On the 29th of January, the University of Barcelona and the European University Foundation have jointly established a new Internationalisation Hub, through a ceremony where Dr. Joan Elias Garcia, Rector of the University of Barcelona, and João Bacelar, Executive manager of the EUF, signed a memorandum of understanding.
The Hub is the next step in the evolution of the EUF and will focus on nurturing innovative policies and projects in the domains of smart internationalisation and inclusiveness; furthermore it will also double as a focal point in the EUF network for peer learning and training activities.
The launch of the Hub was marked by a networking reception for EUF members, and we were delighted to have colleagues from more than 15 universities attending. A recurrent discussion topic is how having teams based at EUF member universities may, in the future, help us ensure a ever more accurate understanding of the needs and ambitions of our universities, and reflect them in our policy discussions and proposals. Conversely the establishment of joint teams such as these will also enable the network to take on more specialised and ambitious initiatives, tapping into the know-how of the network academic community.
We would like to thank the many colleagues at the University of Barcelona who have joined forces to pioneer this novel idea with the EUF, making this landmark moment possible. We are confident that their vision could open new cooperation avenues among the EUF universities and help elevate the impact of the activities of the network.