Under the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union for the second half of 2023, the 2nd Forum of European University Alliances is being held in Barcelona on 14 and 15 September. The event aims to provide a space for dialogue and the exchange of ideas to address the most important issues currently affecting the European alliances, networks created to promote Europe’s identity and values, excellence and transformation.

In addition to being represented at this forum, through the presence of several of its members in the scheduled sessions, and as a member of the EUTOPIA network of European universities, UPF participated in various activities that take place parallel to the Forum, organized by the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP) and the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi), to which the University also belongs.

Laia de Nadal, UPF rector, spoke at the seminar “University leadership as a driver of social change”, on 13 September, in the lecture theatre of the Historical Building of the UB

These activities serve to visualize the commitment of Pompeu Fabra University as a main player in the knowledge society based on the redefinition of its social function, and as a driver of transformation in the political, economic, social, environmental and cultural spheres. It performs this task in collaboration with government and socio-economic agents, in alliance with other universities. 

UPF participation in two seminars on 13 September

On 13 September, the ACUP and the GUNi, respectively, organized two international seminars, which included the participation of UPF, to address issues related to European university alliances.

During the morning, the seminar “European Alliances of Universities: strengthening the knowledge society in Catalonia” was held from 10 am to 2 pm at the Barcelona Social Hub. The round table “Presentation of the European Alliances of Universities of Catalan public universities” will involve Carme Pérez, UPF delegate of the EUTOPIA MORE programme, together with representatives of the alliances that include Catalan universities CHARM-EU (UB), UNITE! (UPC), AURORA (Rovira i Virgili), ECIU (UAB), OPEN-EU (UOC) and ACROSS (Lleida and Girona).

Meanwhile, Miquel Oliver, a professor of Telematic Engineering at the UPF Department of Information and Communication Technologies, was the moderator of the thematic round table on Technology and the New Economy (complementing the round tables on Sustainability and Social challenges), within the framework of the session titled “How to boost the potential of alliances for the progress, well-being and competitiveness of Catalonia?”.

In the afternoon, in the lecture theatre of the Historical Building of the University of Barcelona, the second seminar was held, entitled “Building new university leaderships to transform Europe”, organized by the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi), which enjoys the support of the ACUP, which has hosted the secretariat and the presidency of the former since 2014.

The seminar included the round table “University leadership as a driver of social change”, which included the intervention by UPF rector Laia de Nadal. Peter Maasen (University of Oslo), Marijk van de Wende (University of Utrecht), Josep Maria Garrell (president of the European University Association), and Sijbolt Noorda (former president of the Magna Charta Universitatum Observatory, MCU) also participated. The session was chaired by Josep M. Vilalta, director of the GUNi and executive secretary of the ACUP.

Visit by the EUTOPIA secretary general to UPF

On 13 September, between 9 am and 3 pm, Mattia Bellotti, EUTOPIA secretary general, visited Pompeu Fabra University to learn about its strategic projects and its facilities in the form of several meetings and working sessions with different groups of the University’s staff, vice-rectors, members of the UPF EUTOPIA team and the communication team.

The meeting, the first part of which took place on the Ciutadella campus (including a guided tour), later moved to the Mercè building, and culminated with a presentation of EUTOPIA by Mattia Bellotti to the members of the University’s governing team and other people linked to the field of internationalization, in which he spoke about the new organization of the alliance and the goals of the new phase of the project.

EUTOPIA, an alliance that underpins the higher education of the future in Europe

EUTOPIA is an inclusive alliance of ten European universities that aims, by 2030, to become an open, multicultural and confederate project of interconnected campuses.

The Alliance’s pilot project, EUTOPIA 2050 (2019-2022), aimed to overcome legislative differences in regard to higher education on a European scale and help put the idea of European universities on the map.

Currently, the EUTOPIA MORE programme perpetuates this vision and has received a grant of 14.4 million euros to lay the foundations for the higher education of the future in Europe under the principles of academic freedom, excellence, sustainability, responsibility, cooperation and openness. UPF is coordinating this ambitious project, which offers opportunities for undergraduate and master’s degree students, researchers and academic staff.