Network of young European universities launched at DCU
Network of young European universities launched at DCU
At the Times Higher Education Young Universities Summit hosted in DCU during April, 18 institutions from 12 countries launched a research network which hopes to increase influence in EU education policy and promote joint initiatives in research and teaching.
The Young European Research University Network (YERUN) comprises institutions under 50 years old, all of which have featured in one of the global rankings for Young Universities during the past five years.
Presidents, Vice-chancellors and senior representatives from 12 of the universities met at the summit to launch the network and to discuss the issues affecting their future. The group intends to meet at least three times a year.
The YERUN network consists of the following universities: Konstanz, Ulm and Bremen (Germany); Antwerp (Belgium); Southern Denmark (Denmark); Autonomous University of Barcelona, Autonomous University of Madrid, Carlos III of Madrid and Pompeu Fabra (Spain); Eastern Finland (Finland); Paris Dauphine (France); Dublin City University (Ireland); Tor Vergata University of Rome (Italy); Maastricht (Netherlands); Nova de Lisboa (Portugal); Brunel and Essex (UK); Linköping (Sweden).
The agreement signed by the university presidents reflects their desire to cooperate on increasing the influence of the youngest universities on EU research policies. It also provides for promoting collaborative research in areas and projects with a high social impact in addition to encouraging academic exchange programmes for students, teachers and administrative and service staff, and establishing joint programmes at degree, master's and doctorate levels.
DCU president Brian MacCraith said the network established four main characteristics of the universities: a focus on research of societal relevance, internationalisation, teaching quality and graduate employability.
During his keynote speech at the summit, he said: “We planned our future, planned the sort of influence we can exert on, for example, research policies in Europe, and planned programmes where we can share academic modules, training for staff and research strengths of infrastructure. It’s about that common bond [among] young universities and recognising that there is strength in coming together. We’re hoping our place in the rankings will give us leverage.”
“We’re continuing to strive to improve. We’re trying to be agile, we’re trying to be responsive, we’re trying to be engaged with the big issues,” he said.