Address from the international officer of LÍS

Translation:  Lilja Ragnheiður Einarsdóttir

My name is Erla Guðbjörg and I am the International Officer of LÍS, the National Union of Icelandic Students, and a fourth year medical student in Cyprus. The International Officer has many responsibilities and I will try my best to introduce you to some of them in this article.

The International Officer oversees the international work of LÍS. I often explain the main role of the International Officer as a middleman, since a lot of my work revolves around transferring knowledge from one place to another. I attend international conferences, meetings and consultations, and then relay the information back to Iceland through LÍS and our member associations. With this knowledge, we try to better the environment of Icelandic students, e.g. by writing statements. However, the International Officer also relays information from Iceland abroad. There, I try my best to transfer the knowledge, values and perspective of our representative council to try to better the student environment at a larger scale.

Another responsibility of the International Officer includes being one of the two project managers of Student Refugees Iceland (SRI). SRI is a project that was originally established in Denmark, but LÍS incorporated it into its work in 2019. SRI is created on the basis that everyone has a right to education, as is stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. SRI works to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. The volunteers of SRI help refugees and asylum seekers to apply for higher education in Iceland, giving them information about the application process and what hindrances they can expect to encounter in the process. 

The International Officer also oversees the International Committee. I am fortunate to have a committee of four ambitious and clever individuals. The Committee meets once or twice a month to prepare for upcoming events by reading statements, making amendments and sharing ideas. Currently, the Committee and I are busy preparing for the Board Meeting of the European Student Union in which we hope to represent and strengthen student’s educational and social rights.

Since March 2020, most of the work of the International Officer has been virtual. Although many things have changed since the pandemic, it has become clear that international work and relations have never been as important as they are now. The pressing issues we are facing, e.g. COVID-19 and climate change, are global problems that need solutions now. We do not have time for every country to reinvent the wheel. We need to communicate with each other. The only way we can successfully fight for our future is by sharing ideas across borders and over oceans.