Hochschule Bremen (HSB) lives from the people who study, work and enrich it as guests. In our column ‘Three questions for...’ we introduce some of them. Here is Jula Eichhorn. The HSB student is involved in the European University Alliance STARS EU. The network meets in Bremen at the beginning of November 2024. Jula Eichhorn is taking part with other international students to shape the university alliance together with all its members.
STARS EU is a strategic European university alliance in which the Hochschule Bremen is working with eight other European universities towards the ambitious goal of creating a joint European university. To this end, in addition to a joint study programme, course and mobility offer, they are all working together on innovative teaching methods, a joint (digital) campus design, practice-oriented research projects and interregional networking with stakeholders based in the vicinity of the partner universities - for example governments, authorities, companies, social associations, etc. This exchange should help to make the European higher education landscape as a whole more attractive and competitive.
At the moment I am the Chair of the Alliance's Student Board, which is the student representative body of STARS EU. In this role, I liaise with other Alliance working groups such as the Steering Committee, the public relations team and various STARS EU offices that coordinate the Alliance's work locally. I am mainly involved in discussions about ways to make STARS EU more visible to our students from the Student Board, both physically and digitally, and to explain the benefits that are relevant to them. I also report every few months on the Student Board's progress in implementing its strategy and organise our internal meetings.
My work involves a lot of communication and mediation work, which is why I have learned a lot in this area. I have also been able to make many contacts within the Alliance and beyond, for example with the alumni network of the ‘European Universities Community Voices’ project, after I attended the European Student Ambassadors Forum (EUSAF) in Warsaw at the beginning of September as a representative of STARS EU. It is also very encouraging to witness universities embracing their important societal role and shaping it proactively and in co-operation in the form of alliances.
We are currently in talks with students who have applied to our call for applications for the local Student Board at HSB. In addition, we are working on networking with other student groups such as the AStA, the Student Council or the Local Erasmus Initiative (LEI) and, if necessary, taking up the expectations of students regarding the internationalisation or Europeanisation of teaching and everyday university life in this way. But of course, we are always open to suggestions from students on this or in general with regard to their individual interests. Participatory dialogue formats and workshops are also planned in order to seek dialogue with students. As ‘ambassadors’ of the Alliance, we will also continue to endeavour to get students involved in STARS EU working and research groups. This can lead to a great deal, which in turn opens up new and unforeseeable opportunities for students to get involved. Last but not least, there is already the possibility of taking courses offered by STARS EU as part of an elective module with Erasmus funding.
