Fourteen RUN-EU students will attend the Inaugural Session of the European Student Assembly (ESA) held at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 3 and 4 March. This high-level conference will gather around 200 student representatives designated from all European University alliances out of 800 eligible applications.

Organised in partnership with the European Parliament and the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU), the ESA will be the first event gathering students from almost all European Universities.

Divided into subgroups, students will work on some of the most urgent and complex challenges the EU faces today, such as democracy, cybersecurity, sustainability and migration. The ESA will then make their voices heard in the EU, by submitting a common position paper with their policy recommendations to European institutions and policymakers within the framework of the Conference on the Future of Europe. Experts and public figures will also be invited to join the debates.

The Inaugural session of the ESA is one of the main activities of the European Universities Community, a project initiated by students from European University alliances who want to give all European students a voice at the Conference on the Future of Europe.

Due to the financial support of the French-German University and the Conférence des Présidents des Universités, organisers will be able to provide participants with accommodation and meals during the whole duration of the event. Students will also be offered a private visit to the European Parliament and a meeting at the Strasbourg University Aula, where the first meeting of the Council of Europe took place in January 1951.

RUN-EU will also support the 14 students attending the event with travel expenses.

For more information, contact your university’s international mobility office.