BACKGROUND

WHAT ARE YOUR BENEFITS?

STUDY OFFER

INFORMATION

As part of the “Conference for the Future of Europe”, the European Student Assembly will take place on 3 and 4 March in Strasbourg.

Here, 275 students from all 41 European university alliances, including Transform4Europe, will exchange views on current topics related to Europe. Ten panels will discuss questions such as “Do we need a European Health Union?”, “How can the EU become more resilient to cyber-attacks?” or “How should the EU prepare for future migration crises?

Lukas Redemann, student of Saarland University and President of the Student Council of our university alliance Transform4Europe, is participating in the panel on cyber security. He will attend the Student Assembly together with four other Transform4Europe Students from Trieste and Alicante.

Until March, students from all over Europe will discuss and develop a policy paper that will present proposals to the EU institutions. Input will be provided by the students’ own independent research as well as by experts for the respective panel topics. Currently, the students meet weekly and are preparing intensively for the European Student Assembly, which hopefully can take place in presence. It remains exciting to see which forward-looking proposals the Assembly will adopt in March.

DEAR STUDENTS!

TASKS OF THE STUDENT AMBASSADOR

The tasks of Student Ambassador will include logistical and administrative support related to the organization of the stay at the university and in the city i.e:

• welcoming arriving Transform4Europe students;
•  picking up students from the airport/railway station;
•  guiding the students around the city, including: indicating the doctor’s surgery, police station, nearest stores, providing information on sport possibilities, public transport system;
•  support in administrative and academic matters, including: assistance in choosing courses and preparing the learning agreement, as well as assistance in finding accommodation outside the university dormitory (if applicable), and in their legalization of stay;
•  completion of an evaluation questionnaire after the assignment has been completed.

BENEFITS OF PARTICIPATING IN THE PROGRAMME

All students who are selected to be Transform4Europe Student Ambassadors will receive a certificate issued by the International Relations Department for their involvement which they can include in their CV. Information about participation in the programme will be included in the diploma supplement.

Students, especially those with limited ability to travel, e.g. due to physical disabilities or financial constraints, will have the opportunity to gain international experience without leaving their home country (internationalization at home).

Ambassadors from all member universities of the Transform4Europe alliance will be connected to each other through the Transform4Europe Ambassadors Virtual Network, which will allow them to support each other, exchange best practices, discuss their experiences and address any issues they may encounter during their role as Ambassadors.

WHO CAN BECOME A TRANSFORM4EUROPE STUDENT AMBASSADOR?

Prerequisites

Student Ambassadors must:

• be students of the University of Silesia in Katowice enrolled in the first, second or third cycle of studies;
• have a good knowledge of at least one of the cities where the University campus is located i.e. Katowice, Sosnowiec, Cieszyn or Chorzow;
• have a broad knowledge of the University;
• have a good knowledge of the University procedures.

Selection criteria and scores

• good command of spoken English (CEFR B1: 1 point, B2: 1.5 points, C1: 2 points, C2: 2.5 points);
• language skills of any of the Transform4Europe partner universities (1 point);
• limited ability to travel, for example due to disability or financial constraints (1 point);
• interest in international affairs or previous international experience (1 point);
• previous participation in an international exchange at any Transform4Europe university (2 points);
• community involvement/volunteering (2 points).

Meeting the above-mentioned criteria will be verified on the basis of documents provided by the students, i.e.:

• language certificates – Certified language certificate or a certificate of participation in a foreign language course at an institution of higher education, allowing for unequivocal determination of the level of proficiency in accordance with the requirements of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages of the Council of Europe (CEFR scale). In the absence of a certificate or attestation, the student may take a placement test using the online tool https://dialangweb.lancaster.ac.uk/. In the case of students who participated in the Erasmus+ programme, the result of a language test on the OLS platform may also be accepted.
• certificates of participation in international exchange and/or active participation in an international event organized in the home country,
• confirmation of participation in voluntary work or other social engagement,
• Dean’s decision to grant a scholarship in the semester preceding the current recruitment deadline.

The additional point due to disability will be granted on the basis of the student’s “yes” answer to the question on the application form. Answering this question is not obligatory.

Those who answer positively may be asked to present a disability certificate for verification of this information.

Verifying Committee

The committee verifying the content of the submitted documents and information included in the application form will be composed of representatives of the International Relations Department, consisting of

• head of the International Exchange Office;
• a representative of Virtual Office in the Transform4Europe project;
• expert for Student Ambassadors of Transform4Europe project.

In the case of equal number of points obtained by the students, the more convincing justification of willingness to participate in the programme and candidate’s knowledge of the Transform4Europe alliance (questions 16-19 in the application form) will be decisive in qualifying to the Transform4Europe Student Ambassadors programme.

Attachments:

• Call for applications Transform4Europe Student Ambassador Programme 2021–2022;
• Additional provisions concerning the Transform4Europe Student Ambassadors Program.