The Arqus Academy Week Kicks Off Today

The Arqus Academy Week 2021, hosted by Vilnius University, has started today with an Opening session where Dorothy Kelly, Coordinator of the Arqus Alliance, as well as the leaders of the Arqus Action Lines have presented the main goals and achievements of Arqus and have discussed the significance of Arqus activities and their impact on partner universities, stakeholders, and the society. The session was moderated by Artūras Vasiliauskas, Pro-Rector for partnerships at Vilnius University.

"The Arqus Academy week is a great opportunity to learn more about the alliance, which opens new fronteers for mobility and multilateral cooperation for students, academics, and administrative staff. In one week you can learn about the Arqus alliance like never before!" Vasiliauskas says.

Other activities will be held this Monday:

At 12:00 CEST, a discussion led by Sofia Giunta, student at the University of Padua, will present the importance of academic freedom from the students’ perspective and the impact it has on overall higher education and broader society.

At 15:00 CEST, a seminar “Training students for a multilingual and multicultural world”, by Olaf Bärenfänger (Leipzig University) will present an overview of what efforts have been and are being made in the Arqus Alliance to promote multilingualism and multiculturalism. The focus will be on cooperative approaches to preparing and supporting Arqus students for education and careers in a globalised world. In particular, we will address the challenges of an era in which physical mobility has been abruptly curtailed, while virtual mobility has been greatly expanded, and the resulting perspectives for the future.

The day will finish with a session about European Citizenship and how can education help face grand societal challenges. A panel discussion where Ozana Olariu (University of Granada), Paolo De Stefani (University of Padua) and Ronya Reitan Solberg (student at the University of Bergen) will exchange thoughts and conclusions based on the Arqus Collaboratory programme and the challenge-based winter school on rethinking climate change. Conceptions of citizenship and collective identity in the context of climate change, and how societies and governments may cope with grand challenges and develop solidarity will be also topics of this session that will start at 17:00 CEST. The discussion will be moderated by Jakob Grandin (University of Bergen).

The week will continue with a wide range of workshops and seminars with titles such as “Teaching competencies Assessments for Appointment Procedures”, PhD and entrepreneurship: exploring new opportunities”, “Inclusive Higher Education”, “Mobility culture by the Student Council”, “Women in academia - Gender equality” among others.

"This week is packed full of events for diverse publics, and serves as an excellent showcase of Arqus activities. The Alliance is an exciting opportunity for our university communities to contribute actively to the transformation of our higher education sector across Europe, responding to the pressing societal challenges of our times and of the future", says Dorothy Kelly, Coordinator of the Arqus Alliance and Vice-rector for Internationalisation of the University of Granada.

All the events are open to the public under registration. More information and registration here.