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Three hot topics for the Student Delegation in 2021/2022

  • Université / Administration centrale et Rectorat
    04 janvier 2022
  • Catégorie
    Université

Nikola Kaserova, Master student in European Business Law, is the new president of the Student Delegation. She is the first female leader of the body representing students at the University until September 2022.  

Since the beginning of her studies, Nikola has always been active within the University – from her student job at the Luxembourg Learning Centre, Moot Court Competition experience last year to her recent involvement in the Ethics Committee. As she says about herself, she takes all the opportunities around her to learn. As a President of the Student Delegation, she invests her energy and passion to make the University a great place to study.

Nikola and her team have a well-filled agenda for the year ahead. We talked to Nikola about the main priorities for the Student Delegation.

Nikola, what are the three hot topics for the Student Delegation in the year to come? 

The Student Delegation deals with many subjects at the University of Luxembourg. For this reason, already last year, we have identified eight topical areas that student delegates are involved in: these are Housing, Academic Affairs, Sustainability, Student Life, Internal Management, Communication and finally the PhD department. All our delegates are very active in various University committees and do a great job in making sure that the student voice is heard.

This year, we have set for ourselves three main priorities: improve the housing situation at the University, promotion of student life and sustainability.

As some may have experienced, at the beginning of the semester the University of Luxembourg couldn’t satisfy all accommodation requests. Since student residences were fully booked, many first-year students didn’t receive University accommodation. The student delegation has received many calls and emails from students asking for help. We joined forces with the Student department to find alternative accommodation around Belval for those who couldn’t get a place. However, we ultimately knew long-term changes needed to be made to the housing policy and we worked with the University management on the new housing policy in student residences. We are satisfied that the new accommodation policy provides equal opportunities to all students. As number of places in the University residences is limited and we have a growing student population, we will continue to look for additional housing possibilities, working with public administrations and private actors to increase the offer.

Another important topic we will look into this year is student life. During almost two years of pandemic, not much has been happening in terms of student life. With all the efforts put into vaccination and social distancing, we hope that this difficult winter period will soon be over, and we will be able to plan for many student events in spring 2022. At the end of the day, events, parties, and get-togethers are what makes the University a vibrant and dynamic place. Student Delegation also regularly supports student associations at the University of Luxembourg. During the pandemic, many of these associations couldn’t organise their fundraising activities and get their funding to organise events and activities for students. Some of them asked us for financial contributions and where we could we were happy to do so.

Finally, we received positive feedback, ideas, and thoughts from students on the topic of sustainability. As climate talks continue to be held around the world, our students are interested to know what the University will be doing to reduce negative environmental impact and contribute to a healthier global environment.

For this reason, Student Delegation joined the Sustainability committee headed by Laurent Betry, Sustainability officer at the University. The ideas are yet in the making but I feel there is an amazing energy to make sustainable changes to the way we study and work at the University. To be more concrete, the long-term changes will involve regular talks with Restopolis on new and sustainable meal offer, greener residences with less energy spent, food sharing and sustainable food markets in Belval. Additionally, we have also recently set up a Facebook page where students can give away things they no longer need. It is a great way of giving a second life to things rather than throwing them away. It’s a first initiative towards more sustainable choices within the student community at the University. We look forward to implementing many more.

About the Student Delegation

The mission of the Student Delegation is to represent all students of the University and to defend and promote their interests related to the teaching and the governance of the University.

The representation of students in the central governing bodies of the University is the responsibility of the Student Delegation. Delegates are elected by four electoral colleges composed of the Bachelor and Master students of each of the three faculties and of all doctoral students for a mandate of two years. Each electoral college elects one representative per 500 students regularly enrolled in the respective Faculty or as doctoral student as of 1 October of the current academic year. Article 41 of the law of 27 June 2018 concerning the organisation of the University of Luxembourg confirms the mission of the student delegation in the governance structure of the University and defines the basic modalities of its election.

If you want to contact Student Delegation, send an email to: student.delegation@uni.lu

Have a look at the team and how they can help.

© Photo: Michel Brumat