Campus Europae Newsletter, April 2006
Table of contents
- The Bologna process meets the Lisbon strategy
- Fast Facts
- Two new universities join the Campus Europae network
- CE General Assembly welcomes the results of the 2004/2005 post-study evaluation
- Stringent situation in Belarus
- The Student Council and the CE Subject Committees - a winning combination
- Turning the spotlight on… Alcalá
- Upcoming events
- Natural Sciences subject committee meeting
The Bologna process meets the Lisbon strategy
Most of the ongoing reforms in Europe are calling for increased articulation between educational systems and the labour market, knowledge transfer and employability. While pressure is mounting for tangible actions to be taken the recent student’s protests in France show that there is more to this agenda than the proud aim of making the EU the “most competitive and dynamic knowledge-driven economy by 2010”, as employability has long been a topic dear to politicians and society alike - but graduate employability doesn’t happen spontaneously…
As the Campus Europae universities started to formulate ways to ensure that the “European citizenship” that all CE-movers are meant to attain will also conduce to their “European employability”, a strong link between employability and the social dimension of student support and mobility emerged. It is a well know fact that, across Europe, there is an increasing number of working students who are kept ashore from exchange programmes because the incomes that they depend on are not transferable.
Campus Europae answer to this blend of problematic challenges has been recently described in the “Bologna meets Lisbon” policy paper, who is structured against the double objective of (a) allowing that mobile students may combine studying and study related working without prolonging their average study-time and (b) build strong networks among the universities and the social partners where such jobs are to be found.
This approach will widen the scope of students that may benefit from a period of studies abroad and make their experience in their country of destination more immersive, from a social and linguistic point of view, while the combination of studying and study-related work is also meant to strengthen the student’s knowledge and understanding about his field of study. The policy paper envisages this combination as the first step towards an autonomous, pan-European student support system where grants (who will be in relation with the payments the companies are due for the work force and skills that will be made available to them) are to be complemented by a low-interest loan system who takes into account criteria’s such as the living cost difference during the period of study abroad.
To understand how this project links as much with the Lisbon strategy as with the Bologna process one has to interpret its design using a slightly different perspective… What are the pre-requisites to find a sufficient number of study-related jobs? And what will that spell for the participating universities and companies? Having an increasingly high number of students working across a strong network of social partners will foster future strategic collaborations as universities and companies learn about each others needs, expectations and interests, thus opening new avenues for knowledge transfer and joint R&D.
The “Bologna meets Lisbon” concept was approved in the Campus Europae's last General Assembly and can be consulted here (pdf file).
Fast facts
Two new universities join the Campus Europae network
The European University Foundation – Campus Europae General Assembly welcomed two new members on its last meeting: the University of Alcalá and the Technical University of Lodz. The University of Alcalá and the Technical University of Lodz have a longstanding reputation for academic excellence, and their membership is in line with the CE aims insofar as geographical and linguistic diversity are concerned. In both towns the European idea of “unity in diversity” is well represented: Alcalá de Henares became known, in the 16th century, as a city where cultural and religious tolerance allowed for Christians, Jews and Muslims to live together peacefully while Lodz is known as the “City of Four Cultures”, in an allusion to the joint efforts of Poles, Jews, Germans and Russians who, in the 19th century, developed a once small rural town into one of Europe’s industrial strongholds. The University of Alcala is more extensively featured in this new newsletter section “Turning the spotlight on…”.
CE General Assembly welcomes the results of the 2004/2005 post-study evolution
Another crucial point on the agenda of the last EUF-CE General Assembly was the review of the survey conducted next to the students who inaugurated the CE study programmes in the academic year 2004/2005. The CE-movers reported an almost flawless recognition of the credits awarded during their stays abroad and a wholly positive assessment of their study experience with CE.
More information about the General Assembly meeting is to be found in the Communiqué (pdf file).
Stringent situation in Belarus
During the last month the democratic and academic situation in Belarus has deteriorated beyond expectation. Following the expulsion of several students from the state university for political reasons and the arrest of participants in peaceful rallies the Senate of the European Humanities University has voiced its indignation towards this situation and declared “its readiness to admit students who have no opportunity to continue education in Belarus to the corresponding programs of EHU.” As for the European Humanities University two notable events took place in March: firstly the university was visited by U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania, who delivered a letter of support from the U.S. President George W. Bush in the Opening Ceremony of the 2006 Spring Semester. Later in the month a cooperation agreement with the Nordic Council of Ministers and the European Commission has been signed. This agreement is worth € 2.78 million and will enable 350 students from Belarus to study at the EHU for three years in various degree programmes.
Student Council and CE subject committees - a winning combination
The Campus Europae Student Council convened in the University of Liège on the 18th of March. Points in the meeting’s agenda ranged from the follow-up of the preparations for the next academic year to the discussion of the “Bologna meets Lisbon” policy paper. Along with these matters the student representatives reviewed the progress of the Subject Committees work and decided to strengthen the cooperation between the Council and the Committees by means of increased participation in their work meetings.
Turning the spotlight on… Alcalá
The University of Alcalá is the second oldest university in Spain and the most recent member of the Campus Europae network. It was founded in 1499 by the Regent of Spain, Cardeal Cisneros, and during its long existence it counted some of the most prominent figures of the Spanish culture amongst students and scholars. During the height of its prestige, in the 16th and 17th centuries, Alcala became the model for many newly-founded universities in the Americas. In the 19th century the university was moved to Madrid and it only reopened in 1977, after the Spanish transition to democracy.
Picture 1: Rectorado, Colegio de San Ildefonso
Ever since its reestablishment the University has taken up the challenge of combining its extraordinary history and patrimony with a modern attitude toward learning and researching. The University now comprises 15 faculties spread across three campus, nearly 23.000 students, a science and technology park and a ratio of 14 students per professor.
Picture 2: Architecture Faculty, Colegio Carmen Calzado
In 1998 the University of Alcalá was declared a World Heritage Site. Its inscription in the UNESCO list is due to the fact that “Alcalá de Henares was the first city to be designed and built solely as the seat of a university, and was to serve as the model for other centres of learning in Europe and the Americas. (…)The contribution of Alcalá de Henares to the intellectual development of humankind finds expression in its materialization of the Civitas Dei, in the advances in linguistics that took place there, not least in the definition of the Spanish language, and through the work of its great son, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and his masterpiece, Don Quixote.” The most important literary prize in Spanish language, the Premio Cervantes, is conceded yearly by the King of Spain in the Great Hall of the University of Alcalá.
Picture 3: the Law Faculty, Colegio Máximo de la Compañía de Jesus
Alcalá is strategically situated at about 20 minutes from Madrid and is an excellent starting point for discovering some of the most appealing cities in central Spain, as Ávila, Segovia or Toledo.
External link:
Upcoming events
Natural Sciences subject committee meeting
The Natural Sciences subject committee will meet in Riga on the 3rd of April.