Madrid, January 27, 2023. On 19 January, the Secretary General of Crue Universidades Españolas, María Teresa Lozano, chaired the Forum of Secretaries General of the National Rectors’ Conferences that are part of the European University Association (EUA), a function that she will carry out during 2023. On 27 January, the EUA Council meeting was held, at which Crue was represented by its President, Juan Romo, the Secretary General, María Teresa Lozano, and the President’s Delegate for European Affairs, Jose María Sanz.
During the Secretaries General Forum, EUA President Michael Murphy, and EUA Secretary General, Amanda Crowfoot, reported on the progress made in some of the association’s work areas, including the review of the Autonomy Scorecard data, the publication of the 2023 report, the Universities and the Future of Europe (UniFE) project, and the work on Digital Transformation.
In addition, in this virtual meeting, specific working sessions on Academic Freedom were organised during which attendees exchanged views on the progress and initiatives in the different national contexts. They also shared concerns about rising energy prices across Europe and the impact this is having on universities.
In addition, on 27 January, the EUA Council meeting was held, bringing together the presidencies of the rectors’ conferences. During this meeting, the Council ratified the nominations for the EUA Board elections proposed by the EUA Nominations Committee. The renewal of the EUA Board members will take place during the 25th EUA General Assembly on the 20th April at the Gdańsk University of Technology in Poland. In addition to the elections to the Board, the elections to the next EUA Presidency will take place at the same meeting, to which Crue has put forward the candidacy of Josep M. Garrell i Guiu, Rector of the Universitat Ramon Llull (2012-2022), Vice President of Crue (2021-2022), Member of Crue’s Standing Committee (2015-2022) and Member of the EUA Board since April 2019.
Roadmap 2023 and Innovation Agenda
The EUA Council discussed the EUA Roadmap 2023 and approved the first EUA Innovation Agenda, which sets out key priorities and objectives to ensure that the value of university innovation to society is properly recognised and strengthened by national and European policy makers, funding agencies and universities themselves.
This Agenda draws heavily on the results of the EUA Innovation 2021 survey and the resulting report on the role of universities in regional innovation ecosystems. It will also guide the work of the Association and the new Expert Group on Innovation (EGInno) over the next four years, in which Crue Universidades Españolas will be represented by José Miguel García, Vice Rector for Research, Transfer and Innovation at the Universidad de Burgos and Member of Crue’s Sectorial Commission for R&I.
In addition, the EUA Council reflected on quality assurance systems in Europe, in particular on the main trends and emerging issues in each country and on whether the European quality assurance framework provided by the European Standards and Guidelines is still relevant to meet the needs of universities in Europe. This discussion took place in the framework of the Quality Assurance Fit for the Future (QA-FIT) project launched by the EUA in 2022.
