1

D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 0 I S S U E N O . 2

Dear friends,

Our second HED newsletter has the privilege to talk with the organizers of the

first two HED national events: HED in Groningen (4th of November) and HED

in Bucuresti (26-28th of November). Anne and Dorine from AEGEE Groningen

will tell us what structure did the HED event have, how did the participants like

it and how did they feel as organizers. Alexandra,HED coordinator in Bucuresti,

shares with us the feelings she has before the big event. The outcome of the

event in Bucuresti and also information about HED in Delf(our third event!!! on

the 2nd of December) you will find in the newsletter no.3. But for that, you'll

have to wait until... next week :)

The HED coordination team can only smile and thank a looot our first three

HED event organizers: AEGEE Groningen, AEGEE Bucuresti and AEGEE

Delft. They were the ones who inspired us and made us see that our project

came true...is really happening! They are the once who deserve the applauses!

Enjoy the interviews in this newsletter!

All the best for this winter,

Your PRecious HED Team

HED NEWSLETTER

2

Anne Wensveen, European Affairs Direc-

tor & Vice President of the board of

AEGEE-Groningen:

- What structure did your event have?

We had a workshop day with

6 different workshops.

A. Mass education: a threat

or an opportunity

B. Study abroad

C. Youth unemployment

D. More than just your study

E. Budget cuts on

knowledge based economy

F. Do we need to consume

knowledge or do we need to

study actively.

All the workshops were held once in the

morning and once in the afternoon. In this

way all the people could join two different

workshops. And at the end of the day we

had one final plenary in which we

discussed all the final conclusions of all

the workshops as well as all the issues

people couldn’t talk about during the

workshops and which they wanted to

stress.

- How much time it is

take you to prepare it?

It took me about a month,

but that’s just next to my

board tasks. I asked for

three subsidies, of which

I got two, I arranged 7

workshop rooms, two

important speaker. the

lunch and I made all the

subjects and statements

and prepared the workshops. I searched

for 6 secretaries and chairs of the

debates and we made PR material. So

that was maybe 6 days of work in total if

you count all the hours.

HED IN GRONINGEN

Anne Wensveen

Dorine Welberg, PR & FR of the board of

AEGEE-Groningen:

How did you feel organizing a HED

event in Groningen?

For me, it was quite

exciting to organize such

an event. The only thing I

organized in Groningen

before was an exchange

on drug policy, but that is

quite different from a day

about Higher Education.

And we had not so much

time, in a month, every-

thing should be organized.

So we started to make a list with things

that should be arranged, like lecture

rooms, lunch, coffee and tea, a website,

flyers, press, speakers, and money. No

peanuts really, but we managed! Our

Rector Magnificus and dean of our

Honours College were to of

our speakers, and different

other student association

helped us making this

day a success.

And it was! Though there

were not a lot of people

(around 30), they all were

very enthusiastic and had a

clear opinion about what

should be improved about

the Higher Education in the

Netherlands. I can really

recommend anyone to organize an HED

event as well!

Dorine Welberg

3

- What difficulties did you have and

how did you overcome them?

In the Netherlands it is very hard to get

subsidized. And within one month it is

even harder to get a subsidy. But in the

end it worked out quite well. And I was

afraid that there would be a low quality of

debaters that is why I asked the

University Council of students to deliver

some good debaters, and they were tre-

mendous.

- How did you feel as an organizer?

As an organizer I was very glad to see

that all the subjects of the workshops I

had chosen seem to address to the

feelings the students in Groningen also

had. These were the subjects they

wanted to talk about. Also when you see

all these people debating I always want

to debate with them of course J But I

liked the day in Groningen. We really got

the feeling that by inviting professors and

our Rector Magnificus as well, they

might finally listen somehow to us every

once in a while. And we found out that

sometimes they already agree with us,

but some things are obligated by the

government. We came to some more

mutual understanding. I had the feeling

the day was quite a success and I hope

we can continue doing that in the up-

coming conferences.

What was the outcome of the HED

event? What satisfactions did you

have at the end?

Because we had six workshops, we had

6 main outcomes for every workshop.

These six points are the most important

things that need to be changed in the

Higher Education in the Netherlands

according to us students, as well as to

some professors at the University of

Groningen.

The board of AEGEE-Grononingen. From left to right: Dorine, Anne, Govert, Marleen,

Sygrit & Titus.

4

- What structure has the HED event

in Bucuresti?

Higher Education Days in Bucharest

has 3 stages:

1) A survey online (20 Octo-

ber- 25 November) : through

this survey we wanted to get

as many opinions as possible

from all over the country.

Also, this gave the students

the opportunity to express

their opinions about the

educational system even if

they are not able to attend

the event in Bucharest.

2) Pre-events (1-21 Novem-

ber): these were a series of

small events (such as

workshops, debates)

organized both by AEGEE locals and

other NGOs, which aimed at gathering

relevant information on what students

think of the Romanian educational

system.

3) HED Bucuresti (26-28 November):

the event will have 150 participants.

On Friday, 26th of November, we will

have the opening conference and on

27th and 28th (Saturday and Sunday),

there will be a series of 35 workshops

moderated by educational experts.

- How did you manage to get so

many partners & media supporters?

The project was of interest to the media

because of its topic and its

European dimension. Recently,

we had many public debates

on the new law of education in

Romania. So, the media tries to

cover and support events like

this. In my opinion, having so

many partners is also due to

the fact that Higher Education

Days not only aims at

identifying the main problems

of the educational system, but

also at finding viable solutions

to these problems.

- What do you expect from the event?

I expect it to be great. We have many

important educational partners and also

several NGOs in Bucharest got involved

in the project. There will be 35 awe-

some workshop moderators from com-

panies, institutions, and NGOs. I am

really excited about the event and we

expect to obtain the results we strived

for. [Moreover, we prepared some

prizes for the most active participants.]

HED IN BUCURESTI

Alexandra Stefan,

coordinator of

HED in Bucuresti

5

This winter, don't forget to

Shake your HED

Your HED Team:

Diana, Adela, Roxana,

Ana, Jorge and Angel

Chief Editor: Ana Dumbara

Layout: Daniel Angelkoff

Contact: hed@aegee.org