.
Deputy Minister of Youth and Sport Dragos Hancu stated that the student self-government situation in Moldova is satisfactory. There are universities that have such bodies, while in others such bodies are in the process of formation. The existence of these bodies is important in Moldova as they defend students’ interests and rights. “This forum is welcome because it can enrich our experience. We can also share our experience and are interested in the good practices of the participating states,” he said.
Head of the Ministry’s Youth Division Ion Donea noted that the students’ opinion counts a lot in every institution, either the students pronounce on administrative decisions taken in universities or on the curriculum, conditions in dorms and other issues. So, the role of the student self-government is to involve more students in the decision-making process, alongside the administration of Moldovan universities.
The proposals formulated within the forum concern the establishment of cooperation between student self-government bodies of the EaP countries for exchanging information on the state of affairs in the student organizations, positive practices and methods of student participation in the education process in universities. There was discussed the possibility of staging an international meeting between student self-government bodies in 2015 so as to exchange information and establish cooperation between the participants from the EaP states.
