Madrid, 10-14 July 2023. In the framework of the Establishment of the Conference of Azerbaijan Rectors (ECAR), Crue Spanish Universities organised a Study Visit to Madrid on the week of the 10-14 of July. The Study Visit was inaugurated by María Teresa Lozano, Secretary General of Crue, Nijat Mammadli, Advisor to the Minister of the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Prof. Ibad Abbasov, Rector of Baku Business University, and institutional coordinator of the project, and focused on the management and coordination of Student Affairs within national rectors’ conferences and other university associations in Europe.
After a presentation on the role of Crue in the Spanish University System by María Teresa Lozano, focusing on the strategy and vision for Spanish universities and on the importance of interinstitutional collaboration, participants had the opportunity to exchange with Prof. Ángela Alcalá, Executive Secretary of Crue’s Sectorial Commission for Student Affairs and Vice Rector of Student Affairs of the Universidad de Zaragoza. Prof. Alcalá-Arellano shared the strategic vision for student affairs in Spanish universities, highlighting the importance of aligning university actions for students with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Furthermore, the delegation of 36 representatives from Azerbaijani universities, formed by Rectors, Vice Rectors for Student Affairs and Heads of Student units, exchanged on the management, organisation and initiatives regarding student affairs and student participation with Rosa María de la Fuente Fernández, member of Crue’s Sectorial Commission for Student Affairs and Vice Rector for Student Affairs of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Agata Kulesza, Secretary General at the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland (CRASP), and Regina Valutytė, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs at Mykolo Romerio Universitetas (MRU) and Chair of the Committee for Educational Affairs of the Lithuanian University Rectors’ Conference (LURK).
As part of Crue’s commitment to advancing in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) of the Spanish Higher Education System, the Study Visit included a presentation Silvia Duarte Amado, Director for Programmes with Universities and Promotion of Young Talent at Fundación ONCE, on the importance of interinstitutional cooperation and collaborative projects between Crue and Fundación ONCE. In her presentation, special attention was paid to Crue-Fundación ONCE Partnership, also in coordination with SAPDU Network (Network of Units to support People with Disabilities in Universities), and actions put forward to promote accessibility, access to teaching and research positions for academic staff with disabilities, or awareness-raising and training actions.
In this line, Thomas Estermann, Director of the Governance, Funding and Public Policy Development Unit of the European University Association (EUA), presented the results of the NEWLEAD project on Innovative Leadership and Change Management in Higher Education and pointed to the importance of leadership development programs with adequate investment in order to increase institutional autonomy and advance in institutional strategic transformation of higher education. In this framework, participants could exchange with Crue on the recently published Workbook ‘Leading change in diversity and cross-cutting challenges’, which analyses the case of the Spanish University System to explore the possibilities that collective leadership can bring about for advancing transformation and change within higher education institutions.
The ECAR Project, co-funded by the European Commission as part of the Erasmus+ call for capacity building initiatives, plans activities that will run for three years until December 2023.
