Overview
Since 20 September 2021 self-declared 'non-commercial organisations' are no longer required to provide a lobby budget. See above timeline for this registrant's historical lobby budget.
Lobbying Costs
None declared
Financial year: Jan 2023 - Dec 2023
Lobbyists (Full time equivalent)
3.6 Fte (6)
Lobbyists with EP accreditation
3
High-level Commission meetings
8
Lobbying Costs over the years
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Info
European Students' Union (ESU)
EU Transparency Register
947001511571-77 First registered on 12 Jul 2013
Goals / Remit
The European Students’ Union (ESU) is the umbrella organisation of 44 national unions of students from 40 European countries. Since 1982, ESU has promoted and represented the educational, social, economic and cultural interests of almost 20 million students to all critical European decision-making bodies. ESU is an influential professional advocacy and capacity-building organisation recognised as an important stakeholder at the European and international levels. Likewise, ESU has also been renowned and respected as a source of expertise on higher education policy at all institutional levels. ESU aims to ensure and strengthen students’ participation and to increase student input into higher education policy and decision-making.
ESU aligns its mission, vision, and objectives with key EU policy priorities. ESU actively contributes to EU objectives, addressing themes like digital transition, green transition, and quality higher education.Main EU files targeted
Mainly, ESU participates and aims to influence the design and implementation of European policy processes and political strategies on education, mainly through the lens of higher education. Over the next three years, the main processes ESU is and will be focusing on are the Bologna Process and the European Higher Education Area, the European Education Area and the European Universities Initiative, the Erasmus+ programme, the European Research Area, the Global Students Forum, Next Generation EU, and the Green and Digital Transitions.
Three main achievements are to be highlighted regarding the external ESU’s work in 2023: Firstly, ESU successfully advocated the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education within the Council of Europe to adopt the creation of a European Students Rights Charter as part of the Education Strategy for 2030, which will be the first ever document of such nature on transnational level and function as a soft power tool for future student generations in promoting and defending their educational rights.
Secondly, within the EU context, ESU has been working intensively in cooperation with the Commission, DG EAC etc. especially on topics such as the European University Alliances, Joint degrees and automatic recognition, supporting the development of these tools through providing constant feedback and ideas on how to advance these initiatives. Thirdly, within the context of the EHEA, ESU as Co-chair of the Social Dimension WG developed indicators for the future monitoring of student social policy as well as members of the WG on Fundamental Values intensively worked on definitions for fundamental values including the writing and negotiation of the definition on Academic Integrity, which will be adopted officially in May 2024. ESU also took the role of co-chair of the Drafting Committee of the Tirana Ministerial Communique, offering a new structural opportunity for furthering students’ voice in transnational governance of higher education.
We conducted research on matters pertaining to academic integrity, academic freedom and quality assurance, and adopted new policy on social dimension, internationalisation and mobility, gender-based violence, education for sustainable development and Artificial intelligence. This has contributed to the knowledge base at European level and feed into policy processes. Apart from that, ESU made some important internal advancements, including the introduction of a digital General Assembly platform and the adoption of the Equity Plan.
In order to increase the outreach of ESU activities, the plan to create the ESU Conference of student bodies of European University Alliances was successfully implemented, and the first meeting took place in Coimbra, Portugal in December 2023, gathering democratically elected student representatives from more than two thirds of the European University Alliances, representing an unique platform for them to share their views and contribute to ESU policy.Address
Head Office
Rue de la Charite 22Mundo Madou
Bruxelles 1210
BELGIUMEU Office
Rue de la Charite 22Mundo Madou
Bruxelles 1210
BELGIUMWebsite
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People
Total lobbyists declared
6
Employment time Lobbyists 100% 3 25% 2 10% 1 Lobbyists (Full time equivalent)
3.6
Lobbyists with EP accreditation
All Lobbyists with EP accreditation over time
3 accreditations were / are live (in bold) for the selected state of 22 Nov 2024
Name Start date End Date Arno Maryse P Schrooyen 22 Jul 2024 22 Jul 2025 Lana Par 22 Jul 2024 22 Jul 2025 Iris KIMIZOGLU 22 Jul 2024 22 Jul 2025 Iris KIMIZOGLU 14 Jul 2023 12 Jul 2024 Tanguy GUIBERT 13 Jul 2023 12 Jul 2024 Horia Serban ONITA 13 Jul 2023 12 Jul 2024 Matteo VESPA 29 Jul 2022 29 Jul 2023 Horia Serban ONITA 28 Jul 2022 13 Jul 2023 Ms Gohar HOVHANNISYAN 15 Jan 2020 01 Sep 2020 Mr Robert NAPIER 03 Sep 2019 01 Sep 2020 Mr Sebastian BERGER 13 Jul 2019 11 Jul 2020 Mr Robert NAPIER 06 Jul 2018 06 Jul 2019 Ms Katrina KOPPEL 06 Jul 2018 06 Jul 2019 Mr Adam GAJEK 09 Jun 2018 08 Jun 2019 Blazhe Todorovski 20 Oct 2016 19 Oct 2017 Lea Christina Meister 20 Oct 2016 19 Oct 2017 Anna WIDEGREN 20 Oct 2016 02 Aug 2017 Ms Liva VIKMANE 20 Oct 2016 19 Oct 2017 Fernando Miguel GALAN PALOMARES 16 Jul 2015 14 Jul 2016 Blazhe Todorovski 28 May 2015 26 May 2016 Lea Christina Meister 28 May 2015 26 May 2016 Alexandra Antonescu 28 May 2015 26 May 2016 Blazhe Todorovski 26 Jun 2014 25 Oct 2014 Fernando Miguel GALAN PALOMARES 26 Jun 2014 24 Jun 2015 Ms Elisabeth Gehrke 26 Jun 2014 24 Jun 2015 Mr Robert Baldursson 26 Jun 2014 27 May 2015 Erin Nordal 26 Jun 2014 24 Jun 2015 Eleni Boulomyti 14 Mar 2014 12 Feb 2015 Blazhe Todorovski 11 Mar 2014 26 Jun 2014 Erin Nordal 01 Mar 2014 26 Jun 2014 Mr Rok Primozic 06 Sep 2013 05 Jul 2014 Ms Elin Blomqvist 06 Sep 2013 05 Jul 2014 Fernando Miguel GALAN PALOMARES 17 Jul 2013 26 Jun 2014 Ms Elisabeth Gehrke 17 Jul 2013 26 Jun 2014 Mr Robert Baldursson 17 Jul 2013 26 Jun 2014 Complementary Information
An overall picture of the work of ESU will be as follows:
The Secretariat coordinates and implements project activities, campaigns, advocacy work, and capacity-building activities with the assistance of the Executive Committee's (EC) members. They participate in projects that are aligned with their cluster memberships (i.e., area of work). Through ESU projects, we bring students' voices to the fore and build our knowledge and skills to continue advocating for students' interests on various issues at the European level. In parallel, the Secretariat is in charge of ESU management, including both staff and EC.
Simultaneously, the Presidency and EC members work on policy formulation and advocacy by participating in various task forces, attending multiple meetings, and compiling their findings to share with the Board and the stakeholders we work with. Therefore, we can conclude that a diversity of duties and work are completed every day at ESU.Person in charge of EU relations
Data not provided by Register Secretariat due to GDPR
Person with legal responsibility
Data not provided by Register Secretariat due to GDPR
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Categories
Category
Non-governmental organisations, platforms and networks and similar
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Networking
Affiliation
ESU is a member of the European Youth Forum (YFJ), the Lifelong Learning Platform (LLLP), SIRIUS, the Global Campaign for Education, the Global Students Forum, the Groningen Declaration network, the Advisory Council on Youth in the Council of Europe, E4 group, EQAR and FAIB.
Member organisations
None declared
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Financial Data
Interests represented
Does not represent commercial interests
Closed financial year
Jan 2023 - Dec 2023
Lobbying costs for closed financial year
Since 20 September 2021 self-declared 'non-commercial organisations' are no longer required to provide a lobby budget. See above timeline for this registrant's historical lobby budget.
Total organisational budget in closed year
946,086€
Major funding types in closed year
EU funding, Grants, Member's contributions, Other
Funding types "other" information
Maribel Grant
Major contributions in closed year
Type Name Amount Contribution Membership Fees 195,000€ Contribution Quality Assurance Pool 50,000€ Contribution Maribel Grant 46,607€ Contribution Erasmus-2023-CSC-OG-SGA 175,000€ Contribution Grants from Erasmus+ Projects 419,060€ Grant Erasmus-2023-CSC-OG-SGA 175,000€ Grant Grants from Erasmus+ Projects 419,060€ Other financial info
None declared
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EU Structures
Groups (European Commission)
European Qualifications Framework Advisory Group#E02107#https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=2107 #MEMBER #C#OtherWorking Group on Higher Education#E03799#https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=3799 #MEMBER #C#Academia/ResearchEuropass Advisory Group#E03613#https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/expert-groups-register/screen/expert-groups/consult?lang=en&groupID=3613 #MEMBER #C#Academia/Research
Groups (European Parliament)
Unofficial groupings
Communication activities
Our communications goal is to demonstrate that the European Students’ Union is an important voice in higher education and that our representatives are examples of well-experienced people involved in activities that make higher education more quality, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of various groups of students.
Primary campaigns in the current year:
- Ukraine helpdesk: ESU will continue the rollout of its 'Ukraine helpdesk' open to help Ukrainian students quickly reply to individual cases and connect them with the relevant student unions.
- 'The Student Voice' (podcast): The ESU podcast discusses higher education politics and student issues with a European/transnational perspective. Its guests are students, organisations related to this field, and experts whose perspectives can enrich the debate. ESU will aim to keep the same rhythm of publication, with at least a quarterly frequency.
- European Elections 2024 - StEUdents: ESU will run a campaign to raise the awareness of students and youth on the importance of participation in the European elections and raise student voices and demands towards the candidates. How? ESU will disseminate the resolution ‘Student Manifesto - 24 proposals for the 2024 European elections’ to the European political parties in order to encourage them to include those points in their electoral platforms. ESU will disseminate social media content on the European elections, how they work, and the main issues proposed in the campaigns. The information and advocacy campaign will have both a European and national component through the established Task Force on European Elections, which includes representatives of NUSes. ESU will organise a debate in Brussels on the future of education in Europe in light of the European elections in March.
- ESU alumni hub: ESU will establish a systematic follow-up with the alumni network by updating the database and creating a policy for interacting with alumni.
PUBLICATIONS:
(you can get all our publications for free at http://www.esu-online.org/documents/publications/)
- Bologna With Student Eyes 2024, for the Ministerial Conference: ESU will disseminate the 2024 edition of its flagship publication, "Bologna With Student Eyes'' in order to increase awareness and understanding of the Bologna Process, its implementation or lack thereof and its implications for students and HEIs. Therefore, this will allow for a cross-reference tool regarding the Ministry's self-assessment of the national implementation of Bologna commitments.Other activities
None declared
Meetings
Meetings
8 meetings found. Download meetings
The list below only covers meetings held since November 2014 with commissioners, their cabinet members or directors-general at the European Commission; other lobby meetings with lower-level staff may have taken place, but the European Commission doesn't proactively publish information about these meetings. For more information about which commissioner is responsible for which portfolio, check out this link: https://commissioners.ec.europa.eu/index_en All information below comes from European Commission web pages.
1 July 2024: We have noted that some meetings are appearing in duplicate, ie. some meetings seem to be listed twice. This seems to be because the Commission changes some element of a meeting data after the meeting has first been listed, which causes LobbyFacts to register it as a new meeting. We are investigating further.
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Date 28 Mar 2023 Location Brussels Subject Education and training Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel Portfolio Digital Economy and Society Attending - Mariya Gabriel (Commissioner)
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Date 28 Mar 2023 Location Brussels Subject Education and training Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel Portfolio Innovation and Youth Attending - Mariya Gabriel (Commissioner)
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Date 30 Jan 2023 Location Brussels Subject European Year of Skills Cabinet Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen Portfolio President Attending - Maria Luisa Cabral (Cabinet member)
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Date 16 Oct 2020 Location online meeting Subject Online meeting requested by ESU to discuss ways to support students through the new European Education Area communication DG Education, Youth, Sport and Culture Attending - Themis Christophidou (Director-General)
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Date 20 Nov 2019 Location Brussels Subject Exchange of views on making future Erasmus more inclusive and sustainable. DG Education, Youth, Sport and Culture Attending - Themis Christophidou (Director-General)
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Date 16 Sep 2015 Location Brussels Subject Commissioner Navracsics’ participation in the 30th European Students’ Convention Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Tibor Navracsics Portfolio Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Attending - Patricia Reilly (Cabinet member)
- Christine Mai (Cabinet member)
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Date 23 Apr 2015 Location Brussels Subject Tackling the radicalisation of young people Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Tibor Navracsics Portfolio Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Attending - Tibor Navracsics (Commissioner)
Other Lobbyists -
Date 09 Dec 2014 Location Brussels Subject Higher Education Policy Cabinet Cabinet of Commissioner Tibor Navracsics Portfolio Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Attending - Patricia Reilly (Cabinet member)