Culture 

One of ESN's values is "United in diversity": the members of our Association work to ensure that opportunities for intercultural exchange between local and international members are varied and frequent. City tours, guided visits to museums, trips to discover the natural and historical beauties of a country, fairs and conferences are just some of the events that can bring students into contact with the local culture, so that they can appreciate its deepest essence. At the same time international dinners, linguistic or culinary tandems allow each exchange student to show something of their country and their tradition, to ensure that this exchange is bilateral and not one-way. All of this helps create an environment of acceptance, based on respect and understanding. Furthermore, thanks to good cooperation, ESN can take advantage of European-level opportunities, such as the European Year of Cultural Heritage, making an even more important contribution to the cause.

 

Education and Youth 

Our members provide information on mobility programs and motivate students to study abroad. They organize mobility conferences to increase the accessibility of information and share their own mobility experience in order to show how this experience can be an investment in one's future. Our members also attend trade shows organized nationwide by stakeholders who recognize ESN as a likely partner and a reliable source of information. The promotion of volunteering and active citizenship is very important for our organization; ESN contributes to the sector by conducting its own research initiatives such as the ESNsurvey and publications, such as the ErasmusUpgrade Manifesto. Furthermore, in partnership with their university, our members work hard to ensure a fair, regular and enjoyable mobility period for all international students. At the student level, the activity carried out by Erasmus in Schools is also of fundamental importance: thanks to this, the members of our Association can promote to students of elementary, middle and high schools the opportunities and benefits of a higher education carried out partially at abroad, also thanks to the collaboration of Erasmus students who can talk about their experience and present education in their country of origin. Thanks to all this, we can lay the foundations for the birth of future volunteers and active citizens.

 

Environmental Sustainability 

ESN supports active citizenship, which encourages people to seek solutions to current problems. Eco-sustainability is one of the most important topics of our society and the members of our Association should serve as an example and guide to raise awareness of the problem in society. Caring for the environment, recycling, reusing and reducing are all topics that can be discussed, towards which an interest can be raised in the new generations, to have the hope, in the future, of having inhabitants who care more and more aware of our planet.
 

Health & Well-Being 

Moving abroad for an exchange is a big change that also includes our daily habits. Regular practices usually happen when we have a stable routine, and it's a bit difficult to plan something when you are aware that you will have to change your lifestyle again after about six months. For ESN it is very important to help international students take into account all the physical, social, intellectual and psychological factors that define well-being and which are inevitably put to the test during their stay abroad. We can differentiate between four types of health:
  • physical health, which refers to a state of physical well-being of the human body;
  • intellectual health, which is the ability to think clearly;
  • emotional health, which is the ability to recognize emotions such as fear, pleasure, anger, etc. and to express them appropriately;
  • social health, which is the ability to communicate with other people and build relationships.

Knowing this, local chapters often organize sports-related events such as excursions, football matches and dance lessons and arrange with local gyms to get discounts on memberships through the ESNcard. They also organize healthy eating workshops, post recipes or give advice on where to buy affordable healthy food in their city.

 

Skills and Employability 

According to some data from the European Commission (2012), 85% of students study or do internships abroad to increase their chances of finding a job once their studies are complete and more than 90% observe an improvement in their soft skills. Studies carried out on the move are recognized as a safe and effective means of improving one's skills, useful for personal and professional growth. ESN also organizes many training events, within which Workshops and Small Sessions are held aimed at developing and improving these skills. ESN has an internal training program, the Eduk8, aimed at training the members of the Association in the field of non-formal education, which also represents an added value within the CV. ESN has also developed ErasmusIntern, a platform that connects future interns and internship promoters, with the aim of presenting job opportunities to those who are leaving the university world. We must also underline how this is probably the most "work in progress" Cause, the contribution of Erasmus and ESN to the world of work is undoubtedly, but we must develop actions to make our effect more evident.
 

Social Inclusion 

For more accessible and inclusive mobility and the integration of international students into the local community. ESN implements the field of social inclusion by expanding participation and social commitment. ESN believes in a more diverse Erasmus+ programme, which is why our members work hard to raise awareness of mobility opportunities for students from under-represented groups. One such example is MappED!, which aims to promote accessible higher education options for students with disabilities. ESN believes in implementing volunteering experiences as a natural part of the mobility experience and aims to contribute to students' social integration through volunteering activities within the SocialErasmus project. In this regard, the local chapters organize activities such as animal shelter visits, workshops in nursery schools or retirement homes, helping with the preparation of meals for the homeless or donating blood. By organizing these activities, our members enable international students to participate in the life of the local community, thus feeling integrated in its daily functioning. Promoting social engagement creates inclusive societies.