Inclusivity Is Key In The Aurora Student Council
In June 2025, Aurora Student Council (ASC) members gathered at the Universität Innsbruck for their biannual Aurora Student Conference. During the conference, they voted in the new ASC Board for the academic year 2025/2026. ASC President Simona Gibalovà from Aurora Associate Partner Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, talks about her journey toward becoming president, and expresses the Council’s thematic vision for the year ahead.
From left to right: Simona Gibalovà (ASC President 2025/2026), Mathilde Chaumont (ASC President 2024/2025, and Veronika Sexl (Rector of Universität Innsbruck and Aurora President)
My Path to Becoming the Aurora Student Council President
The first time I considered running for president was during the European Students Union (ESU) meeting in Timisoara, Romania in November 2024 after a conversation with the former Aurora Student Council (ASC) President, Mathilde Chaumont. At the time, I was about a year into my student representation in Aurora and finally felt comfortable understanding the inner structures of the alliance as well as the wider concept of European Universities Alliances. This meeting was very evocative and thought-provoking, and sparked the first idea of working towards the Aurora Student Rights Charter and more concrete goals and aspirations for the future of the ASC.
The work on this Charter really exposed me to some fundamental questions, such as what Aurora values are and what they mean to students, and also how important it is to have clear goals and aspirations formulated for the future of Aurora and next student councils to come. Inspired by this momentum and a very progressive moment within the Council, I was determined to keep this idea going for the next Student Council in the role of a president.
Inclusivity as the ASC Theme of the Year
The uniqueness of this presidency comes from two major distinctions in comparison to past Student Councils: the fact that I come from an associate partner university Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, and also the fact that we have an all-female Aurora Student Council board for the first time. Since both of these moments originated very naturally but represent a striking moment of progress and inclusivity, we only thought it logical to frame our focus on this phenomenon. I have to give credits where credits are due, for the phrasing of the theme of the year, “Inclusivity is the key”, this is the doing of our ASC Vice-president, Eliška Karasová. She is amazing with bringing ideas into concrete wording.
I was advised at first by some people to not bring much attention to the fact that I come from an associate partner university, however I decided to go against it. I believe the advice was made in good faith, to protect me from possible doubts that people may have about students like me, and to make sure my voice is heard as strongly as the full-member university representatives, which unfortunately both proved to be an issue in the early stages of my presidency.
I do feel a significant importance in the fact the the Student Council chooses to blur the line between what student comes from which university, because in the end, our goal as the Student Council, and I believe the goal of Aurora as well, is to ensure a better future for students across as many parts of Europe and the world as possible. As students, we believe there are many creative ways to make an impact regardless of what university or what project receives a certain cut of funding or not, and it is particularly interesting to take a look of how creative the associate partner universities have been in these past years in their collaboration with Aurora despite certain obstacles.
I feel very inspired by painting a spotlight to this unique side of Aurora collaboration and we do believe that this creativity is something to nourish and celebrate despite what your sending institution is, which is what this academic year and its theme has been about for us.
Simona Gibalovà
Aurora Student Council President (2025/2026)