Purpose Students' union Chair of the Council Heiki Lemba | Official language Estonian | |
Formation 23 November 1991; 25 years ago (1991-11-23) Headquarters F.R.Kreutzwaldi 4, 10120, Tallinn, Estonia Executive Committee Maris Mälzer (Chairperson)
Eimar Veldre (Vice-Chairperson) | ||
The Federation of Estonian Student Unions (Estonian: Eesti Üliõpilaskondade Liit, EÜL) is a federation of Estonian student unions. It was founded on 23 November 1991, shortly after Estonia regained independence. EÜL as umbrella organization currently represents over 95% (64 460) of Estonian students.
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EÜL works closely together with Riigikogu (the parliament), the government, different ministries, higher education institutions and other partners. EÜL is also a leading NGO in Estonia and sometimes also represents students in schools, youth in general or just NGOs in different committees. EÜL is recognised as a partner by the Ministry of Education and Research. EÜL is a member of European Students' Union.
Structure
EÜL’s main decision body is the EÜL Board where all member student bodies are represented. Currently EÜL has 23 members. There are 34 higher education institutions (HEI) in Estonia, but not all have working student unions. Membership of EÜL is voluntary for a student body but all Estonian students are automatically members of their HEI student body. There are no membership fees for the students for belonging to student unions or student bodies.
The Board decides main future plans and policies, adopts the plan of work, is in charge of the budget and elects the Executive Committee (EC) and other committees. The 40-45 member Board is elected by the local unions, all students of all members are eligible to be elected as member of the council or the board. Each member of EÜL shall have 1 member and additional 1-member on EÜL Board for every 2000 students (a HEI with 6200 students has 4 members on EÜL Board). The Board assembles regularly 5 to 6 times per year.
The Executive Committee currently consists of 2 people with a 2-year mandate – the Chairperson and the Vice-Chairperson.
Since 2000 EÜL ECs have usually had a mandate of one year. From 2006 to 2007 was a transition period in which the start of the mandate was pushed from January to July to be more compatible with local unions democratic cycle thus the mandate for Executive Committees was longer than 12 months.
In February 2009 the Board decided change the mandate of the EC to two full years beginning from 1 July 2009. Concurrently with that, the EC will consist of only the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson. This is aimed at more professional leadership in EÜL. The Executive Committee is heading EÜL secretariat and EÜL foundations which consists of 12 to 20 employees and project managers working in the EÜL office.
Other structures in EÜL are the Council which advises the EC on strategical decisions and on extraordinary financial issues, the Policy Committee that advises the EC on policy and when necessary also represents students on national level and the Internal Audit Committee which supervises the EC and makes sure that EÜL governance is complying with the law and the decisions of the Board.
Other activities
EÜL also distributes the International Student Identity Card which is an identity card for students, teachers and youth in general. The ISIC card is the main source of revenue for EÜL.
EÜL also finances and publishes the national student newspaper Eesti Üliõpilasleht, owns work-study programs’ coordinator MIR Travel and organises student days in Tallinn. EÜL also offers modern electronic card systems for educational institutions that are based on ISIC cards under the project Minu Kool.
Memberships
EÜL is a member of Nordiskt Ordförande Möte (NOM), European Students' Union (ESU) and Network of Estonian Non-profit Organisations (EMSL).