The CIVIS Days 2024 allowed us to reach out beyond our community and share the experiences our Alliance has gathered throughout this 5-year journey.
Reflections and discussions on the European degree, Blended Intensive Programmes, African-EU science collaboration, the Alliance project Jean Monnet Network PolyCIVIS, our upcoming Joint Master’s in Transdisciplinary Studies of Climate, Environment, and Energy and European Universities alliances filled the programme with insights and exchanges.
Click below to (re)watch the sessions and hop-on the CIVIS voyage to the future of higher education!
Georg Eisler Lecture Hall, UNIPARK/Erzabt-Klotz-Straße 1
Agenda
Opening speech by Martin WEICHBOLD (Interim Rector, University of Salzburg) and Stefan LANG (CIVIS Secretary General)
09:10-09:30 Nadia FERNANDEZ DE PINEDO (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid): Policy experimentation at its best. Lessons learned from the SMARTT project.
09:30-09:50 Barbara BRUNNER-MARESCH (University of Salzburg): European Degrees through the practitioner’s lenses.
09:50-10:10 Romita IUCU (University of Bucharest): New frontiers, new diplomacy in higher education. A glimpse into the future.
10:10-10:25 Q&A session
Closing remarks by Kerstin FUCHSBERGER (University of Salzburg)
What is it about?
The CIVIS Days 2024 Dissemination session on the European Degree will offer a strategic exploration of key insights from the SMARTT project and the European Degree blueprint. Speakers will examine how these initiatives can shape the future of European higher education, particularly within the context of CIVIS and other European alliances. Central to the discussion will be how the lessons learned from these projects can inform and enhance educational strategies across alliances like CIVIS, intertwining with practical approaches and transnational cooperation.
A primary focus of the session will be the adaptability and scalability of the CIVIS model. By investigating how this model can be extended to other university networks, the session will highlight the broader impact of cross-border collaboration and knowledge sharing. Participants will reflect on how CIVIS’s innovative practices could inspire other alliances to strengthen educational innovation across Europe. Another key aspect will be the role of policy experimentation in advancing the European Degree initiative. This will prompt discussions on how these experimental approaches can serve as catalysts for innovation and practical implementation within academic systems. Participants will consider how CIVIS can leverage these insights to refine its educational strategy and contribute to the future of European higher education.
Finally, the session will address whether the European Degree could evolve into a distinctive brand of Europeanisation, symbolising both academic integration and enhanced global competitiveness. This reflection will examine how the European Degree could position universities to lead in international collaboration and elevate academic standards across the continent. The concluding Q&A will provide an opportunity for participants to engage directly with these themes, sharing their perspectives on the future of the European Degree and its integration within alliances like CIVIS. The session will challenge participants to consider how their institutions can actively contribute to this transformative initiative, shaping the future of European higher education.
Georg Eisler Lecture Hall, UNIPARK/Erzabt-Klotz-Straße 1
What is it about?
The flexibility of Blended Intensive Programmes can be used to internationalise the curriculum and develop a global mindset among staff and students. BIPs can widen access to international experiences to a more diverse cohort of students, and they can help to develop mutually beneficial collaboration with international partners.
During this session, Lars Banzhaf (CIVIS Head of Mobility, University of Tübingen), Alexandru Cartis (CIVIS Head of the Education Unit, University of Bucharest), Leonie Röthler (Student Ambassador for CIVIS at PLUS) and Maria Isabel Soldevila Brea (CIVIS Head of Communication, Université libre de Bruxelles) will provide practical examples of how to plan, implement and organize BIPs.
Mr. Banzhaf, Mr. Cartis and Ms Soldevila Brea are also acitive speakers during this year’s EAIE conference (European Association for International Education) in Toulouse.
African-European collaboration across academic missions is a prominent feature of CIVIS. The panel discussion with high-level representatives from our six associate member institutions from Africa sheds light on their visions and priorities in our partnerships. It also explores how to further unlock the potentials of our collaboration both for the universities involved and the wider African-European science partnership. The audience is invited to actively contribute to this discussion.
Session chaired by CIVIS Global Officer Christian Möllmann, University of Tübingen.
Georg Eisler Lecture Hall, UNIPARK/Erzabt-Klotz-Straße 1
What is it about?
After around five years of development of the European Universities alliances, the roundtable will discuss what experiences have been made so far, what opportunities, but also what challenges have been presented to the participating universities under the respective national and European framework conditions. The aim is to identify topics of relevance to the work of all alliances and to discuss examples of best practice. Finally, the discussants will attempt to provide an outlook on the future development of the alliances.
What will the discussion be about? From the idea to the alliance.
How was the early phase of the format perceived?
How has the program changed your institution?
Old and new mobilities:
What is the relationship between alliance formats and longer established formats and funding mechanisms?
Building the Inter-University Campus:
Which strategies were chosen between the creation of central infrastructures and the creation of interfaces between existing infrastructures of the partner institutions?
With what experiences?
Innovative paedagogies:
What tangible impact has the work of the alliance had on teaching at your institution?
Inclusion:
How does the inter-university campus create opportunities for as many groups as possible at the universities?
The next steps:
Universities alliances as legal entities. Which paths have been taken? With what experiences?
What place will the European University Alliances occupy in ten years’ time?
Speakers:
Melinda Macho, Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research
Thomas Baumgartner, Head of Aurora European University Office, Innsbruck University
Gabriele Permoser, Managing Director, E³UDRES² Allianz, University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten
Lisa Pfefferseder, CIVIS Student Council, Paris-Lodron University Salzburg
Chair:
Moderation: Martin Knoll, PLUS Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences and Scientific Coordinator for CIVIS, Paris-Lodron University Salzburg:
Georg Eisler Lecture Hall, UNIPARK/Erzabt-Klotz-Straße 1
What is it about?
Join us for a crucial hybrid panel discussion on the pressing topic of polycrisis, a key event during CIVIS Days in Salzburg. This event is linked to the PolyCIVIS network, a collaboration between the CIVIS Alliance members and 4 additional African universities.
PolyCIVIS’s 21 universities collaborate in this event bringing together experts from a range of disciplines to reflect together on future strategies, joint actions and consequences of polycrisis.
Speakers:
Prof. Ahmadou Aly Mbaye, Rector, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar
Prof. Mucha Musemwa, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand
Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, Vice-Chancellor, Makerere University
Prof. Gudrun Zagel, Faculty of Law, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg
Prof. Anne Weyembergh, PolyCIVIS Project Director, Université libre de Bruxelles (moderator)
Themes:
Defining and understanding polycrisis
Exploring polycrisis’ interconnected global risks and cascading effects
Social impacts and inequalities
Changing the narrative: solutions and resilience
Who this event is suitable for:
This timely event is open to researchers, academics, students, policymakers, journalists, representatives from non-profit organisations and any other key stakeholders interested in polycrisis.
Lecture Hall 101, Faculty of Catholic Theology, Universitätsplatz 1
What is it about?
At the CIVIS Days, Anna Sobek and Alasdair Skelton, both academics from the University of Stockholm, will share their thoughts on the journey so far towards creating a Masters Program in Transdisciplinary Studies of Climate, Environment and Energy“TRANSCLIM” for Europe's Civic University Alliance, CIVIS.
The educators will tell a story that began in November 2021 in Brussels at the CIVIS Days, and continued with the creation of a MOOC in June 2022 on a small island in the Stockholm Archipelago. They will explain how a vision shared by the CIVIS alliance has come closer to realisation in a succession of meetings in Tübingen and Rome in April and October 2023, and in Stockholm in May 2024, and, of course, online.
In Salzburg, Anna and Alasdair, will share our hopes and fears, as the Alliance looks tentatively forward to launching a Masters program, created by educators across Europe and Africa, with the purpose of empowering young people with the transdisciplinary skills they need to be better prepared for the challenges of the Anthropocene.
