EDUC Alliance Steering Committee is in Paris!

On 22 and 23 June, University Paris Nanterre (UPN) hosted the 33rd Steering Committee of the EDUC Alliance. A look back at these two days of exchange. 

Representatives of the eight partner universities in the “European Digital UniverCity” (EDUC) Alliance met at UPN on 22 and 23 June for the 33rd Alliance Steering Committee meeting to discuss the joint activities being put in place for all students, administrative and academic staff in the alliance.

More than 90 participants, including members of the alliance and guests, attended the meeting, including the presidents/rectors, the vice-presidents for teaching and international affairs, and students from Université Paris Nanterre, Université de Rennes (France), Universität Potsdam (Germany), Masarykova Univerzita (Czech Republic), Pécsi Tudományegyetem (Hungary), Universitetet i Sørøst-Norge (Norway), Universitat Jaume I (Spain) and Università degli Studi di Cagliari (Italy).

The Steering Committee meeting began with an institutional welcome from UPN’s president Philippe Gervais-Lambony, followed by a welcome from EDUC Alliance’s spokesperson Florian Schweigert (Universität Potsdam) and a few words of welcome and thanks from Sonia Lehman- Frisch, UPN’s vice-president for international relations.

This was followed by a presentation by Jacques Comby, adviser on European alliances and international cooperation at the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, on "The challenges of European alliances for higher education and research in France". The morning session ended with the adoption and signing of the “EDUC Charter of Common Values and Good Cooperation” by the representatives of the various partner institutions.

In the afternoon, a presentation and discussion on multilingualism by Alessandro Benucci, vice-president of education (UPN), was followed by a presentation on doctoral networks by Dr. Markéta Burešová, Dr. Ivana Jašková (Division of Doctoral Studies and Scientific Qualification, Office of Research and Development, Masarykova Univerzita) and by Dr. Deborah Bucchi (doctoral student, UPN) closed the meeting.

Parallel sessions were organized throughout the day, including a “Student Think Tank” involving student representatives from the partner universities, the main aim of which was to set up a student council that would participate in the alliance's future Steering Committees, and a team-building session bringing together project officers and managers, during which they worked through games on how to improve a team's workflow.

Two very rewarding days that will enable us to continue to strengthen our links with our partners. Thank you all for coming!