The third edition of the Mediterranean Student Summit, organised by ESN (Erasmus Student Network International) and UNIMED, took place at the University of Palermo, Italy, from 26th to 28th September 2024.
23 students from 8 UNIMED countries, namely Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Italy, Spain, plus 2 students from Ukraine and Ghana (respectively representatives of ESN Ukraine and of All-Africa Students Union – AASU) had the chance to work together and to reflect on how to become an active student and to invest in their international dimension.
Indeed, one of the main aims of the Summit was exploring the ways to engage in the university life, to become an interlocutor of the university administration, to sensitise peer students to join forces to create a change within the university aiming at making a change in the society. Students talked about their challenges, as students, to be heard and considered as they would like to, they shared their university practices and tools, in terms of representation, of internationalisation at home, of welcoming and networking with international students, of joint international activities. They proposed solutions in order to encourage student motivation to become active in the university, to improve the communication on student engagement, to make it more accessible and inclusive, to improve the governance dimension by recognizing and valorising the student engagement.
Alternating the three days of Summit with plenary sessions and working group sessions, the event provided the field for dialogue and intercultural exchanges among peers and with stakeholders. Keynote speech and interviews to the Union for the Mediterranean representatives in charge of Higher Education and Research and namely Joan Borrell, Deputy Secretary General and João Lobo – Project Analyst and UNIMED President and Vice President for International and External Affairs at An-Najah National University, Dr Kherieh Rassas, enriched the discussions making students more aware of their role and responsibilities. This allowed students to share their ideas and reshape the cooperation in the region. The Mediterranean Student Summit was an invaluable opportunity to to identify the common challenges that affect the Mediterranean region and to envisage solutions. The students will continue the MSS online and meet again to draft the final recommendations to be addressed to the stakeholders.
The Summit has benefited from the financial support of many partners: the Union for the Mediterranean, the European Investment Bank Institute, Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme and the contribution of the European universities which sponsored their selected students and the fundamental support from the hosting university, the University of Palermo.
