Call for Student-led Initiatives

The EUTOPIA Alliance is announcing a call for student-led initiatives under Work Package 2 of the EUTOPIA MORE project, financed by the European Union through the Erasmus+ Programme. The call aims to select and support six student-led initiatives that connect existing student-driven actions and expand collaboration and cooperation between student organisations across the Alliance. The initiatives should contribute to solving challenges and/ or be linked with other activities of the Alliance, especially those in sustainable development.

TO WHOM?

The call is dedicated to student organisations (associations, clubs, bodies, etc.) in the largest sense from the 10 universities of the EUTOPIA Alliance.

An initiative can be submitted by a single student organisation or jointly (in partnership) by more student organisations, each from a different university. Student organisations that partner should not necessarily have the same field of interest but should have a shared objective. Interdisciplinary partnerships are valued.

Priority will be given to student organisations registered in the database attached to this call and initiatives submitted by more extensive partnerships. Student organisations that did not register are not excluded; however, they must register by completing the online survey before submitting their Application Form. The database with student organisations interested in cooperation can also be used for partner search.

HOW, WHAT and WHEN?

The initiatives submitted will undergo a selection process. Out of the selected initiatives, those submitted by a partnership consisting of at least 2 student organisations from two different universities can start developing and implementing the initiative with the support of experts involved in the project. Selected initiatives submitted by a single student organisation will be sent out to registered student organisations to join the initiative until a given deadline. These can enter the development phase in case at least one partner joins the initiative. If not, the subsequent initiatives from the reserve list will be selected to undergo the same process.

The implementation of each initiative will start with the development of a detailed plan for carrying it out, i.e., activities, agenda, participants, timeline, etc. To this end, student organisations will receive support from experts involved in implementing the EUTOPIA MORE project.

Each initiative and, thus, each plan should include:

• One or, if necessary, 2 physical mobilities (in-person visits) of not more than 3 days per visit to one or two student organisations from the partnership (i.e. EUTOPIA member university) to carry out the initiative,
• There should be two online meetings, an introductory one and a follow-up one. The introductory meeting should focus on preparing the visit/visits and should include presentations of the universities and countries represented. The follow-up online meeting should be dedicated to analysing the initiative and finalising a short report on its implementation.

If necessary, additional online events or meetings can be planned. Financing will be offered for the physical mobilities to an EUTOPIA Alliance member who is a partner in the project and will cover travel, accommodation, and per diem (subsistence) costs. Due to eligibility requirements linked to these costs, in-person visits can be organised at any university except for the University of Warwick. Nevertheless, students from the University of Warwick are encouraged to participate in such visits hosted by other Alliance members.

All interested students can participate in the online meetings on behalf of the student organisations involved. The number of students participating in the in-person visits (in physical mobilities) will be limited. It is expected that 1-3 students/organisations will be financed, depending on the number of student organisations joining the initiative and on the additional financial resources some universities might mobilise in addition to the budget available in the project.

Selected initiatives should be implemented no later than November 1, 2024. When planning the initiatives, the different summer vacation and bank holiday periods at each university should be considered.

By November 15, 2024, students involved in each of the initiatives selected should submit a short report presenting how the initiative was implemented and reflecting on how it could be continued in the future and/or expanded to involve other student organisations. To this end, the reports can also include information linked to lessons learned or areas for improvement.

Besides the reports, the organisations involved should:

• Gather and submit justification documents for meetings consisting of photographs from in-person and print screens from online meetings and of list of participants for both,
• Assure visibility for the initiative on social media. This means posting at least once by each of the student organisations involved using the hashtags #EUTOPIA #EuropeanUniversities #HigherEducation and tagging the relevant EUTOPIA Alliance profile (Instagram: @eutopiauni, LinkedIn: @eutopiauniversity, Facebook: @eutopiaalliance, Twitter: @EutopiaUni).

Other outputs, such as podcasts, videos, infographics, testimonials or blog posts, are also encouraged.

DATES AND SUBMISSION

The call is open from May 6, 2024 to May 27, 2024

The indicative date for the announcement of the first results is June 5, 2024.

After the selection process, initiatives selected but submitted by a single organisation will be sent to other student organisations, who will have two weeks to express their intent to join the initiative.

Interested student organisations should apply by completing the online Application Form in English by 24.00 CET of the call deadline.

Student organisations are invited to consult the Guidelines before submission. Further information can be requested from the designated contact person from each university.

ANNEXES

Guidelines – call for student-led initiatives

Annex 1 to the guidelines: Database of student organisations interested in cooperation

Annex 2 to the guidelines: List of designated experts from each university

Annex 3 to the guidelines: Reporting Template

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.