By the power of students: The Aurora Student Council’s trip to Iceland

Photo: Sara Þöll Finnbogadóttir

Translation: Alma Ágústsdóttir

As a student at the University of Iceland you will likely have heard of Aurora. However, it isn‘t unlikely that the majority of students are still unclear on what exactly Aurora is.

Sustainability goals and students’ interests

Aurora is the cooperation of 10 universities within Europe that have shared values and goals in the field of both education and research. Together, the universities work on a variety of collaborative projects that concern increased internationalisation, more varied opportunities for mobility studies, societal impact of research, and environmental conservation. It is worth mentioning that the United Nations‘ Sustainable Development Goals form a foundation for all of Aurora’s work. At the heart of Aurora‘s operations lies an active involvement of students at every stage of the decision-making process. Students therefore have an active say in all decisions that directly affect them but, in addition to that, I, as the Student Council President, have a seat on the Board and speak on behalf of students on every high-level decision that is made within the organisation.

The fact of the matter is that universities would not exist without students; their foundational role is to prepare students for the world that awaits them after higher education. It is therefore vital that students be given a platform and their concerns actively taken into consideration at every stage. However, since students‘ time at university is limited to the time it takes them to get their degree, it therefore follows that the turnover rate of students is high and with that come certain difficulties. Anyone taking on a new role will understandably require some time to get to grips with the project they are faced with and when turnover rates are high it is essential to make it as easy as possible for new people to step into the role that is required of them. This is why the Aurora Student Council decided to convene in Iceland from the 11th to the 13th of March.

Identifying needs and meeting them ourselves

The project we were faced with was creating a Student Handbook that would enable any new student representative to get acquainted with the scope of Aurora‘s operations and their role within the cooperation as quickly and easily as possible. The creation of the handbook was a student-led initiative and the contents of it were a collaborative effort, where everyone had equal say in what needed to be included, with a specific focus on what information the current student representatives felt they would have required when they first took on the role.

The opportunity to take part in work like this - where students are given free rein to take initiative, to identify a need and meet it - is directly in line with Aurora’s goals of providing a holistic education for students, one that isn’t exclusively conducted within the walls of a conventional classroom but one that trains an entrepreneurial spirit and creative problem-solving.

Photo: Ivo Garnham

Creating confidence

The world is steadily shrinking, technology constantly improving, and this changed world comes with different expectations. The needs of the job market have shifted and work like this enables young people to feel confident in their knowledge and competence when it comes to tackling difficult problems. Aurora provides students with experiences that would otherwise not be available to them and consequently delivers education in areas that are not necessarily a point of focus in traditional higher education.

Interdisciplinary work with people from different cultural backgrounds is increasingly becoming the norm and so providing experience in those fields is something universities should be aiming for. Soft skills development is just as important as teaching students the basics of their field. Universities need to provide students with a comprehensive education that adequately prepares them for the world after higher education. That is the goal of Aurora.

Functional student representation

The work we began in Iceland is still ongoing. Of course, an entirely new framework will not be finalised over the course of three days. The new student handbook will be introduced to Aurora, in the wider context, in the second week of May and by the end of May we hope to have it approved by the Board, making it a functional document that will aid students during transition periods and provide the Student Council with an institutional memory. This is imperative in order to allow the Aurora Student Council to maximise its impact and provide student representatives with all the knowledge they require to make the most of their time within Aurora, allowing Student Council members to represent the wider student population as effectively as possible. With this infrastructure in place, Aurora Student Council members will hopefully have all the necessary tools at their disposal to help Aurora provide all students of member universities with more diverse opportunities for education and mobility.

I am proud to be a part of a project that will hopefully serve as a foundation for the success of Aurora student representatives for years to come. Additionally, I am grateful to work in an environment that trusts students’ knowledge and capabilities and allows them to forge their own paths.

Photo: Kristinn Ingvarsson