In keeping with the tradition of holding European Student Conventions in the country at the helm of the EU Presidency, ESU, its member organisations and other student and youth representatives will converge on the Czech capital of Prague for ESC 17 in February.  With a theme of 'student empowerment through participation at the national, continental and global level', the event will consist a wide range of sessions designed to support, strengthen and build the capacity of the student movement across Europe and beyond.  Attention will focus on analysing the recent history of the student movement and appraising its strengths and key challenges, while a series of working groups will examine in detail gender and wider equality issues, knowledge transfer, student participation, capacity building, international cooperation, student unions and the environment, political lobbying and the financing of student unions.  There will also been a strong emphasis on preparing for student participation and activism around the Bologna Process and the Leuven Ministerial Conference in Spring 2009.

With so many skills and strengths within ESU and its constituent organisations, ESC 17 will represent an invaluable opportunity to share learning, achievements and lessons, and to benefit from the diversity and dynamism inherent in the European student's movement.