From Participation to Impact – How Students Drive Change Within EUPeace

When conversations about the future of higher education take place, the people most affected by the outcomes are often the least involved in shaping them. At the EUPeace Teaching Europe Conference 2025 in Limoges, Leon Hebeisen, a mathematics student at Justus Liebig University Giessen and Vice-President of the EUPeace Student Council (STC), offered a different picture. In his presentation “Students as Changemakers: From the Peace Declaration to Active Participation – Strengthening Student Voice within the EUPeace Alliance”, he traced how students within EUPeace have moved from representation to real influence.

His starting point was a conviction he returned to throughout the conference: “If higher education alliances aspire to foster democratic learning, inclusion, and European cooperation, student participation must be treated not as a symbolic gesture but as a structural principle.” What followed was a concrete account of what that looks like in practice – from the co-creation of the Peace Declaration to Student-led Events and Student Challenges.

More than a seat at the table

For Leon, meaningful participation begins long before the final decision. It starts at the agenda-setting stage – when priorities are defined, policies shaped and strategies formulated. Students, he argues, should be present to initiate, deliberate and co-design. And there must be accountability: students need to be able to trace how their contributions actually influence outcomes.

Within EUPeace, this has taken tangible form. Student representatives sit in governance bodies, contribute to strategic decisions and lead their own initiatives. What distinguishes this approach, Leon suggested, is that it connects agency with responsibility – and that the results are visible across the Alliance.

An equal voice in the room

Presenting alongside experienced academics and teacher educators at the conference was both a privilege and a responsibility, Leon reflected. What he found in Limoges was genuine intellectual openness – a dialogue shaped by mutual respect and a shared commitment to improving higher education across Europe.

That experience reinforced something he feels strongly about: intergenerational exchange in academia works best when students are recognised as partners who bring their own form of expertise. The Teaching Europe Conference showed that inclusive academic spaces can foster learning that flows across roles, disciplines and career stages – and that it enriches everyone involved.

Europe as a project of participation

For Leon, the phrase “Teaching Europe” reaches beyond transmitting knowledge about institutions or policies. It means fostering intercultural dialogue, critical reflection and civic responsibility. It means creating environments where students collaborate across borders, engage with difference and address shared challenges together.

Europe, in this sense, is an ongoing project of participation. And for students, it becomes most tangible when they can experience solidarity, shared governance and democratic practice within their own institutions. That lived experience, Leon argued, is what makes European values lasting.

Democratic participation starts at the university

At a time when democratic participation is under pressure across Europe, the question of how universities prepare their students for active citizenship carries real urgency. Leon’s contribution in Limoges was a reminder that the answer does not lie in new curricula alone – it lies in how institutions create space for the people they are educating.

The Teaching Europe Conference offered exactly that kind of space. And the fact that a student stood at the centre of the conversation says something about where EUPeace is heading.

The Teaching Europe Conference is EUPeace’s annual forum for educators, researchers and students committed to innovative teaching for a more inclusive and just Europe. The next edition is currently being planned – details will follow on the EUPeace events page