Promoting sustainable travel among international students is our primary goal, in collaboration with the member institutions of the Go2UNIS Network. We aim to achieve this by connecting students sharing the same exchange location within and across universities through messaging groups generated when students fill out the form on Go2RAIL’s homepage. This messaging system allows them to establish contact, share useful information, and coordinate their travels to or from their exchange location in a fun and collaborative way.
For now, train travel typically takes longer to reach distant destinations compared to other modes of transportation. Yet, we firmly believe that this aspect can be flipped into a positive one when social interactions among like-minded people are facilitated, transforming long trips into unforgettable journeys.
Finally, and to be realistic, we recognize that the cost of train tickets can be a significant barrier. To address this, we are committed to providing international students with promo codes that can be used for train tickets and other essential student needs. This, along with the financial support available within the Erasmus+ framework, aims to make train travelling more accessible to all.
Promote more sustainable travel behaviors by harnessing the power of human connections, and making long trips fun and shared journeys.
For students traveling to distant exchange locations, overnight travel is often unavoidable and can leave them feeling unsafe. Help them overcome this by traveling in good company.
Discover the strategies adopted by other European institutions to promote green travel among international students by attending the "Green Mobility Knowledge Hub" sessions.
Fill out and submit the form below with the requested information about your institution.
Within a few days, you will receive an initial draft of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to join the Go2UNIS Network. Make sure to check your SPAM folder!
Review the received MoU and feel free to suggest any changes you'd like to see implemented, in accordance with your institution's regulations. Once the MoU is sent back signed, your institution will be added to the Member Institutions of the Go2UNIS Network.
Now everything is set! You can begin spreading the word about the Go2RAIL initiative within your student community through the communication channels you regard as most suitable.
The Go2RAIL Initiative is exclusively for students, meaning it's designed to bring students together for travel. To ensure this, participation requires an active student institutional email address.
Like most student associations (e.g., Erasmus Student Network - ESN, Erasmus Mundus Association - EMA), Go2RAIL funds itself through donations and a percentage of the distributed promocodes.
As a not-for-profit organization, Go2RAIL is obligated to reinvest 100% of the generated profit into its mission. Specifically, Go2RAIL uses the generated profit to cover administrative and technology-related costs to improve its service, while the rest of the revenue is transformed into gift cards that students can use for services and/or products to make their travel experience more affordable.
There is no difference between the two. The Go2UNIS Network falls under the same umbrella as the general Go2RAIL Initiative and can be considered the communication channel of the Initiative itself.
The MoU is a general agreement between Go2RAIL and a European university highlighting the interest of such an institution in supporting the Initiative by spreading the word about it among its community of students.
The main aim of signing the MoU is to formalize the interest of an institution in supporting the Initiative, which is important for synchronizing the communication about the Initiative, thus enhancing its impact across Europe.
Go2RAIL's Memorandum of Understanding is not legally binding, as is typical for any MoU.
Once you have submitted the relevant details to draft the MoU for your institution, it will take 1-2 working days to receive the first draft of the agreement.
Go2RAIL is very aware that each European university is subject to its own institutional rules and policies. In this sense, our team is very flexible in adjusting it as the institution sees best.
After sending back the signed MoU, you will receive a welcome email and your institution will be listed among the member institutions of the Go2UNIS Network (www.go2rail.eu/all-unis). In addition, you will receive informative and graphical material to be used to spread the word about the Go2RAIL Initiative among your community of students.
As reported in the MoU, it would be best to inform all incoming and outgoing students at least twice a year, specifically in June for first-semester exchange students and November for second-semester exchange students. Anyways, it will be Go2RAIL's responsibility to send due reminders to make sure that the communication will occur synchronously across all the European institutions belonging to the Go2UNIS Network.
Based on our experience, sending an informative email about the Initiative directly to all incoming and outgoing students has proven to be the most successful strategy. Being aware that this cannot always be implemented, integrating every email sent to international students with two lines about the Initiative can also be considered a valid alternative.
We are happy to help! If you have any doubts or need suggestions to find the most adequate channel of communication, feel free to reach out to the Go2RAIL Team directly via email at info@go2rail.eu.