Magna Charta Observatory Essay Competition for all University Students

Magna Charta Observatory Essay Competition for all University Students

What would you change about your higher education experience or environment to make it more inclusive for all who have the ability to benefit from it?

Following the success of the 2023 Student Essay Competition, the Magna Charta Observatory (MCO) is pleased to launch a new call for essays from university students worldwide. This year the MCO is inviting students to reflect on how access to education, with diversity and inclusivity anchored in principles of equity and fairness, can prevail. More specifically, the guiding question of the 2024 MCO Student Essay Competition is as follows:

“What would you change about your higher education1 experience or environment to make it more inclusive* for all who have the ability to benefit from it?”

The Magna Charta Universitatum, 2020, emphasises the critical role of universities in acknowledging that individuals and communities, often due to inequitable circumstances, have difficulty gaining access to higher education or influencing the modes and matter of academic study.

Through this essay competition the MCO wishes to increase and raise the profile of student involvement in universities. The MCO has representatives of students in the membership of its governing body and in its various activities. By including representatives of students in the membership of its governing body and in its various activities, it continues to recognise the importance of bridging the student voice from the institutional to the international levels.

There will be 5 prizes for winners to present their essays and participate in discussions with an international audience at the MCO Anniversary 2024, consisting of expenses paid (including travel and accommodation costs) or a prize of equivalent value, at the discretion of the organizers.

Details will be communicated at a later date.

The competition is open to students registered in any university in any country. Entries are accepted starting from May 20th, 2024. The winners will be announced on 27 August 2024.

You may choose to reflect upon one or more of your

student experiences and the surrounding environment in relation to higher education governance (including student movements), culture, teaching, learning and/or research could be more inclusive. Such methods may concern:

Making access to education (1) opportunities/resources/facilities more equitable and fairer.

Enhancing students’ participation in and successful completion of their courses/programmes through more inclusive and diverse learning environments (E.g., through flexible and/or community-engaged learning, teaching and research opportunities)

Widening university policies and capacity to put the freedom to study/ research/ engage/ pursue/ explore interests into practice.

Formal requirements:

To participate the student must be enrolled in a Higher Education Institution.

Only one entry per author is permitted.

Neither the author’s name nor the name of his/her university or higher education establishment must be included in the essay or in the file name of the essay.

Essays must be solely the work of the author, who is allowed to quote from other works but such quotations must be acknowledged.

The Author is not allowed to use generative AI in the planning or writing of the essay. If the use of AI is suspected the judges will exclude the essay from further consideration.

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Magna Charta Observatory Essay Competition for all University Students

Scholarship 2026/27

Scholarship 2026/27