On 1 and 2 June, the members of the Student Forum of the ENHANCE Alliance met in Trondheim for a two-day meeting organised by the student representatives from NTNU. This year in-presence edition of the Student Forum’s meeting was the opportunity to include the new ENHANCE universities for the first time and to elect two new co-chairs for the body in charge of bringing the voices of around 290.000 students to the table.
A Student Forum looking towards the future!
9 student representatives were present in Trondheim, representing NTNU, ETH Zurich, Gdansk Tech, and PoliMi, with some participants from other partner universities joining online from time to time. As the students’ body, the Student Forum has been going through a lot of changes during the past few months, and the members, old and new, are now in a situation where they need to define their objectives and goals for the future. The question of the Student Forum’s role and what its members want to achieve within the ENHANCE Alliance was the main topic of the meeting in Trondheim. The in-presence gathering was also a great opportunity for the students to meet and learn to know each other, something they pointed out as very important for them to be able to work well together.
As the Alliance is facing its future, the Student Forum is asked to work on its own definition and role to set a clear path for the months and years to come. The meeting in Trondheim was the occasion for the students to exchange about the different possibilities. During a first day organised like a workshop, the students talked about the importance and identify of the Student Forum and its position within the ENHANCE Alliance. The main idea was to reach a consensus that would then help shape their group to increase their impact and their participation in ENHANCE activities. The discussion of the second day allowed the representatives to reflect on the leadership of the Student Forum and the repartition of the various tasks to be more efficient in the future.
Two new co-chairs to lead an ambitious Student Forum!
These very interesting discussions between motivated students ended up with a lot of ideas and visions that the Student Forum will work on and implement later this year. They need time to put in place all the things they mentioned, but from writing bylaws to distribute the work more evenly between members, their plan seems set and their will to achieve their goal well established. The representatives truly put the stress on the importance of communication and continuity among them, two notions they will keep working on until they reach a seamless, easy situation where everyone finds their place and where the Student Forum shows its importance within the ENHANCE Alliance.
On the second day, the students also organised an online vote to elect two new co-chairs. Among the three candidates, Kristian Wiulsrød from NTNU and Mateusz Kaska from WUT, who attended online, were elected, with a slightly higher amount of votes than Bart van Koevering, from TU Delft. “I am looking forward to working more with the ENHANCE representatives, together with Mateusz!” Kristian said enthusiastically. Mateusz added that he “cannot wait to start working towards making the whole Alliance feel closer together!” They will both work closely with the operational side of ENHANCE and they will have the opportunity to represent the students in the Board of Directors’ meetings.
The ENHANCE Alliance congratulates the two new co-chairs and all the members of the Student Forum for their reflection and bright ideas and ambitions. Their enthusiasm will surely bring new perspectives for the future of this students’ body!
