Sunday, 23 December, 2018 - 12:12

Dear friends,

We would like to thank you for your continuous support & collaboration in carrying out our mission of enrichment of society through international students in 2018! As we enter the festive time, we encourage everyone to sit back and reflect on what the previous year has brought.

In 2018, ESN:

  • Celebrated its 29th birthday while continuing to review the structure of the organisation to better cope with an ever-growing population of international students and with new societal demands.
  • Introduced the 6 Causes of ESN to maximise the social impact of our activities.
  • Commemorated the European Year of Cultural Heritage as the only youth organisation in its Stakeholders’ Committee through numerous events, digital campaigns and a travel contest Mobility Is My Lifestyle!
  • Has been awarded Silver for the Overall Best European Association at the 2018 European Association Awards, ranked 2nd on the list of best employers in Brussels and was shortlisted as one of the three best associations in the PIEoneer Awards 2018.
  • Published the #ErasmusUpgrade Manifesto which contains 13 recommendations to improve the successor of the Erasmus+ Programme and is available in 10 languages & prepared a reaction to the proposal by the European Commission.
  • Gathered over 2.500 signatures under the petition for a more social Erasmus+ Programme which encourages social integration & intercultural awareness through volunteering
  • Launched the Inclusive Mobility Alliance, bringing together numerous youth, higher education, and disability-related organisations to make exchanges more accessible.
  • Empowered over 10 thousand international students during more than 500 events to volunteer for their local communities during two weeks of the Social Inclusion Days. And then we did it all over again!
  • Expanded the reach of services offered by ESN volunteers to VET learners in a pilot project and participated in the EU Vocational Skills Week in Vienna with 6 pioneer sections
  • Organised #ErasmusUpgrade, the biggest education conference and the first Citizens’ Dialogue in ESN, involving the Commissioner Tibor Navracsics along with decision-makers from the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union in a debate about active citizenship.
  • Joined forces to launch the Online Learning Agreement for Traineeships and the Erasmus Without Paper Network as well as continuously digitalise the Erasmus+ programme through the Erasmus+ App
  • Worked towards quality and transparency of internships on ErasmusIntern.org, including the Digital Opportunity Traineeships and through the CAPQI project
  • Concluded 7 grant projects related to employability and digitalisation, and received 7 new grant projects in fields of active citizenship, media literacy, social inclusion and education. ESN keeps using the Erasmus+ funding to improve the Erasmus+ programme!
  • Extended the partnership with Pernod Ricard on the Responsible Party programme and organised the first Health and Well-being conference, discussing the well-being of international students with European stakeholders.
  • Enabled 150.000 exchange students to travel more easily and affordably through its partnership with Ryanair and reaffirmed the cooperation for the second year, alongside launching the new ESNcard.org platform!

Thank you – this wouldn’t be possible without you! Read more about some of those achievements in the 2017/18 Annual Report.

We would like to wish you happy holidays spent among your loved ones as well as plenty of energy and motivation to keep this great work up together in the upcoming year!

Yours,

The International Board and the Secretariat