Mahindra Seminar on Universities: Past, Present and Future at Harvard University:
Student impact on higher education globally - perspectives from leaders of regional student union federations and the Global Student Forum
Date: Monday, June 14, 2021, 12:30pm to 2:00pm via Zoom.
View the recording of this webinar here.
The event is endorsed by Weatherhead Research Cluster on Comparative Inequality and Inclusion .
Students have for centuries organized into a variety of representative institutions - unions, guilds, councils - which defend and represent their collective interests. Today, student unions are distinct political institutions which function in every higher education system. Institution-based student unions associate into national unions and these further associate into regional student union federations. Student unions are the single most important mechanism of student impact on higher education. While organizational models of student unions and modes of student representation share many common characteristics worldwide, there are also notable regional and national variations.
This seminar reflected on the commonalities and differences in student unionism globally: What are the organizational characteristics of student unions? How are students represented in higher education governance? What impact students have on higher education and how this might be changing? The seminar brings together the the distinguished student leaders of the All-Africa Students Union (AASU), Commonwealth Students’ Association (CSA), European Students’ Union (ESU), Organización Continental Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Estudiantes (OCLAE), as well as the Global Student Forum (GSF) which these four regional student federations jointly founded.
Panelists:
Peter Kwasi Kodjie, Secretary General of the All-Africa Students Union (AASU)
Sebastian Berger, Executive Director of the Global Student Forum (GSF)
Martina Darmanin, President of the European Students’ Union (ESU)
Musarrat Maisha Reza, Chairperson of the Commonwealth Students’ Association (CSA)
Bianca Borges dos Santos, Member of the Executive Secretariat of the Organización Continental Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Estudiantes (OCLAE)
Introductory remarks and moderated by Manja Klemenčič, Lecturer on Sociology and Lecturer in General Education, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University