Brussels, October 28, 2022
Prof. Juan Romo, President of Crue Spanish Universities and Rector of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, participated last Friday, October 28, in the meeting of the Council of the European University Association (EUA). This meeting, held in Brussels, was the third and last meeting of 2022. President Romo was accompanied by Crue’s Executive Vice President, Prof. José María Sanz, and by the Secretary General, María Teresa Lozano. Prof. Josep Maria Garrell, former Vice President of Crue and Rector of the Universitat Ramon Llull (2012-2022) also attended the meeting as member of EUA Board.
The Council, which brought together the highest representatives of European Rectors Conferences, addressed EUA activities related to Ukraine, including the creation of the EUA Task Force on Ukraine, which aims to support the reconstruction of the university sector in this country after the invasion of Russia. This initiative is coordinated by Ivanka Popovic (University of Belgrade), member of the EUA Board.
Furthermore, EUA shared the activities of the Global University Associations Forum (GUAF), in which the EUA has participated since its creation in May 2022. This forum will work, at a global level, on mobility and international recognition, as well as on sustainability or on the current challenges of international institutional collaboration, among other.
The representatives of the European Rectors Conferences also addressed the status of the initiative on reforming research assessment, promoted by the European Commission, and the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA). The final agreement of this initiative was endorsed last month of July by more than 350 academic organizations from 40 countries, and presents a shared vision on how to reform research assessment under the principles of quality, diversity, inclusion and collaboration. The update and review of the EUA Autonomy Scorecard and its indicators were also presented.
During the meeting, EUA shared an update on the process of the election of the next EUA Presidency and the members of the EUA Board for the period 2023-2027. The candidates approved by the Nominations Committee for EUA Presidency were announced, including that of Josep Maria Garrell, at the proposal of Crue Universidades Españolas. Along with him, the other two candidates announced are Ivanka Popovic (Serbia) and Janet Beer (United Kingdom).
