“When I got the invitation for this project I thought that this would be another step for my involvement in this international community of students. And I think it is really a great opportunity, especially for Lviv University, because we are a strategic partner of the EC2U Alliance”.

“First of all, I have to say that I really wanted to be here. I was in class and when I saw this, I immediately thought it was a unique opportunity. I took four days off from work to be here”.

“When I opened the email and read “Coimbra, Portugal”… I had never been to Portugal before and I really wanted to visit it, I wanted to get to know the atmosphere of this country and this city”.

This is how Maria Tatsynets, Kouma Rémi Itiblitse and Yasmina Andaloussi expressed their excitement about participating in the first EC2U Students Week, organised by the University of Coimbra (UC), in partnership with the Coimbra City Council (CMC), the Coimbra Students’ Unions/Coimbra Academic Association (AAC) and the Coimbra Erasmus Student Network (ESN Coimbra).

The event brought together 110 students from the 7 EC2U Alliance partner universities, but also students from the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Ukraine) − an EC2U associated partner since April 2022, as well as  from Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, Austria.

At the end of the week, the majority of participants were fully satisfied with the organisation of the event and its content. They appreciated the opportunity to meet their European peers, to share their experiences and to debate on subjects that were important to them, while discovering the heritage of the city of Coimbra. Their positive feedback was matched by the one of the organisers and hosts of this successful week:

“EC2U is an Alliance on which I strongly set my hopes, and in 10 years’ time it will certainly be an important alliance”, claims the Rector of the University of Coimbra, Amílcar Falcão, further adding that “it has the solid support of the European Union and has been held up as an example of good practices. This Alliance plays a crucial role in the future of European mobility for higher education students”.

The Mayor, José Manuel Silva, notes that events like the EC2U Students Week “are crucial to European integration, and they are also vital for the establishment of Coimbra as a European city that aims to play a role in European development and in reinforcing the European spirit”.

“Hosting the first major EC2U student meeting in Coimbra is a great joy to us and a great honour as well. This shows that, three years into the creation of the EC2U Alliance, we already have many students involved in the activities, not only from the Alliance universities, but also from guest universities such as Linz and Lviv”, highlights the Vice-Rector of the University of Coimbra for External Relations and Alumni, João Nuno Calvão da Silva.

EC2U global coordinator Ludovic Thilly points out that the Alliance fosters this and other activities “so that students can learn from each other and build an Alliance where people are truly connected”.

Filipe Rocha, the Alliance local coordinator at the University of Coimbra stresses the importance of the event, since “this is the first time that EC2U students get together in an event fully dedicated to them, with cultural and sports activities, as well as debates to reflect on Europe, what it means to be a European student, and also about sustainability issues”.

The EC2U team would like to thank the participants and organisers for hosting this memorable event.