Background of the cooperation
The municipalities of Utrecht and Brno have had a cooperation for more than 15 years in which knowledge is shared, for example about culture and education. The Erasmus Student Network has sections in both cities that fulfil the same tasks: they take care of internationalisation of their city, by welcoming more than 3000 exchange students from all around the world.
The boards of ESN Utrecht and the ESN sections in Brno don’t only have similar missions, but also have similar tasks to reach their goals. But because of cultural and other differences between Utrecht and Brno the activities they organise in both cities differ a lot, both in objective as in the way they get organised. An exchange of ideas, knowledge and sharing best practices would be very informative, useful and renovating for the students on the boards of the involved ESN sections.
The cooperation
ESN Utrecht and all three of the ESN Brno sections want to cooperate to share knowledge, culture and experiences. The sections organize a study trip every half year, where members from the ESN board(s) from one city visit the other and vice versa every year. During the trip the local section(s) organize an activity for exchange students and the visiting section(s) witness the preparations and execution of this. By witnessing and organising an activity, and having meetings and brainstorms, the sections can get new ideas, share knowledge and get to know each others culture better.
Goals of the cooperation
- Enhancing the international character of Utrecht and Brno, especially for students, to promote the mobility amongst students;
- Exchanging ideas and getting to know each others culture, where Utrecht will be promoted amongst international and local students from Brno and vice versa;
- Knowledge transfer between ESN sections to gain new perspectives and better reflect on personal work;
- Tighten the bonds with the sister city and it’s higher education institutes.
History of the cooperation
The first meeting of ESN in Brno and ESN Utrecht was organized in March 2009 in Brno followed by a study visit of ESN from Brno in Utrecht before AGM Utrecht 2009.