Interview with Eva Ntovolou, President of Erasmus Student Network 2010/2011

Interview with Eva Ntovolou, President of the Erasmus Student Network 2010 – 2011

What are the biggest achievements of the Erasmus Student Network during your mandate?

I am very happy to say that ESN has grown significantly throughout the year not only in numbers but also in terms of services to the international students and advocacy for their rights on the pan-European level.  As biggest achievements I would mention the acquisition of three new countries in our network, the development of internal structures and procedures that will make our work more efficient as well as the better financial sustainability of the network. ESN this year has been more active than ever in policy making and in supporting mobility in Higher Education in Europe. I am proud to say that we took part in the Expert Group formed by the Commission to discuss the proposal for the Erasmus Programme Post-2013 and our suggestions were very much taken into consideration. It is of no surprise that our efforts to improve international mobility and its recognition have brought results, increasing the percentage of recognition of courses taken abroad to almost 75%. Last but not least, we are pleased to see projects such as SocialErasmus and ExchangeAbility receiving official acknowledgements and support by the European Commission and the European Parliament.

What are the main challenges that ESN will face in the future?

As you have probably heard from the very recent news regarding the next Multi-Annual Financial Framework mobility in Education is one of the main goals of the European Union. As the Erasmus Programme has been one of the main successes of the EU worldwide it is predicted that it will keep growing, giving the possibility to double the number of students who are mobile at the moment. I believe that ESN will have to strengthen even more its position and its network so that we can better provide our services to the increasing international students. And of course one of the things that we need to stress out is that the Erasmus programme is not only the solution to times of financial austerity but first and foremost the way to build the European Citizenship and promote the feeling of belongingness to Europe.

What are the main challenges in the field of mobility in Higher Education nowadays?

There are quite a few challenges that make our work in the field interesting. First of all this year we witnessed a record in the numbers of Erasmus students combined with a record of the lowest grant average ever provided to them. ESN believes that more money should be invested in Education and Mobility in particular. A very sensitive issue that sometimes is not addressed directly is also the one of Visas and free mobility of students around Europe. It seems to us a bit of an irony to try to increase numbers without trying to address certain problems at its roots. And of course we should not forget the issue of recognition of courses taken abroad which even though has significantly developed still has room for improvement and still forms a criterion for the success of the Bologna Process.

What will remain as the best memory of this year?

My best memory of this year is the collaboration with my fellow Board Members, Joachim Wyssling as Vice President, Damien Lamy-Preto as Treasurer, Marco La Rosa as Communication Manager and Rania Chantzopoulou as Web Project Administrator. Each one of them is very skilled at their own field and I believe that together we made many things happen and we pushed the network forward. I will never forget the support and gratitude that we all experienced directly from our member organisations during our Annual General Meeting in Budapest.
 

Find attached the press kit in which the Interview was presented.

Attachments
ESN-Press-kit-press-conference-13th-July-2011.pdf ESN-Press-kit-press-conference-13th-July-2011.pdf (194.75 KB)