The virtual institutes that will be built in the EC2U Alliance of the University of Turku and six other European universities will be introducing themselves in the EC2U Forum organised on 27—28 October. The research and innovation collaboration will also be highlighted through the Research & Innovation for Cities & Citizens collaboration project. The Forum will be organised in Salamanca, but it can also be participated remotely.
The EC2U Alliance creates innovative forms of collaboration and seamless mobility between seven European universities and cities. The Universities of Coimbra, Iasi, Jena, Pavia, Poitiers, Salamanca, and Turku have already been collaborating for a while, but the EC2U partnership was approved as European Universities Initiative alliance last year.
According to Vice Rector Piia Björn, who leads the EC2U activities at the University of Turku, the EC2U, which celebrates a year of operations on 1 November, has met all expectations.
— Collaboration within and between the work packages is open and tight. We have also come across some issues, as decision-making bodies in different countries and universities are quite different, but so far, no issue has been left without a solution. The International Programme of the University of Turku with its actions which will be published soon are realised in many ways in the activities of EC2U, says Björn.
The Board meetings of the Alliance have already included discussion on an applying for a second term.
Salamanca Forum Can Be Followed Remotely
One of the Alliance's regular activities is a forum organised every six months to further the collaboration and share good practices. Last May, the forum was organised in Turku, and on 27—28 October, it will be organised in Salamanca.
The Salamanca forum will be organised as a hybrid event. The opening of the forum, discussion on the future of European Universities Initiative, and the closing remarks can be followed as live broadcasting of USAL-TV of the University of Salamanca. The plenary session, introductions of the virtual institutes, and the discussion of the students' network can be followed online.
EC2U is building virtual institutes that will focus on doctoral training and research. On Wednesday, 27 October, the forum will feature introductions by Virtual Institute for Quality Education, Virtual Institute for Health and Wellbeing, and Virtual Institute for Sustainable Cities and Communities.
The programme on Wednesday also includes introduction of the shared project of the members of the EC2U: Research & Innovation For Cities & Citizens, i.e. RI4C2 project, which is funded by Horizon2020 and aims at strengthening research and innovation activities. The development work focuses on education, research, innovations, and services produced for society. The area of responsibility of the University of Turku is to increase collaboration related to open science.
On Thursday, the forum includes discussion on the development of the EC2U ecosystem and evaluation of the possibilities of Erasmus+ activities of the European Universities Initiative. The topic of the students' network discussion is students' expectations for European higher education.
>> More information on the EC2U Forum and the programme (NB! The times are in CET)
>> Follow the live broadcast of USAL-TV of the University of Salamanca
>> Read more about the activities of EC2U on the website of the University of Turku and the Alliance
>> The RI4C2 project