The Presidents and Vice- Presidents of the 39 Coimbra Group Universities, a European University network will meet this week in Trinity College Dublin. The conference held by Trinity will celebrate the 30 year anniversary of the Erasmus programme. The event will take place in the Trinity Long Room Hub on November 13 and 14.
Helen McEntee, Minister for European Affairs will attend the event and give a speech. Representatives of key stakeholders in higher education policy will also be in attendance, which seeks to discuss how internationalisation strategies and policies at Coimbra Group Universities can be reflected in the curriculum, campus life and wider activities of the universities
Commenting on the Erasmus programme, organiser of the event and head of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies at Trinity, Professor Jürgen Barkhoff said: “The Erasmus programme is widely acknowledged as the most successful programme of the EU for forging a European identity. In difficult times for Europe, when neo-nationalism and isolationism are growing, there is a real danger that the vision of a peaceful Europe driven by the idea of ‘unity in diversity’ gets lost and is drowned out: the Erasmus programme is one of the best ways to fight euroscepticism and reignite, on the basis of individual lived experience, enthusiasm and passion for Europe.”
This is the second Coimbra Group high-level seminar on education policy, the first of which was hosted by Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi in 2015. The Coimbra group was formed in 1985 in the run up to the launch of the Erasmus programme two years later. It’s main objective is to bring top universities from across Europe together as mobility partners. Coimbra Group member Universities are involved in around 15% of all Erasmus mobility movements.
The Coimbra group consists of 39 universities across the EU, including Trinity and National College of Ireland, Galway as the group’s only Irish members.
