The University of Rijeka, in cooperation with the Lürssen group, organised the European Forum, a unique two-day event gathering numerous experts, distinguished guests, and leaders of well-known business giants discussing the future for universities. On April 19 and 20, 2023, the academic and business community of Rijeka and the Kvarner region had the opportunity to hear some first-hand experiences and advice from some of the most successful people from the business sector and higher education in Europe. Among many well-known names were Mr. Peter Lürssen, CEO of Lürssen, Mr. Andreas Treichl, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the ERSTE Foundation, Mr. Roberto Kutić, co-founder and COO at Infobip, H.E. Mr. Haakon Blakenborg, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Croatia, Mr. Christoph Schöfböck, President of the Management Board of Erste Bank, Croatia, and many others.
The EU Forum stemmed from the shared idea: the future of education lies precisely in cross-sector cooperation at multiple levels. This European Forum tried to embody exactly these values for further development and strengthening the competitiveness of the general domestic academic and business community.
As pointed out by the University of Rijeka Rector, Professor Snježana Prijić-Samaržija, this Forum is only the first such forum, whose primary goal is to establish communication. Of course, cooperation between the business sector and universities, the civil sector, the local community, and the citizens does exist. However, the idea is that one can face the challenges of the future, as well as the current social problems, only if we put our heads together if we somehow overcome the prejudices that are deeply rooted in our institutions – both business and university. The problems should be solved together, because it is our duty, our moral obligation, to think about future generations as much as we think about the quality of life of our citizens.
More information about the Forum, the four panels, and all speakers is available at the following link.
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This year is a special year for the University of Rijeka as we are celebrating our 50th anniversary and 390 years of tradition of higher education in Rijeka. The celebration of our anniversaries traditionally takes place under the Jesuit motto Semper magis, but this year, we have added another value – openness. Openness is a value that unites many others, above all curiosity, courage, diversity, inclusiveness, and participation. During the year, all University constituents will host more than 200 events – conferences, lectures, forums, panels, educational programmes, exhibitions, talks, film screenings, plays, promotions, interventions in spaces, concerts, and other interesting opportunities for joint thinking. Ultimately, all events aim to create a space for meetings, networking, and the exchange of opinions and ideas.
