UNICA General Assembly & Rectors Seminar 2020

30th UNICA GENERAL ASSEMBLY & RECTORS SEMINAR: "Three Decades of UNICA: achievements, challenges and opportunities for European Universities in the COVID-19 era"

The 30th UNICA General Assembly & the Rectors Seminar “Three Decades of UNICA: achievements, challenges and opportunities for European Universities in the COVID-19 era” took place as online live sessions on 19 November 2020.

While celebrating the 30th anniversary of UNICA and looking back on the achievements of the network and of European universities over the past 3 decades, the Rectors Seminar reflected on the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on our societies, and on Higher Education in particular, providing the participants with insights on how universities have responded to this crisis, the opportunities and threats that the pandemics has posed to HEIs, and the important role that can universities play in addressing its long-term social and economic impact.

• Agenda of the administrative General Assembly

• Programme of the Rectors Seminar  “Three Decades of UNICA: achievements, challenges and opportunities for European Universities in the COVID-19 era”

• Biographies of speakers at the Rectors Seminar

• List of participants

The video recordings of the Rectors Seminar are available here

PRESENTATIONS

Administrative General Assembly: President's Report

Rectors Seminar

Audio message by Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth

Session 1. 1990-2020: UNICA & Europe, two success stories

• Humboldt and Freie: Two Capital Universities as a Driving Force for Berlin as a European Science Hub, by Sabine Kunst, President, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and Günter M. Ziegler, President, Freie Universität Berlin
• UNICA & EU: Success Stories, by Luciano Saso, UNICA President  

Session 2. Challenges & opportunities for universities in the COVID-19 era

• Promoting international cooperation and mobility under / after the pandemic, by Ulrich Grothus, President ACA – Academic Cooperation Association

Session 3. The future relevance of Higher Education for society

• The role of universities in moderating populism and tribalism, by Andrew Deeks, President, University College Dublin
• Universities and Society 5.0, by Igor Papič, Rector, University of Ljubljana
• Looking for silver-linings, by Peter Mathieson, Principal, University of Edinburgh

For any queries regarding the event, please contact the UNICA Secretariat:

Laura Brossico, laura.brossico@unica-network.eu.