YOUropa PREMIUM

Our project is about advising YUFE and Studio Europa on the synergies, complementary nature, and the collaboration opportunities between these two organizations.

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Wow, the journey is over! Premium was a remarkable experience which embellished our master program duties.

The interdisciplinarity that characterized our team, as well as the valuable workshops which gave a boost to our interpersonal and professional skills, are definitely two aspects that rendered premium a noteworthy experience.

Lastly, networking was also a prominent facet of premium, during the COVID-19 pandemic, which helped us connect with people from different professional and academic backgrounds.

Thank you Premium, YOUropa Out!

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STAGE III: ADVISING ON KEY SYNERGIES – Report

The last phase of our project has arrived! We are done with our report and are happy to present it to you:

(click here to read)

In the report, we discuss our PREMIUM journey, the research we conducted, and our final result: the YOUropa platform. The report also goes more in-depth about the ideas and suggestions we have for the platform. Additionally, we incorporated methods for YUFE and Studio Europa on how they could implement our ideas in order to reach a successful synergy.

We are very happy that after 5 months of hard work we can present you and the clients with these tangible ideas. We really enjoyed the process and hope that it will benefit YUFE and Studio Europa in their journey to a successful collaboration!

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Ο μη ειδώς σιωπάν, ουκ οίδε διαλέγεσθαι.

Constantine 🇬🇷

Translation: the one that doesn’t know how to be quiet, cannot hold a conversation.

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May 19th @ 17:00 pm CET / 11:00 am EST

Agora Europe and Studio Europa Maastricht will organize a transatlantic roundtable on human mobility.

The live webinar will tackle different topics, in relation to migration; the concept of borders, sea rescue and saving lives, discrimination, xenophobia and counternarratives, with a particular focus on COVID-19, while taking into consideration the Global Compact on Migration and the New EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. On this occasion, Agora Europe will also launch its new initiative “Dictionary on Mobility and Borders” (DMB).

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YOUropa: An Inclusive Platform

An inclusive academic place might be defined as one that not only values and uses individual and intergroup differences but also cooperates and contributes to its community. Both of our client's organizations strive to achieve this.

YUFE’s mission is to transform European higher education by establishing a leading model of a student-centered, open, and inclusive European University. While, Studio Europa strives to make Maastricht a place where citizens, scientists, journalists, and organizations meet for debate, dialogue, and research about the future of Europe.

These visions compliment each other and form the basis of the synergy that we as a team are trying to realize. A platform would be the bridge between YUFE and Studio Europa. On the platform, students and locals of Maastricht are welcome to take part in a variety of activities and opportunities. The goal is to strengthen the connection between citizens and students and have them learn from each other.

For the platform, we chose the name “YOUropa”. This is in line with the name of our team but we think it would fit for the platform as well. The name YOUropa was born out of the composition between the words “YUFE” and “(Studio) Europa”. The word also resembles the fact that YOU can contribute to a better Europa since everyone’s voice matters in this context.

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The YUFE D&I Lecture Series is a means of promoting and celebrating D&I education and engagement across the YUFE community. We aim to showcase D&I in practice through speakers who are experts in their fields.

May 18th @ 13:30 – 14:30 PM CET (registration before the event is required)

Speaker: Tim Butcher, Chief Economist and Deputy Secretary, UK Low Pay Commission

Abstract: This presentation will look at the diversity of systems across the EU. It will also look at how it affects workers across Europe

Despite economic advances, inequality and low pay remain features of modern labour markets. The lowest paid across Europe tend to work in similar occupations and industries, such as cleaning, retail and hospitality. Low pay also tends to be concentrated among particular groups, such as women (especially those working part-time), the young, the old, those with disabilities, migrants and certain ethnic groups. One policy that aims to tackle low pay is a statutory minimum wage. This aims to prevent the worse exploitation by imposing a wage floor below which it is illegal for employers to pay. Not all countries in Europe have a statutory minimum wage. And not all have a national minimum wage. Some countries differentiate by age, geography, occupation and industry. For countries that have a minimum wage, there are many different ways that it is set – some are set by the Government while others use some form of social partnership.

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Happy Europe Day! 🎉

Since May 9th 1985, Europe Day has been celebrated in EU countries. The day commemorates the fact that on that date in 1950, French Minister Robert Schuman called for an organization that would promote French and German production of coal and to place steel under joint management. Nowadays, the day is intended to celebrate peace, solidarity, diversity and unity in Europe.

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STAGE II: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS – Synergy

Update time! Now that we finished the research phase of our project we progressed to the second phase; the comparative analysis. 

Beginning this second phase, we were left with a lot of valuable data from the interviews. After the debriefing meeting with the clients, we concluded that our idea of a student desk is most feasible so we decided to proceed with that plan. During the debriefing meetings we got the feedback to revisit the idea of calling the synergy a desk. So, we decided to ideate a platform instead. It’s up to us now to convert this into a concrete idea...

To start, we had a big brain storm session. Here, we discussed all the possible tasks and forms this new platform could take. The main purpose of the synergy is to be an inclusive environment where citizens and students can connect with each other. This could be through volunteering, internships, or a buddy system. This platform is initially intended to be online but we like to propose to the clients to also keep in mind the option of offering hybrid meetings or meeting at a physical location.

The final deliverable that we will hand over to the client will consist of two components:

A report detailing our research journey and advise on the collaboration opportunity between YUFE and Studio Europa;

And, a brochure explaining the new synergy/platform that connects citizens and students.

After finishing these two components there will only be one last step left: the closing ceremony!

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"Oufti!"

Mariam 🇧🇪

If you go ever get the chance to go to Liège (aka Luik, Lüttich, or the ‘Fiery City’ as we call it in Belgium), you will see that most of our sentences are punctuated by an interjection: "Oufti!". This earned us the mockery of the rest of Wallonia and Brussels which often have fun counting how many times we say it (but secretly wants to use it too)!

”Oufti" comes from the Walloon "Ouf ti! ' (Phew you!) and can express pretty much anything:

• Astonishment: "Oufti the Premium programme is already about to end!” • Admiration: "Oufti, how great is YOUropa’s Tumblr page! " • Anger: "Oufti, it’s only sunny when I have to study!” • Or quite typically: "Oufti, Qu’ène affaire à Lîdje ! (" Oufti, what a story in Liège!”)

It even became the name of a chocolate brand (of course!) What about you? Does your region have a special word that the rest of the country envies ?

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This week the YOUropa team had a team dynamics session with our coaches HQ & Joedith - which started in a very... dynamic way, since we all had to dance in front of our screens (and of the neighbours too in some cases) on a Friday morning at 9am!

Yes, dear reader, that’s a harsh start of the day - and not really one that we’re used when starting our usual Zoom routine! But this was precisely the whole point of this exercise: to make us think about our team interactions and meetings in a different way, reflect on what works well and what can still be improved in the last 4 weeks of the project.

During the session our coaches asked us to answer the following question: “What body part does each team member represent?”. Deciding who was the heart, lungs, bones, or Dior bag of the stylish drawing above was very difficult. We discovered that our real strength as a team is how leadership flows nicely between us, with no fixed roles assigned to anyone.

To end the meeting, we agreed on three points to work on for the last month of our PREMIUM adventure:

Agree on a set day and time each week on which we will all work on the project to facilitate collaboration

Set up final milestones to enhance our motivation and track out progress

Finally, add a new systematic brainstorming component to our meetings, as we’re now in the very exciting phase of ideating the new platform we want to suggest to our clients Studio Europa and YUFE!

If you wanna know what this consists of - stay tuned for our next updates on this page!

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Europa and the Bull: a Greek myth about the origin of Europe

One day a young Phoenician (Asian) princess named Europa (Greek: Ευρώπη) is playing on the beach with her friends. Zeus, king of the gods, is struck by the girls' charms, especially that of the princess. A herd of cows is grazing near the girls. In order to escape the eye of his wife Hera and also not to frighten Europa with his divine appearance, Zeus turns himself into a white bull and joins the animals.

As soon as the princess sees the unknown bull, she becomes curious. She has never seen such a beautiful bull. Despite its powerful appearance, the animal seems sweet and gentle. Europa and her friends play with the bull for a while and decorate it with flowers. The girls are so caught up in their game that Europa suddenly decides to climb on the bull’s back.

She is not yet on the broad shoulders of the animal when it storms off and jumps into the sea. Since Europa cannot swim, she has no other option than to cling tightly to the fierce bull. In one go, the bull swims to the island of Crete. Once there, Zeus reveals his true identity and rapes the girl. Accomplished he returns back to Olympus.

Europa bears three sons of which one, Minos, would later become king of Crete. From then on, the Greeks would name the strange new continent after the abducted princess; Europe. Why the Greeks did this has been debated for many years.

This iconic myth is still present today. Images of a female figure riding a bull can be seen throughout Europe like statues outside the Council building in Brussels and Strasbourg but also on the back of a Greek 2 Euro coin.

Painting: The Rape of Europe, Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)

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Hello people of Tumblr ! It’s good to see you scrolling down here, because we got some exciting news for you.

We had a meeting today with our client from YUFE, Veronique, to present the data we collected when conducting interviews with YUFE staff as well as our recently revisited ideas to help YUFE and Studio Europa synergise!

The first part of the meeting touched upon the interviews themselves, covering five main areas: the organisation’s strengths and challenges, YUFE’s focus on European integration, the organisation’s desire to have students contribute both with their knowledge and actions to strengthening their community, and finally what staff perceived as an ideal synergy.

The most exciting part of the meeting was – at least for me, here’s Clara speaking! – the reviewing of our idea of a joint Studio Europa – YUFE Student desk. While Veronique was enthusiastic about a lot of the “ingredients” we wished to put in it, she encouraged us to go even further. That’s how we all brainstormed more exciting names for our secret plan (yes, it will remain entirely secret for now) as well as how to connect our idea to already existing initiatives in both organisations.

That left us a lot of food for thought ahead of our next meeting on Friday, in which we will meet with our two clients – who have seen so far the results of our research for their own organisation, but not yet how this overlaps with the other institute! We will also present our even more polished secret plan idea with a secret name.

Stay tuned to find out what it’s all about!

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"Eltöredezettségmentesítőtlení ttethetetlenségtelenítőtlenkedh etnétek"

Sári 🇭🇺

Meaning: There is no direct translation but the word is used to describe something like "for your defragmented".

Did you know that the Hungarian language has really long words? Eltöredezettségmentesítőtleníttethetetlenségtelenítőtlenkedhetnétek (67! letters) is the longest word currently!

What is the longest word in your language?

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The YUFE D&I Lecture Series is a means of promoting and celebrating D&I education and engagement across the YUFE community. We aim to showcase D&I in practice through speakers who are experts in their fields.

April 30th @ 14:00 – 15:15 PM CET (registration before the event is required)

Speaker: John Delap, Senior Policy & Project Officer, Inclusion at Academic Cooperation Association (ACA) Belgium

Abstract: Higher Education is a sector in which there is significant underrepresentation of many groups in European societies. This lecture will deliver an introduction to evidence-based research regarding academic recruitment and will present best practice examples for implementing changes to your selection processes within higher education institutions.

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The "Father" of the Euro

On April 4th, Canadian Nobel prize-winning economist Robert Mundell passed away. He mainly goes into the history books as being the “Father” of the Euro. He was one of the founders of the euro in 1999 and laid the groundwork for theories about cross-border currencies. He also initiated the movement known as supply-side economics, a theory that suggests that financial growth can be most successfully cultivated by lowering taxes, diminishing guidelines, and allowing free trade. Robert Mundell died at the age of 88 years old.

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After conducting the interviews with the employees of Studio Europa (SE), we had a debriefing meeting with our client Helene from Studio Europa to discuss our findings with her.

For this meeting, we had two key agenda points. The first involved updating the client on our research process and the results of the interviews. We informed Helene that out of the interviews we conducted, we concluded five main points. These points included the internal communication of the organization, the mission statement of SE, the language barrier for non-Dutch speakers, the target audience of SE, and the future of SE.

Our next point on the agenda touched on the previous ideas we had proposed to the clients and how these matched up with the information and feedback we received from the interviewees.

Our first idea calls for creating more student involvement and raising awareness about YUFE and SE. This could be done by promoting both organizations on open days at UM, at student associations, and on social media. The second idea is concerned with building a student desk. Here, YUFE and SE can work together to help and connect students and citizens. So far this is just an idea and the details of this desk are still up for debate.

The feedback we received for these ideas was generally positive and that makes us excited to move forward!

For now, our next step is to have a meeting with our client from YUFE, Veronique. We will debrief her on the findings of the interviews with the employees of YUFE and also go over the ideas that we have again. So stick around to read how that goes!

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STAGE I: RESEARCH – Interviews

After reading through the documents provided by our clients, the next step in our research is conducting interviews. There are two objectives for the interviews. The first is to get answers to questions that came up while reading the literature. The second is to get more information on the structure, culture, and procedures within YUFE and Studio Europa. Besides, the interview also allow us to have an in-depth conversation with the directors of both of the organizations.

The method used for the interviews is semi-structured. We chose this method of interviewing because it is flexible and allows for asking follow-up questions. It also ensures that the validity of the interview is guaranteed (Anderson et al., 2008). The interview scheme can be found below. The interviews were done over Zoom since meeting in person was not possible under the current restrictions.

After conducting all the interviews, we will code and analyze the collected results. Together we will then discuss if there are any discrepancies with the information that was provided to us and see if we can come up with any potential synergies yet. These findings will then be presented to our clients. Following that meeting, we will proceed to the second phase of our project.

Reference: Anderson, N., Salgado, J., Schinkel, S., & Cunningham Snell, N. (2008). Staffing theorganization: An introduction to personnel selection and assessment. In N. Chmiel (Ed.), An introduction to work and organizational psychology: A European perspective (2nd ed.) (pp. 257-280). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.