European Liberal Students Network

 

Welcome to the information service of the ELSN, the network of Europe's liberal students inside LYMEC. Our goal is to create a voice able to express liberal positions on higher education policy. These positions should be jointly established by all liberal student organizations and a result of an encompassing process of open and frank discussions among all member organization. We feel that higher education is become more and more a topic on the European level. The Bologna process is a glaring example of attempted reform that has to be followed on an European level as well as on the national ones.

 

ELSN represents an opportunity for the liberal student organisations to share experiences, work on common policies and strategies, organise European-wide campaigns and seminars. ELSN aims at promoting liberal values among students in all European countries that have liberal student organisations and at strengthening these organisations as well as giving support to new similar organisations in countries in Europe, and including them in LYMEC and ELSN.

The history of ELSN

 

The idea of founding an European network of liberal student organizations has been around since the beginning of 2000. First given the name of LiFES (Liberal Forum of European Students), the project was seriously discussed in 2006, culminating with an initiative for the creation of the Liberal Student's network which came from 9 liberal student organisations on the LYMEC Congress in Winterthur, Switzerland in April 2006. A fringe meeting of these organisation was held after the Congress where the general idea was approved. Officially the ELSN was created and adopted at the LYMEC EC/Congress in Stockholm (December 2007). However, the first seminar organized by the student organizations inside ELSN and generously financed by ALDE was already held in September. During that seminar, the basic guidelines and terms of references were created by the participating student organizations and ELSN assumed its current aspect. The first motion signed by the active members of ELSN was presented at the Barcelona EC/Congress in 2008 and dealed with the Bologna process. Following the first seminar, a second one was organized by ELSN and LYMEC in April 2009, also taking place in Brussels and financed by MEP Ramona Manescu and LHG (Germany). Its topic was "Student services and the future of Bologna", culminating in two motions presented at the Congress in Rome and a lengthy discussion about the future of the network. During the Rome Congress in 2009 the final step to give ELSN its present shape was made with the election of the first board.

 

 

Currently, the following student organizations inside LYMEC consider themselves part of the European Liberal Students Network

 

LHG, Bundesverband Liberaler Hochschulgruppen

Germany, www.bundes-lhg.de

 

 

CSL, Cluburile Studentesti Liberale

Romania, www.csl.ro

 

 

JuLis Austria

Austria, www.julis.at

 

 

FEL, Federation Etudiants Liberaux

Belgium, www.etudiantsliberaux.be

 

 

NLSF, Norges Liberale Studentforbund

Norway, www.liberalestudenter.no

 

 

LS, Liberala Studenter

Sweden, wwW.liberalastudenter.se

 

 

KOL, Keskustan Opiskelijaliitto

Finland, www.keskustaopiskelijat.fi

 

LDYS/LY Liberal Democrat Youth and Students / Liberal Youth

UK, www.liberalyouth.org

 

 

YA, Young Alliance

UK, wWw.allianceparty.org

 

 

JNC, Joventut Nacionalista de Catalunya

Spain, www.jnc.cat

 

 

Youth MRF, Youth Movement for Rights and Freedom

Bulgaria, www.mdps.bg

 

 

CF, Civil Forum

Belarus, www.civilforum.eu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Civil Forum, Ukraine