According to the European Quality of Life Survey (2016) the volunteering rate in the 18-24 age group "has increased to 38% (up 3 points)" and that of students to "48 % (up 5 points)" compared to 2011. It means that more than 9 million out of the 19.5 million students in Europe (source: Eurostat 2017) already experienced volunteering. The issue of harmonization of competences is also a real challenge for the European Union. Since 2012, the Council of the EU has addressed the issue of skills acquired through informal learning by inviting the Member States to put in place systems for validating these skills before 2018. However, active participation of students through all types of participation (in students associations, unions or political parties), is still too often poorly understood and therefore little recognized and valued. In this context, the consortium, composed of Animafac (national student associations network) and its partners (namely: the European University Foundation and the Universities of Vienna (Austria), Warsaw (Poland), Valladolid (Spain) and Cergy-Pontoise (France)) are developing the project entitled "European STudent Engagement Project" (European STEP). This project contributes to the recognition and improvement of students’ active participation in Europe, particularly as a factor in the development of key and cross-curricular skills complementary to the academic path, with the following objectives: · To acquire a precise knowledge of the modes of recognition of students’ active participation by the different European countries. · To equip and support committed students and higher education institutions in Europe leading to a better recognition of student engagement · To promote, value and bring a better recognition of student commitment. In order to carry out this project, the consortium will collectively undertake the following activities: · A first step will be the construction, of a map of national legislations and rules (O1), of a preliminary report circulated to universities (O2) and of a European study (O3) including surveys conducted among students, teachers and administrative staff, with the aim of improving knowledge on the recognition of student engagement in Europe. · A second step will be the development,, of tools to train university staff on the issue of recognition of commitment (training kit (O6)), and creation of a digital passport about skills & engagement (O5) to help committed students to identify the skills they acquired through their engagement. · The final step will be the construction, of a vademecum for universities and students as well as of a booklet of recommendations presenting best practices in Europe to local, national and European public authorities, with the aim of promoting students’ active participation and allow an improvement of its recognition and appreciation. To ensure the dissemination of these activities, six multiplier events are organized by the strategic partners throughout the project. For students and university staff from different European countries, these events will help to spread the project in the different areas of the European Union (North West, West, South, Central Europe and East). EUF is also organizing trainings to enable committed students and staff to improve engagement recognition schemes in their higher education institutions. -Over the long term, European STEP aims to reach the 28 countries of the European Union, 300 higher education institutions and 150,000 committed students. Responding to a need of higher education stakeholders, this project will enable these countries and their universities to better understand student engagement, adapt site policies, and reinforce the complementarity of academic courses . The results of the project on the issue of recognition of student engagement in Europe will thus become a permanent feature of European higher education. Ultimately, this will help to modernize higher education in Europe and contribute to the attractiveness of European universities. At the individual level, European STEP will improve the quality of student engagement in Europe, so that they can value it in their personal and professional lives. In doing so, the project will contribute to the emergence and enhancement of active and enlightened citizens who contribute to the day after day construction of a committed Europe.
The European STudent Engagement Project (STEP) was conducted from 2018 to 2021 by a consortium led by Animafac and composed of 7 organizations (2 associations and 5 universities): Animafac, Dublin City University (Office of Student Life) (Ireland), Volunteer Center of the University of Warsaw (Poland), European University Foundation (EUF) (Luxembourg / Belgium), Observatory for the Validation of Professional Skills of the University of Valladolid (Spain), CY Cergy Paris University (France), University of Vienna (Austria). According to the 2016 European Quality of Life Survey, the rate of volunteering among young people, and more specifically students, was up compared to 2011 (+5% for students). However, in 2018, the consortium noted that student engagement, whatever its form (associative, political, trade union) was still too often unknown, poorly understood and therefore little valued, whether in France or in other European countries. The general objective of the project was therefore to contribute to the recognition and valorization of student engagement in Europe, in particular as a factor in the development of transversal competences complementary to the academic path. The "recognition of student engagement" was understood in a broad sense in our project as all the policies/measures/measures allowing to value the commitment (whatever its nature: political, associative, union...) in higher education. To meet this overall objective, the consortium carried out a number of activities. First of all, 7 intellectual productions were created: - A mapping of legislative and regulatory schemes for the recognition of student engagement in Europe (O1) - A preliminary report on the mechanisms for recognizing engagement in European universities (O2) - A qualitative study of the mechanisms of recognition of engagement by universities in Europe (O3) - A guidebook of good practices in the field of recognition of commitment (O4) - A digital passport Engagement & Competences (O5) - A European STEP training kit (O6) - A booklet of recommendations in favour of student engagement and its recognition in higher education (O7) In addition, the following activities were implemented: - 6 dissemination events in France, Spain, Ireland, Poland, Austria, which reached a total of 239 external participants. - A training activity that gathered 28 participants. Moreover, during these 3 years, the consortium has actively disseminated the results of the project internally and externally, at the local, national and European levels, to students, European higher education professionals (student life offices, pedagogical managers, rectors, etc.), researchers, the media, public authorities, and even the general public. Thanks to European STEP, we estimate that we have reached 150,000 people and more than 500 higher education institutions across Europe. Through all of these activities, the European STEP project has achieved several outcomes and impacts: - First, the project has improved the state of knowledge on the notion of student engagement and recognition of engagement in Europe. In doing so, it has allowed us to understand the nuances and differences of approach that exist between the different European countries on this issue, which is a contribution both to nourish the different national approaches, but also to build European policies. As we are approaching the 5th anniversary of the “Loi Egalité & Citoyenneté” enacted in 2017 in France, the project has a particular impact in that it allows us to feed the national reflection with examples from other European countries on the issue of the recognition of student engagement. - Secondly, the project has made it possible to raise awareness, train and equip both students and professionals in higher education institutions to act in favour of better recognition of student engagement, and in particular of the competencies acquired through it. - Finally, the project has enabled the valorization of good practices of student engagement recognition implemented by European higher education institutions.