In 2023, the European student card project "ESC Academy Pro" began. Its purpose is to create opportunities for the introduction of the European student card by creating the corresponding technical standards and improving the digital competences of higher education institutions.

The Federation of Estonian Student Unions is also a partner of the project, dealing with the protection of students' interests as well as the issuing of ISIC cards. In addition to us, there are five other partners in the project: the European Student Union, the ISIC Association, the Global Youth and Student Community, the Czech Student Union and Out of The Box Europe. 

YEAR 2023

In the first year of operation, the project team conducted a survey to find out students' attitudes about the European Student Card. It showed, among other things, that both students and employees of higher education institutions mostly consider the European student card initiative to be important or even very important. 

As the first public event, an opinion event was held in Brussels at the beginning of September. Politicians, representatives of higher education institutions, students and other stakeholders participated there. At the meeting, the first research results were presented and the future vision for the Erasmus+ project and the European student card initiative were discussed. Among the speakers were student representatives, a representative of the ISIC Association, a representative of the European Commission and a representative of the company implementing the technical solution for the European Student Card. 

The initiative was also discussed at the annual event of the ISIC Association in Prague, where a panel discussion was held. Representatives from the Erasmus student network, the European University Foundation, the European Student Union, the European Youth Card Association, the European Commission, NTT Data and the ISIC Association participated in the panel. The conversation focused on the progress that has already been made within the initiative and future plans.

The highlight of the year was the workshop in Prague in November. In total, more than fifty participants came from different countries, including a delegation of Estonian students, where students from Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn University, Internal Defense Academy and Estonian University of Life Sciences were represented. Together, they familiarized themselves with the project, gave feedback on it, and established the first national plans on how to introduce the initiative more widely.

THE FUTURE

In the new year, project activities will continue at full speed. In the first half of the year, a national information event will take place in Estonia, about which we will share information soon. In addition, the annual event of the ISIC association will take place in Tallinn at the end of April, within which the initiative will also be discussed, and since EÜL is closely related to the organization, the focus will be on the students' point of view more than usual. 

Hopefully, the future is bright and the European Student card initiative will make life easier for students!

Read more about the initiative and the project on the website: https://escacademy.pro/