A prestigious meeting of European universities will be hosted by Palacký University Olomouc on Thursday and Friday, 1–2 December 2022. Seventy representatives of universities from various European Union countries have arrived in Olomouc to participate in a forum on the future of higher education. The aim of the two-day meeting, held within the framework of the European Universities Initiative, is to exchange the experiences of partner schools and discuss how to improve the quality of the participating universities in order to compete internationally.
Thursday’s programme will take place at the UP Faculty of Law and will be commenced by the Czech Deputy Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Radka Wildová, together with UP Rector Martin Procházka. Subsequently, Thomas Estermann, Director of the Brussels-based Association of European Universities, Tilmann Märk, Rector of the University of Innsbruck, Snježana Prijić-Samaržija, Rector of the University of Rijeka, and Tetyana Kaganovska, Rector of the University of Kharkiv, will speak about the importance of and support for the European University Initiative, activities related to the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and the ambitions and challenges of pioneering European university alliances.
Subsequent speakers include vice-rectors of three other Czech universities, which, like Palacký University, are part of prestigious international alliances: Pavel Doleček from Charles University in Prague, Břetislav Dančák from Masaryk University in Brno, and Zbyněk Škvor from Czech Technical University. The panel will be moderated by Michal Malacka, UP Vice-Rector for Strategy and Regional Affairs, and Bára Křenek Sobotková, representative of the Czech Liaison Office for Education and Research in Brussels.
Friday’s programme in Fort Science will feature workshops and talks; the discussions will focus on the current state of connecting students and academics with researchers, entrepreneurs, and companies. Halldór Jónsson from the University of Iceland will be one the presenters.
The European Universities Initiative is made up of 41 three-year pilot alliances involving nearly 300 institutions across Europe and more than one thousand affiliated partners. Last year, Palacký University became an associate member of the international Aurora European Universities Alliance, and starting his year it is a full member of the global university consortium Aurora Network and its Aurora Alliance, which is supported by the European Commission.