"Students really contributed to the extraordinary ambition and unique vision that characterizes YUFE"

“Since the very beginning, students have had a central role in the development of YUFE. We all know the classic participation structures at our universities, but the involvement of students in the project went much further. Students were not merely participating in, but actually co-leading and –creating the proposal. During the proposal phase, all working groups had a student as co-chair and were closely involved in all decision-making and refinement of ideas. It is fair to say that students really contributed to the extraordinary ambition and unique vision that characterizes YUFE.  

As of the Town Hall meeting in Cyprus in October, the student representatives have constituted the first-ever official “YUFE Student Forum” with a Board for daily governance. The Student Forum consists of three students per participating university in the alliance. This group of representatives is coordinated by a Board, including a President, Vice-President, Secretary, External Relations, and Treasurer. These five students are responsible for the daily governance of the Student Forum and will oversee the preparations and follow-up of the meetings of the Forum. On top of that, the President and Vice-President hold the great duty of representing the students at the YUFE Strategy Board, the highest decision-making body within the alliance.

The Student Forum’s purpose is to guarantee a permanent flow of input from a student’s perspective in the further realization of the project. This input is first of all generated via the participation of all Student Forum members in the Working Packages. The Student Forum will collectively keep an overview of the general development of the project’s ambitions, by developing opinions for relevant matters from a student’s perspective. Moreover, the Student Forum will take initiative to introduce yearly a fresh topic the students would like to work on. With this combination of participation in the Working Packages and the autonomous space for developing fresh and ambitious goals, the Student Forum will guarantee an omnipresent student-centered vision throughout the whole project of YUFE.”

Anthony Longa,
University of Antwerp
President of the Board of the YUFE Student Forum