Last week, between 14 and 16 March, YERUN leaders and official representatives met in Limerick (Ireland) for the YERUN General Assembly, which was kindly hosted by the University of Limerick (UL).
The General Assembly started on the 14th of March with a warm welcome by UL Professor Helen Kelly Holmes, Chair in Applied Languages (Faculty of Arts Humanities and Social Science), followed by a very inspiring keynote speech by Professor Jamil Salmi, Global Tertiary Education Expert, on “The Future of Universities in the Post-Pandemic World”.
During the second day, Rectors and Official Representatives participated in the workshop “Exploring Futures in Higher Education” led by Andrea Deverell, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Futures and Innovation at UL. This hands-on workshop introduced YERUN leaders to Strategic Foresight as a process and set of tools which can be used to reflect and act strategically about the future – or futures – in Higher Education.
YERUN Coordinators met in parallel to discuss key topics relating to members’ research priority areas, internal communication and YERUN´s action plan interim evaluation.
The last day was dedicated to internal strategic discussions among the YERUN leaders, official representatives and the YERUN Secretariat. The agenda had a strong focus on research collaborations and outreach.
The YERUN Office would like to thank the University of Limerick for their warm hospitality. Thank you in particular to UL President, Professor Kerstin Mey, and to Josephine Page, Director of UL Global and YERUN Coordinator at University of Limerick, for hosting us and for organising an amazing General Assembly. We look forward to seeing colleagues again in October, for the next General Assembly that will be hosted by NOVA University Lisbon.
