Where do we as alliances go from here? A panel discussion on the future of European Universities.

3 March 2021, 9:30-10:30 (CET)

This public online event is part of the Una Europa Staff Week and the debate series "Watersheds of Internationalization?"

The ”European Universities“ initiative has captured the attention of the higher education sector over the last four years. The project was inspired by a speech on the future of Europe by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Sorbonne in September 2017, and has been adopted by the EU as a way to promote achievements in education and research in Europe. It now includes 41 alliances that have received EU funding for a pilot phase of three years.

2021 represents an important year to launch the debate on the future roll-out of the European Universities initiative. The Portuguese Presidency of the EU plans to launch Council conclusions on this topic in May, which will feed into the European Commission’s recommendation.

For this talk, we have invited representatives from the three European networks: Una Europa, EUTOPIA and UNITE! They will discuss the different paths these networks are currently pursuing, the challenges they are facing, and the hopes they have for their future development. They will also address how future policies and funding can support these endeavors. Among the questions to be discussed will be the following:

• What are the biggest positive aspects of the networks? Or is it too early to tell? Which strategies and instruments of cooperation have been successful, particularly in times of a pandemic?
• Where do we see the networks in ten years from now?
• What are the main challenges we currently face regarding the development of structures and programs on the European level – for example, legal issues, financial issues, visionary issues, national restrictions, etc.?
• European universities are developing joint educational programs and fostering research collaboration at the same time. To what extent can these two objectives be achieved?
• What kind of support do European universities need in the future? How can we make the alliances sustainable in terms of financial support?

Moderator

Verena Blechinger-Talcott, Vice-President International at Freie Universität Berlin, and Chair of the Board of Directors at Una Europa.

Speakers

• James Smith, Vice-Principal International at the University of Edinburgh, and representative for Una Europa
• Eva Wiberg, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Gothenburg, and representative for EUTOPIA
• Jens Schneider, Vice President of Transfer and International Affairs at Technische Universität Darmstadt, and representative for UNITE!.