Student Empowerment

University of Helsinki is leading the Una Europa's Work Package for a Student-Centered European Campus.

Una Europa is committed to putting students in the driving seat of their collaboration and joint efforts. This commitment is reflected in their work package for a student-centered European campus. The goal of this work package is to support the development of Una Europa's vision and action plan for the Una Europa student experience, as well as involving students as active co-creators in their project of building the university of the future.

Steps to Empower Students

Empowering students is at the core of Una Europa's vision for the future. By systematically engaging students in the development of their alliance, Una Europa enhances the quality of all aspects of their collaboration and increases the attractiveness of their alliance and partner universities. Through this work package for a student-centered European campus, Una Europa is laying the foundation for a new era of student-led, collaborative learning and growth.

The work package has five main goals.

The first is to design the student-centered European campus and the Una Europa student experience. This will include a holistic view of student life, well-being, and future skills.

We will develop a strategy for supporting students throughout their student career and into their working life.

The second goal is to define structures for involving students in decision-making and implementation. Students will be represented in decision-making bodies through the sustainability work package. In addition, students can be involved in the project as advisors and co-creators in project teams, as independent creators in student-led activities, and as fellows in the Future UniLab.

The third goal is to develop Una Europa Student Paths as concepts of student opportunities. This will involve defining the ways of student engagement within Una Europa and the project, including students as decision-makers, co-creators and fellows, and participants in Una Europa activities and education.

We will provide onboarding activities and formal recognition of students' input and skills gained.

The fourth goal is to facilitate student-led activities. This will include providing staff support for the Student Board and the Local Student Task Forces, organizing an annual Student Congress and Una Challenge, and facilitating a Student Project Incubator with staff and budget to support implementation of bottom-up activities by international, multidisciplinary student teams.

We will also create an Una Europa Student Award to raise visibility and give recognition to student achievement.

The fifth and final goal is to raise the profile of student contribution in Una Europa. This work package will collaborate closely with the work package on Community Building, Outreach, and Dissemination to engage the broader student community in Una Europa and attract students to participate in Una Europa activities.

We will develop a communication strategy tailored to suit the interests of students.

Actors involved in this work package include the Una Europa Student Board, Local Student Task Forces, Local student organizations, and Local student bodies. Together, Una Europa and its students will create scalable models and paths for student engagement in international educational collaboration, that are applicable also across and beyond the partner universities.

Contact

Stinne Vognaes

Project Planning Officer, Work Package Lead

Leading the work package ”Student Empowerment” at Una Europa level, Student engagement​