European Students' Union Elects Chairman
Allan Päll, former vice chairman of the European Students' Union (ESU) was elected as new chairman of the union at its 60th board meeting held in Tallinn on May 5.
ESU is an umbrella organization which represents more than 11 million European college and university students.
According to Päll, the two major trends in higher education are the so-called commoditization and internationalization of higher education. "More and more, students are being seen as customers which changes the nature of learning as then education does not serve the society any more which will lead to a deterioration of higher education," he said.
"My main priority will be the issue of funding in higher education. We will support our members in their fight for maintaining and increasing [public] investment in higher education," Päll added.
Prior to the meeting ESU hosted a four-day conference, titled "Financing of Higher Education - Financing the Future of Students" also in Tallinn, bringing together 150 representatives from 38 nations across Europe.
Ingrid Teesalu