A wide range of Civic engagement activities carried out by YUFE. Our students make that possible.
Did you know that the Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE) Alliance is present in Joensuu and Kuopio? As a member of the YUFE Alliance, the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) offers a wide range of opportunities to students and staff of all YUFE members as well as to the citizens of your region.
YUFE aims to bring local communities and universities closer to each other. This autumn, university students in different YUFE cities can contribute to their local communities by attending YUFE Help Desks, YUFE Community Volunteering Programme or YUFE @ Home Initiative, and earn YUFE Civic Stars.
Physical or virtual YUFE Help Desks provide citizens with the opportunity to ask questions and get answers on a wide range of topics. For example, YUFE Help Desks in Leganés, Spain, provide advice on topics related to immigration, entrepreneurship and local development, while colleagues in Torun, Poland work on water safety, health issues and didactics. The first topic of the YUFE Help Desk at the UEF is diversity and inclusivity. Questions can be submitted virtually, and they will be answered by students of YUFE universities under the supervision of university staff. All YUFE Help Desks can be accessed via the YUFE Citizens’ Portal at: virtualcampus.yufe.eu/p/citizens.
YUFE Community Volunteering Programme allows university students to contribute to different volunteering initiatives within the YUFE cities and surrounding regions. Volunteers can work for local NGOs and other partners in organizing activities for refugees and immigrants, helping children with homework, keeping company to lonely, struggling teenagers, teaching a language etc.
With Europe slowly opening up with the lifting of restrictions, the YUFE @Home Initiative will become an essential element of the inclusive European University model, facilitating the integration of YUFE individuals of all levels in the YUFE communities of our cities. For example, in Kuopio, Finland, students are invited to visit and spend time with the neighbouring elderly, organizing activities. In Nicosia, Cyprus, students who reside in student accommodation can become energy saving agents and be recognized for that.
By attending any YUFE Civic Engagement Activity, the student can earn a YUFE Civic Star as part of the innovative YUFE Star System that rewards learners for taking up extra-curricular YUFE activities and for reflecting on their learning goals. At this moment the YUFE Star System is open to students only, but other learner groups may be added in the future. So, stay tuned!
For further information on YUFE in Our Cities activities, please visit https://yufe.eu/citizens-and-cities or follow YUFE in social media: Twitter @AllianceYufe, Instagram @yufe_alliance.
To contact your local YUFE office: yufe-citizens@uef.fi, International Relations Coordinator Kirsi Bykachev, tel. +358 50 363 4819.
YUFE in a nutshell
YUFE is one of the first 17 European University Alliances that have been granted funding by the European Commission for the development of Europe-wide university models. The YUFE Alliance is based on the joint vision of ten young research-oriented universities and four non-academic partners located across Europe. The YUFE partners came together based on their shared dedication to the European spirit, their common aim to contribute to a more competitive, innovative, and united Europe and their ambition to help address today’s challenges.
The members of the Alliance are Maastricht University (The Netherlands), which acts as the coordinator, the University of Eastern Finland, the University of Antwerp (Belgium), the University of Bremen (Germany), the University Carlos III Madrid (Spain), the University of Essex (UK), the University of Cyprus (Cyprus) as well as Tor Vergata University of Rome (Italy), University of Rijeka (Croatia), and the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Poland). In addition to academic development, YUFE aims at increasing cooperation between universities and university cities.