Aurora is a cooperation between 11 universities across Europe that aims to increase quality and innovation in higher education in response to rapid societal change and strengthen the search for solutions to the biggest challenges facing humanity. To this end, Aurora Universities will create a variety of opportunities for students to gain international experiences as part of their studies and the skills, knowledge and drive to become social entrepreneurs and leaders.
Since the start of the cooperation, the universities have placed great emphasis on the students’ voices influencing all of Aurora´s policies, projects and innovation endeavours. To mobilize students, the Aurora Student Council has established The Aurora Student Champions and Ambassadors Schemes in collaboration with the universities and applications are now open until October 17th.
Alma Ágústsdóttir, president of the Aurora Student Council, says that this is a unique opportunity for students at Aurora Universities. Through their participation, students are directly involved in international cooperation and policy-making, develop skills that are in high demand by employers and have the opportunity to work with students from other universities and participate in Aurora events.
Alma also says that it is a great advantage how much flexibility Aurora offers students who are interested in participating. “Students can choose to participate as an Aurora Student Champion or Aurora Ambassador, depending on the level of commitment they want to take on and what type of projects they want to work on. Students can also suggest projects based on their own interests that help spread the Aurora message“. The aim is to find about 10 students at each university to participate in Aurora as either Student Champions or Ambassadors this academic year. When asked about what´s next, Alma says there are many exciting things going on for students within Aurora. “Yes, there are really exciting times ahead. For example, students are going to Spain in November to participate in a workshop to find solutions to improve student’s experience of higher education and enable more students to take part in their studies abroad. I am also going to promote a new project soon that Aurora students are invited to take part in, which is about presenting the students’ vision for the future in the context of an important conference next year, the Conference on the Future of Europe, organized by the European Union in Strasbourg”.
