Keynote speaker: Rille Raaper, Associate Professor in Sociology of Higher Education, Durham University, UK
This event is dedicated to exploring student's identity and agency in today's crisis-ridden, marketised and globalised higher education world. If the university is nothing without its students, and students don't exist without their universities, to what extent is students' identity interwoven with that of their university? What are the possibilities for students to exercise their agency in a context where student debt, graduate un- and underemployment are on the rise and mental health is deteriorating, and to what extent is students' political engagement inside and outside of their home institutions crucial for today's society?
The event will consist of a keynote speech by the invited speaker, followed by a student-led panel discussion with guests and a Q&A session and will be rounded off with a reception.
This event is part of CEU Higher Education Research Group's event series entitled University in the spotlight
About the event series "University in the spotlight"
The purpose of this event series co-organised by the student-led Higher Education Research Group and the Yehuda Elkana Centre for Teaching, Learning and Higher Education Research is to initiate a wide-ranging discussion among CEU community members with invited national and international guests on current topics gripping higher education in the world today. The topics are selected based on the particular significance they bear to the activities of CEU and other Austrian universities at this particular point in time. The thematic focus of the events is therefore based around topics that affect the role that CEU and its constituents play in a context of a politically polarised world and in their new location in Austria.
Bio of the speaker: Rille Raaper is Associate Professor in Sociology of Higher Education and Co-Director of the Institute of Advanced Study at Durham University. Rille’s research centres around university students with a particular focus on student identity, experience and political agency in a variety of higher education settings. Her recent book titled ‘Student Identity and Political Agency: Activism, Representation and Consumer Rights’ captures various strands of Rille’s work from the past ten years.
Austrian speaker: Martin Unger is a sociologist working at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna and a Board member of the Society for Higher Education Research in Austria. His main area of research is the social dimension of higher education and he has been involved in running surveys on the social situation of students (Sozialerhebung) in Austria and at European level (Eurostudent) as well as graduate surveys (Eurograduate) for many years.