The 2009 General Assembly of the Santander Group – European Universities Network will be hosted and co-organized by Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania on 12-13 June 2009. The conference will be co-chaired by Professor Andrei MARGA, Rector of Babeş-Bolyai University and Professor John Tuppen, President of Santander Group.

The central theme of this year’s General Assembly is to reflect on ways to move the Santander Group forward in a period of continuing and substantial change both in the global context for higher education and research and in the ways in which universities react themselves to these changes.  Faced with such challenges, the Santander Group has already demonstrated in the past its ability to provide a framework for encouraging joint actions; and one of the key goals of the General Assembly is to define ways to sustain better existing links and to create new partnerships between the Group’s members.

 

Conference aims

The background to the Cluj meeting is provided by the current debate on future directions for higher education and research in Europe in the post-Bologna era as priorities for the period from 2010 are being decided.  Issues include: enhancing life-long learning programmes and outreach initiatives; strengthening inter-university collaboration at doctoral level; making universities more responsive to society’s needs; developing sustainable links with potential graduate employers; devising new forms of course delivery in rapidly evolving societal and technological contexts; and placing internationalisation at the centre of institutional strategies.  Moreover, effective responses to these issues also frequently entail changes to university governance. European universities and government ministers will be setting out officially their views this spring and the General Assembly in June offers an opportune moment to consider the implications of these new directions for our own universities. It will also provide the possibility to build on ideas expressed at the Liaison Officers’ meeting held in Tarragona in October 2008.

Three important questions arising from this situation will be addressed:
  1. What do such changes imply for Santander Group universities?
  2. How can we learn from each other in our responses and how can a ‘European vision’ be translated into practical responses at the institutional level?
  3. Faced with such challenges, how can we combine together more effectively and make our Association more responsive to the contemporary needs of members?
Thus, to take account of these issues, the General Assembly has been organised in the following manner:
  1. An overview of future policy directions for higher education and research in Europe: keynote presentations
  2. Reactions from within universities: a debate
  3. An interactive, group-based workshop: ensuring continuity with change and strengthening ties. (This session is designed specifically to allow members to express their views on the Group’s strategies).
  4. A wrap-up session fixing goals.

The programme also includes a session devoted to the internal business of the Santander Group