LERU & CE7 Rectors meet in Prague
30.05.2023
On 26 and 27 May, Rectors of LERU and CE7 universities gathered at Charles University, Prague, at the invitation of its Rector Milena Kralickova, for their biannual meeting.
After the welcoming words from Prof. Kralickova, LERU Secretary-General Prof. Kurt Deketelaere discussed the past LERU/CE7 activities and gave an overview of the ones that will be happening in the near future. Then, Gosse Simon Vuijk, assistant of MEP Christian Ehler, gave an update on the European Parliament’s activities on academic freedom, and more specific on the EP Forum for Academic Freedom, which is a STOA initiative that will be producing an independent report about the state of play of academic freedom in the European Union. This was followed by a presentation on the access of Hungarian universities-public trust foundations to Horizon Europe and Erasmus, given by Prof. Laszlo Borhy, who is the Rector of the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest and the President of the Hungarian Rectors’ Conference. He emphasised that the Hungarian state universities still have full access to Horizon Europe and Erasmus.
The Rectors also discussed the European Universities Initiative. Prof. Barend van der Meulen of the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS) at the University of Twente, presented the report ‘The European Universities Initiative: first lessons, main challenges and perspectives’. Afterwards, MEP Michaela Šojdrová, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Culture and Education, shared her views on the initiative.
Michael Browne, CEO of Crowdhelix, Europe’s leading Open Innovation Platform, also joined the meeting and gave an introduction about the company's activities in favour of research universities. Finally, Dr Marian Belko closed the meeting with a presentation on the EIT Campus and the Deep Talent Initiative of the EIT.
The next LERU-CE7 meeting will take place at the University of Warsaw on 22 and 23 September 2023.
