An
innovative project
Today, 95% of European students
cannot mention even the name
of a single student organisation,
active at European level. Therefore,
we can say that the democratic
deficit of the European Union
begins already with the young
people.
EU-StudentVote, the first European
online election, will take place
between the 9-23 May 2002. It
will allow millions of European
students to elect the first
"European Student Council",
aiming at representing students
towards the European Institutions.
EU-StudentVote
will allow at least 50% of European
students not only to be better
informed about the identity
of those who represent them
at European level, but also
to better understand the challenges
of higher education at European
scale.
Through
this direct and privileged interface,
the students will become part
of the definition of European
Education Policy, especially
regarding the teaching of languages,
international exchanges, harmonisation
of degrees and communication
between students.
The
non-profit making association
EU-StudentVote is in charge
of the project, allowing for
the first time in European history:
an online election at European
scale as a unique poll district.
It
is an outstanding opportunity
to build a new democracy, the
European e-democracy, thanks
to the use of new technologies.
This
operation is targeting the 12
million European students and
is expecting a few tens of thousands
of voters.
The
Aims
A pioneer experience:
· EU-StudentVote is a
pioneer project and not an organisation.
It involves several organisations
providing core technological
(voting softwares and servers)
and managerial (European wide
communication and organisation)
skills, without which this world
premiere would be just impossible
to organise. Their number is
growing every day (see on the
website). The team working on
the EU-StudentVote project is
a very young team mixing students
and people who just finished
their accademic studies. Once
the first EU-StudentVote completed,
if it is successful, we expect
student and higher education
organisations to take over the
project and run it in the future.
·
The project aims atexploring
the possibilities offered to
the democratisation of the European
Union by the recent developments
of the new technologies. The
European student world appears
to be the best community to
test such innovative processes,
first of all because it has
already passed through a significant
'europeanisation', second because
it is the community with the
highest access to Internet;
and third because education
and students are key components
for the future of the EU and
democracy.
·
The EU is entering a very complex
era where the need for its democratisation
is becoming obvious to all,
but the ways to do it are very
hard to find, because of its
complexity. EU-StudentVote is
also an attempt to see if solutions
may come from younger generations
and students in particular.
The project is conceived around
the conviction that younger
generations hold the keys to
the future, and working with
them on the EU-StudentVote project
will help this future emerge
now.
·
Our project does not militate
in favour of any precise objective
in matter of European education
policies. It is an instrument
serving the European students,
as well as a live study of the
interactions between electronic
and European vote, and European
students and education matters.
·
We have the intention to provide
the main elements of the debate
on the big European challenges
on education matters, by offering
Ministries (and other institutions
concerned) the possibility to
specify their positions and
their expectations on this topic.
The students can do the same
via the lists in competition
or by participating in the different
forums.
Considering the nature of the
project, it is certain that it
will contribute to the European
integration process. Nevertheless,
the EU-StudentVote project does
not defend any particular position
regarding European education matters.
The
origin of the project
The EU-StudentVote project was
born in Paris, in the 'Grand Amphitheâtre'
of the Sorbonne, in October 2000,
during the Congress "NEWROPEANS
2000 - New Europe, New Challenges,
New Generations", an unprecedented
event which gathered about 2000
students coming from all over
Europe and several Heads of State
and Government, European Commissioners
and European Ministers.
EUSV was born during the meeting
on the themes of "young generations
and new technologies and the necessity
to democratise the EU".
A
QUADRUPLE DIMENSION
From the beginning, EU-StudentVote
is deep-rooted in a quadruple
dimension:
.
The future of the European Union,
and the necessity of new approaches
in the European construction
in the following decades
. The role of young generations
and in particular that of the
student engine in the invention
of tomorrow's Europe
. The importance of new technologies
in this new environment
. The importance of education
as theme, and as vector for
this renewal of the European
construction and its methods.
ACTIVE
ROLE OF STUDENTS IN THE DEFINITION
OF THE EURO-CITIZENSHIP AND THE
EDUCATION DEBATE
Having
been launched in front of a crowd
of students coming from all over
Europe and a million of visitors
(during a period of 6 months ;
60% of these visitors were students)
at the website NEWROPEANS , EU-StudentVote
wants to become part of the aspirations
of students playing an active
role in the definition of what
is going to be tomorrow's Euro-Citizenship
and in the definition of the future
European education policies.
At
the same time EU-StudentVote constitutes
a successfully completed component
of a big democratic debate, through
the whole Union, regarding the
future of the European construction.
The
organizers of the project
EU-StudentVote is being organized
through the combined effort of
four essential groups:
.
EUROPE 2020:
one of today's EU most dynamical
think-tanks, gathering in
a very original way the high
levelled theoretical thinking
and concrete projects. Europe
2020 concentrates on prospective
analyses of the future of
the EU and it's democratisation.
.
ELECTION. COM:
the world's leader in online
elections, specialist from
several decades in organising
elections (physical, electronical,
...) but mostly on e-vote
and e-democracy.
.
NEWROPEANS 2000,
networks gathering representatives
of the young generations involved
in the prospective analysis
of EU's future
.
the European
students.
Various
national governments, universities,
foundations, enterprises have
also contributed to the realization
of EU StudentVote.
All
of these groups provided members
for the Steering Committee of
the EU-StudentVote association,
a Committee increasing constantly
and welcoming new partners every
week.
EU-StudentVote
(EUSV) is already benefiting from
the support of several important
European partners of enterprises,
associations, foundations and
institutions :
Newropeans
Networks
It is a European network of a
new type, which is only based
on Internet without subscriptions.
Initiated like the EU-StudentVote
on the occasion of the NEWROPEANS
Congress 2000, it is supported
by thousands of students who participated
or followed the Newropeans Congress
2000, and more than 1 million
visited the NEWROPEANS website
during 6 month. NEWROPEANS Student
Network will contribute to maintain
the student dynamic around the
EU-StudentVote, and bring its
teams that will organise the vote
in EU higher education institutions.
Site : http://www.newropeans.org
Robert Schuman Foundation
This foundation gathers parliament
members willing to promote the
European ideas as well as the
bringing together of Europe's
peoples; it provides research
scholarships at European level
and cooperates with the Konrad
Adenauer Foundation and the Robert
Schuman associations all over
Europe.
Site: http://www.robert-schuman.org
Hippocrène Foundation
The Hippocrene Foundation aims
at facilitating the realization
of the cultural, humanitary or
sports projects. These projects
should interest the young generations
and become important part of the
European Construction.
Site : http://www.fondation-hippocrene.com
EADS
(European Aeronautic
Defence and Space Company)
EADS European Aeronautic Defence
and Space Company is Europe's
aerospace and defence company
leader. EADS comprises the activities
of the founding partners Aerospatiale
Matra S.A. (France), Construcciones
Aeronáuticas S.A. (Spain)
and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace
AG (Germany).
Site: http://www.eads-nv.com/eads/index_f.htm
Andersen
Andersen is an international consulting
group addressed to the companies
and organisations. As a pluridisciplinary
organism, it provides its clients
with a number of competences and
mostly the audit and financial
consulting, the strategical and
operational consulting, the judicial
and fiscal consulting and the
corporate finance. It accompanies
its clients on e-business, risk
management, human resources and
externalization problematics.
Site : http://www.andersen.com
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