National Unions of Students in Europe

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ESIB - The National Unions of Students in Europe
Logo
Office	Brussels, Belgium
Founded in	1982
Members	46 (35 Countries)
Working Language	English
Chairperson	Koen Geven (Netherlands)
Executive Members	Maria Noleyrds (Sweden) Anela Beso (Slovenia) Bartłomiej Banaszak (Poland) Lara Lena Tischler (Switzerland) Matthew Tabone (Malta) Viorel Protesa (Romania)

National Unions of Students in Europe - formerly the European Student Information Bureau and still known also as ESIB - is the umbrella organisation of 46 national unions of students from 35 countries and through these members represent over 10 million students The aim of ESIB is to represent and promote the educational, social, economic and cultural interests of students at a European level towards all relevant bodies and in particular the European Union, Council of Europe and UNESCO. ESIB are full members of the European Youth Forum (YFJ), the ESIB nominee for 2006 was elected the president of the YFJ

1 History
2 Structures
3 Full members
4 Consultative members
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

On the 17th October 1982 seven NUSes (Norway, United Kingdom, Sweden, Iceland, France, Denmark and Austria) gathered together in Stockholm to create WESIB, the Western European Students Information Bureau. In February 1990 WESIB dropped the “W” to become the European Student Information Bureau following the political upheaval in Europe at the time. The in 1992 the name changed for the final time to ESIB – the National Unions of Students in Europe in recognition of the changing mission of ESIB to change from just an information sharing organisation to becoming a political organisation that represented the views of students to European institutions. Over the years the office of ESIB has moved around Europe being hosted by the member NUSes. Following the establishment of WESIB in Stockholm the office was based in the SFS Office in Sweden from 1982 until 1985 funded by a grant by the Swedish Government. By 1985 the Grant was running low and so NUS UK offered to host WESIB in their London headquarters. In 1988 the office moved to the ÖH offices in Vienna and remained there until 2000, when it was decided that for reasons of being near the European institutions the office should move to Brussels and was hosted by VVS.

[edit] Structures

The highest structure of ESIB is the Board Meeting, bringing together representatives from all the National Unions of Students it represents. The Board Meeting sets the policy direction of the organisation, and elects members to see to run the organisation. There are currently 22 elected members, formed into an executive committee and three content committees:

Executive Committee Responsible for the political direction, day-to-day running and overall responsibility for the organisation, the Executive Committee is composed of a chair, and customarily 6 members. It works according to a workplan (as with all other structures) which is set by the board meeting, and is accountable to the Board Meeting for its implementation.

Bologna Process Committee Set up in the wake of the Prague Ministerial Meeting of Education Ministers in 2001, the Bologna Process Committee (then known as the COP - Committee on Prague), deals with ESIB's involvement in the Bologna Process, including actively participating within the working groups of the process and authoring publications, most notably the biannual 'Bologna with Student Eyes'.

Committee on the Commodification of Education Originally set up to deal with the effect of GATS on education and the effects of private transnational education providers on Higher Education, this committee has expanded its scope to cover all issues related to Higher Education and the economy. Thus, its work includes effects of the European Union's Lisbon Agenda, research issues such as Intellectual Property as well as monitoring of various developments such as the Bolkestein Directive, the European Institute of Technology and GATS.

Gender Equality Committee Elected for the first time in 2006, the Gender Equality deals mainly with the concept of gender mainstreaming, ensuring that gender issues are integrated within the daily policies of the organisation as well as looking at gender aspects to European Higher Education policy in general.

[edit] Full members

Austrian National Union of Students (ÖH)
Belarusian Students' Association (BSA)
Federation of French-speaking Students in Belgium (FEF)
Flemish Union of Students (VVS)
Student Association of the Federation of Bosnia and Hezegovina (SAFBiH)
Student Union of Republika Srpska (SURS)
National Assembly of Student’s Councils in the Republic of Bulgaria (ASC)
Union of Bulgarian Students (UBS)
Croatian Student's Council (CSC)
Croatian Student Union (CSU)
Pancyprian Federation of Student Unions (POFNE)
Czech Students' Chamber of the Council of Universities (SK RVŠ)
Danish National Union of Students (DSF)
Federation of Estonian Student Unions (FESU)
The Union of Finnish Polytechnic Students (SAMOK)
National Union of Students in Finland (SYL)
Federation of General Students Associations in France (Fage)
National Union of Students of France (UNEF)
National Union of Students in Germany (fzs)
National Union of Students in Hungary (HÖOK)
Association of Icelandic Students in Occupational Universities (BÍSN)
Student Council of the University of Iceland (SHÍ)
Union of Students in Ireland (USI)
National Union of Italian University Students (UdU)
Latvia Students' Union (LSA)
Lithuanian National Union of Students (LSS)
Lithuanian National Union of Student Representations (LSAS) (Candidate as of 2005)
National Union of Students in Luxembourg (UNEL)
National Student Union of Macedonia (NSUM)
Maltese National Student Union (KSU)
Dutch National Students Association (ISO)
Dutch National Union of Students (LSVb)
National Union of Students in Norway (NSU)
Norwegian Association of Students (StL)
Students' Parliament of Poland (PSRP)
Polish Students Association (ZSP)
Academic Forum for Information and External Information in Portugal (FAIRe)
National Alliance of Student Organizations in Romania (ANOSR)
Student Union of Serbia (SUS)
University Student Council of the Slovak Republic (ŠRVŠ)
Slovene Student Union (SSU)
Coordination of Student Representatives of Public Universities (CREUP) (Candidate as of 2005)
Swedish National Union of Students (SFS)
National Union of Students in Switzerland (VSS-UNES-USU)
National Union of Students of the United Kingdom (NUS)