Lecture in occasion of EGM Ancona 2025
During the 4th Erasmus Generation Meeting (EGM) 2025that took place in Ancona from April 3 to 6, one session was dedicated to "Mutual Growth: Identifying and Overcoming Barriers to Student-Institution Collaboration".
The session explored the relationship between universities and students’ associations (starting with ESN – Erasmus Student Network) in the Western Balkans, with a focus on the mutual desire for collaboration and growth. Despite strong support from the European Commission, there are still significant barriers, both on the institutional and student sides, that hinder shared development. The session addressed the underlying reasons for these obstacles and explored potential strategies to overcome them, with an emphasis on enhancing students' civic engagement and fostering stronger partnerships for long-term collaboration.
Within this framework, the experience of the ongoing ESN-AIR project was reported by the speakers Silvia Mangialardo - Head of IRO for the Polytechnic University of Marche, coordinator of the project and Lejla Jusic – member of IRO, University of Montenegro, partner in this project. Although the idea of creating an ESN of the Adriatic-Ionian Region is very ambitious, we have had to face many challenges, because sometimes the cooperation between students’ associations and institutions in the Western Balkans is not so smooth. The importance of such relationship for a mutual growth was extensively highlighted during the session, the ESN-AIR project was mentioned as a best practice, but also as an example of the challenges that undermine the full implementation of a potentially good idea.
Lejla Jusic also illustrated the experience of the relationship between institutions and students' associations in Montenegro, as a valuable point of view from a citizen of the Western Balkans.
Nensi Mkrtchyan, Liaison Officer for Eastern Neighbourhood - ESN International, the third speaker of this session, contributed to stimulate a vivid debate on the role of students as actors for change in universities in the Western Balkans. Both ESN volunteers and representatives of institutions attending the session actively animated the debate during the 90 minutes’ session. The outcomes confirmed the presence of challenges but, at the same time, the great potential and the willingness of both sides (students and institutions) to collaborate for overcoming such challenges together.
