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Next Level Skills for Student Leaders (NELS) is a dynamic virtual training course designed to elevate the capabilities of student leaders across Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.
What is NELS?
Whether you're representing your student union, leading a campus initiative, or simply passionate about making a difference, NELS empowers you to lead with confidence, creativity, and compassion.
NELS brings together student leaders from Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa for virtual training sessions that foster leadership, critical thinking, and intercultural exchange. Participants gain practical tools to drive positive change within and with student movements, organisations and initiatives, and build lasting international networks.
The NELS course offers one online welcome session and five training sessions per semester, all delivered online. Each session is offered at two different times to help interested participants to fit it to their schedule. A digital badge is offered for participation in a single session and a micro credential of 3 ECTS for those who participate in all 6 sessions in a semester.
Training sessions are led by experienced facilitators and student organisation representatives from across Africa and Europe.
This course is open to all students, independent of whether they are enrolled in a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or any other level of study.
October 2026 - November 2026
How to Register
The Registration form starts on 1st August 2025, after completing it, wait for confirmation via email with details on how to join the Moodle platform.
| Cycle 3 | First Offer | Second Offer | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Welcome Session | 22nd October 2026 | 14:00-16:30 CEST - Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium, Denmark | 12:00-14:30 GMT - Ghana, Gambia | 15:00 – 17:30 EAT - Kenya | 13th November 2026 | 14:00-16:30 CET - Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium, Denmark | 13:00-15:30 GMT - Ghana, Gambia | 16:00-18:30 – EAT - Kenya |
| Future Skills and Megatrends | 23rd October 2026 | 14:00-16:30 CEST - Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium, Denmark | 13:00-15:30 GMT - Ghana, Gambia | 16:00-18:30 – EAT - Kenya | 16th November 2026 | 14:00-16:30 CET - Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium, Denmark | 13:00-15:30 GMT - Ghana, Gambia | 16:00-18:30 – EAT - Kenya |
| Digitalisation and Digital Transformation | 27th October 2026 | 14:00-16:30 CET - Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium, Denmark | 13:00-15:30 GMT - Ghana, Gambia | 16:00-18:30 – EAT - Kenya | 17th November 2026 | 14:00-16:30 CET - Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium, Denmark | 13:00-15:30 GMT - Ghana, Gambia | 16:00-18:30 – EAT - Kenya |
| Leadership for Student Leaders | 28th October 2026 | 14:00-16:30 CET - Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium, Denmark | 13:00-15:30 GMT - Ghana, Gambia | 16:00-18:30 – EAT - Kenya | 18th November 2026 | 14:00-16:30 CET - Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium, Denmark | 13:00-15:30 GMT - Ghana, Gambia | 16:00-18:30 – EAT - Kenya |
| Communication for Student Leaders - Virtual Space | 29th October 2026 | 14:00-16:30 CET - Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium, Denmark | 13:00-15:30 GMT - Ghana, Gambia | 16:00-18:30 – EAT - Kenya | 19th November 2026 | 14:00-16:30 CET - Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium, Denmark | 13:00-15:30 GMT - Ghana, Gambia | 16:00-18:30 – EAT - Kenya |
| New Ways of Student Organizing I | 30th October 2026 | 14:00-16:30 CET - Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium, Denmark | 13:00-15:30 GMT - Ghana, Gambia | 16:00-18:30 – EAT - Kenya | 20th November 2026 | 14:00-16:30 CET - Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium, Denmark | 13:00-15:30 GMT - Ghana, Gambia | 16:00-18:30 – EAT - Kenya |
Modes of Participation & Recognition
Students can choose to:
- Attend selected individual sessions: a digital badge is offered for participation in a single session.
- Participate in the full course (1 Welcome session + 5 sessions): those who complete the full course are eligible to receive 3 micro-credentials (European-standard ECTS credits) issued by FH OOE.
Technical Information & Support
Platform: All sessions will be hosted on Moodle and conducted via Teams
Support: AASU, GSF, and ESU teams are available for technical and administrative guidance
Tools Used: Breakout rooms, collaborative whiteboards (Padlet, Miro), and gamified learning methods
Silke Preymann – Future Challenges Leader
Silke Preymann is the head of the Master's programme in Human Resource Management and the scientific head of the Diversity Management department at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria. Her research focuses on organizational learning in higher education institutions. She is and was involved in a number of international projects (in some of them as a project manager) in the field of student engagement/ student belongingness and diversity management in higher education.
Manja Klemenčič – Next Level Skills Leader
Manja Klemenčič is Senior Researcher at Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia and Associate at Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University where she was an award-winning lecturer for the past 10 years. Her research focuses on student governments, representation, and agency in higher education, and she has published widely, including The Bloomsbury Handbook of Student Politics and Representation in Higher Education (2024). She is Joint Editor of the European Journal of Higher Education and regularly consults for international organizations and governments on higher education policy.
Bismark Amefianu Kudoafor – New Ways of Student Oraginising Leader
Bismark is the Chief Technical Officer at the All-Africa Students Union, where he previously served as Programs Officer for Capacity Building and Research and Communications Officer. He was part of the African team contributing to the Global Students’ Demand on Refugee and Migrants’ Education policy document. His work focuses on youth and student leadership, lifelong learning, and capacity building at continental and global levels.
Ich helfe dir bei der Studienwahl.