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SG DELEGATION AT CONFERENCE OF THE AMERICAS
The Santander Group delegation, chaired by Prof. John Tuppen, SG President, was representing our members at the Conference of the Americas on the International Education, (CAIE) held in Rio de Janeiro between 25-27 April 2012.
More than 600 participants from 35 countries and five continents representing university authorities, government representatives and private sector actors gathered to discuss latest trends, best-practices in internationalization, and inter-American efforts made to build a common area for higher education.
This inter-American forum had the privilege to welcome distinguished guests: His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, President of CAPES, Jorge Guimarães, Dr. Alvaro Toubes Prata, Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
The SG Network has proposed a panel session to share the experiences of its members in the Internationalisation of Science and Technology with the intention to foster relations in this areas with Latin American universities. The session chaired by the SG President, Prof. John Tuppen gave a forum to distinguished speakers, Prof. José Miguel Carrot from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Prof. José-Ginés Mora, the University of London, and Prof. Alvaro Toubes Prata, Rector of the Federal University of Santa Catarina; Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
The SG delegation has also held a series of bilateral meetings with Latin American partners to investigate possibilities of the collaboration in the field of science and technology and doctoral education between SG members and its LA counterparts. The results of these meetings will be known to the members shortly.
We would like to thank all our speakers at the session as well our members for providing us interesting insights through the survey on the internationalisation of Science and Technology that we will also share further with our members.
The conference was organised jointly by the Interamerican Organisation for Higher Education, (IOHE), CRUB), the Association of Brazilian Higher Education Institutions’ Offices for International Relations (FAUBAI), the Federal University of Fluminense (UFF) in Brazil, and the Mexican Association for International Education (AMPEI); in partnership with the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) and the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC), two organizations which, together with the IOHE, are the founding partners of this initiative. Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada (DFAIT) is supporting the IOHE in its role as the executive secretariat of the 2nd CAIE edition. Extensive support is also provided by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the Research Support Foundation of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) and the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE).
For more information on CAIE click here.
JOINT WORKSHOP ON EUROPE-CHINA COLLABORATION IN RESEARCH AND EDUCATION: CALL FOR EXPERTISE
We are pleased to inform about the workshop on Strategies for to Successful Europe-China Collaboration in Research and Education that will take place in Brussels on 7 June 2012. The event will be hosted at Kent University Brussels.
The event is designed as a workshop providing hands-on examples in establishing European-Chinese relations in higher education. It will bring together both members and non-members of the European Universities’ Network to exchange their practices and experiences in a series of round table discussions. Case studies of the collaboration in research and education will be presented from university representatives that have successfully developed working relations with China. An additional value of the workshop is that it will be presented from both European and the Chinese perspective by the presence of various Chinese experts who will be interacting with the participants during the round table discussions providing a unique environment to discuss the most recent policies concerning academic collaboration opportunities between the regions.
In this regard, the SG is interested in contacting with those of our member Universities who have partnerships with China, or those interested in establishing collaboration agreements with the region. This is a great opportunity to promote the University´s collaboration with China and gain practical knowledge to establish new co-operation schemes.
For more information about the Programme and registration, please visit the SG Website.
“PEOPLE TO PEOPLE” DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE EU AND CHINA The European Union and China are launching a “people-to-people” dialogue on education, culture, youth research and multilingualism, which will intensify contacts and exchanges between their peoples. Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, and Liu Yandong, Chinese State Councillor, signed a joint declaration, in which the EU and China commit to strengthening cooperation, with the purpose of extending understanding and trust.
STEP PROGRAMME – CALL FOR OFFERS The SG would like to remind its members of the STEP Programme, a Santander Group Erasmus Training Exchange Programme at International Offices. The aim of the STEP Programme is to offer European students the possibility of carrying out an internship in the International Relations Office of the SG Universities within the framework of the Lifelong Learning Erasmus Programme. The Guidelines and Offer form required for the first Call of the STEP Programme are available on the SG website. The application process is ongoing, so you may send your offers and/or applications to the Secretariat when appropriate.
EDULINK II INFORMATION SESSIONS The Call for Proposals for EDULINK II, ACP-EU Co-operation Programme for Higher Education, was launched on the 19 March 2012. EDULINK II contributes to capacity building in the different ACP regions (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) through networks of Higher Education Institutions (HEI). The programme is financed by the European Union and managed by the Secretariat of the ACP Group of States (ACP Secretariat). EDULINK II is open to public or private HEIs and networks of HEIs from the ACP States, the European Union and other regions. The present Call for Proposals differs from previous EDULINK calls by focusing exclusively on two main thematic areas: Energy access and efficiency and Agriculture and food security. Information sessions will be held on the EDULINK II Call for proposals, application process and selection procedures. Interested parties will find information about the sessions on the EDULINK website. The deadline for submission of applications is 30 July 2012.
OECD CONFERENCE The OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, will host a conference 17-19 September 2012 in Paris, France, focusing on Attaining and Sustaining Mass Higher Education. Around the world, mass higher education is either an aspiration or a reality. Yet this has thrown up many new issues and challenges for countries, including how to manage access, quality and accountability, funding and financing, institutional diversity, internationalisation, technology and the academic workforce. The goal of the Conference is to identify longer-term trends and will include analyses of national and institutional policies, case studies and the latest research from the OECD and elsewhere. The Conference will bring together many different perspectives and look at the issues at the international, national, institutional, or sub-institutional level. Participants will be able to: - Listen to thought leaders and hear how the world is changing and what to do about it - Network, swap notes, make new connections, share experience and challenges with others and pick up fresh ideas - Ask an OECD expert to explain their work Click here for more information on the Conference and its objectives. The registration is now open, to retrieve more information about it, click here.
PROMOTION OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP INCREASING IN EUROPE According to a report published by the European Commission, half of European countries are reforming education in order to strengthen entrepreneurship. Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Wales and the Flemish part of Belgium have launched specific strategies to promote entrepreneurship education, while 13 other European countries include it as part of their national lifelong learning, youth or growth strategies. The full report is available here.
The European Commission has just launched a campaign called “We Mean Business”. With this initiative, the Commission is seeking to encourage companies to create more trainee placements in order to enhance young people’s skills and employability, smoothing the transition from education to a first good job. In addition, traineeships can bring benefits to companies, enabling them to increase productivity and competitiveness. For more information, click here.
ANNOUNCEMENT FROM MEMBERS AND PARTNERS
INTERNSHIP OFFERS AVAILABLE AT MALMö UNIVERSITY
The SG Network would like to inform that Malmö University is offering two Erasmus Work Placements for autumn semester in the following roles: Junior International Relations Officer - Student Affairs at the International Office of the University, and Junior Web Project Manager at the School of Technology. The internship offers for the International Office closes on May 16th and the offer for the School of Technology closes on May 31st. For more information on the offers see here and here.
EUCIS-LLL ANNUAL CONFERENCE EUCIS-LLL, the European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning, is organising its Annual Conference on “Social Innovation for Active Inclusion: Lifelong Learning Contribution for a Better Tomorrow” on 14 May 2012 in Leuven, Belgium. This event will gather actors coming from the various sectors of education and training all around Europe. It will tackle and propose innovative ways to combat educational disadvantage and fight youth unemployment. The conference will also provide a specific insight on the opportunities of intergenerational learning, in the context of the current European Year 2012 on Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. For more information, click here. ERSA CONGRESS 2012
ERSA will be holding its 52nd Congress in Bratislava 22-25 August 201. The theme for this congress is "Regions in motion; Breaking the path". The Congress will provide delegates with numerous in-depth presentations in a wide-range of regional science topic areas. It will create opportunities to share research approaches and results, explore new directions and debate topics with experts from across the globe. The deadline for registration is 21st May 2012.
For registration to the Congress, click here. For more information about ERSA, click here.
DATE REMINDERS
15 May - Deadline for submitting proposals of SG activities and projects for 2012/2013 18 May - Deadline for registering to SG General Assembly 21-25 May- NTNU Staff Training Week 7 June- SG Workshop on Europe-China Collaboration in Research and Education 15- 16 June- SG General Assembly 21 June- Horizon 2020 Conference 1- 15 July- University of Rouen - Summer Course |