From November 13-15, 2024, Atlantic Technological University (ATU) is honoured to host the EU GREEN Alliance’s Board of Rectors meeting at its Galway City campus, marking a key gathering for advancing the alliance’s commitment to sustainability, digital innovation, and interconnected European education.
This meeting brings together the rectors and senior leaders from research, quality assurance, finance and academic offices in the nine EU GREEN Universities to consider shared challenges, establish strategic direction, and enhance coordination across alliance projects. The agenda emphasises a collaborative approach to expanding internationalisation efforts, enhancing digital infrastructure, and launching sustainable initiatives that reflect EU GREEN’s core values of inclusivity, engagement and environmental stewardship.
Highlights of the event include strategic discussions on implementing joint degree programs and exploring new sustainability metrics that track the alliance’s environmental and educational impacts. Recognising the need for seamless cross-institutional engagement, the meeting will also facilitate best-practice exchanges with insights by Irish Universities who are partners in other longer-established European University Alliances.
During the first day, EU GREEN members had the opportunity to learn about the European Union’s future plans and its commitment to supporting university alliances, presented by a representative from the European Commission. Attendees also gained valuable insights into the work of established university alliances such as RUN-EU and CHARM-EU. Additionally, the importance of plurilingualism was a key topic, with language exchanges held between students to foster linguistic and cultural diversity within the alliance.
Pedro Fernández, Rector of Extremadura University, leaders of the EU GREEN consortium, stated, “This meeting at ATU is crucial in shaping our collaborative efforts toward a resilient and connected future for European education. Together, we are advancing sustainable innovation and building strong, lasting partnerships.
Dr. Orla Flynn, President of ATU, remarked, “We are delighted to host the 4th EU GREEN Rectors’ meeting at ATU, at our Galway City campus. EU GREEN is now midway through the first four years of the project. This is an important opportunity to reflect on our key achievements so far, and deliberate on our future plans and commitments as an alliance”.
