Kick-off Meeting of the PIONEER european alliance in Université Gustave Eiffel
The PIONEER Alliance is a European network of universities focusing on inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities in line with Sustainable Development Goal 11. Coordinated by the Université Gustave Eiffel, it is made up of 10 complementary universities in the social sciences, humanities and engineering sciences, offering courses related to the cities of tomorrow:
- AVANS University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands)
- University Institute of Lisbon ISCTE (Portugal)
- LAUREA University of Applied Sciences (Finland)
- TH Köln University of Applied Sciences (Germany)
- University of Huelva (Spain)
- Tomas Bata University (Czech Republic)
- University IUAV of Venice – (Italy)
- University of Žilina (Slovakia)
- Bern University of Applied Sciences (Switzerland)
- Université Gustave Eiffel (France)
To celebrate the official launch of this alliance, the Université Gustave Eiffel welcomed delegations from these different universities to a three-day event.
The first day was devoted to presenting the project and acquainting the various participants with each other. It began with a welcome speech by Gilles Roussel, President of the Université Gustave Eiffel, and continued with three panels devoted to the key elements of the alliance: collaboration between institutions, internationalisation of courses and local presence. These panels provided an opportunity for exchanges between the various partners, who were able to present the main themes of the project's development.
The different delegations were then able to meet and get to know each other at speed-meeting workshops organised at the end of the morning. The aim was to encourage people to network with each other and to facilitate the creation of personal links between the delegations.
A partners' village was also held, with each associated university presenting a stand, open to all students and staff. This was an opportunity for participants to find out more about the many universities and talk to their ambassadors about their specialities and specificities.
To round off the first day, participants were able to take part in a number of themed workshops, such as one on international distance learning, COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning), or on the alliance's joint research areas. Visits to laboratories on the Marne-la-Vallée campus were also organised.
The following two days were devoted to working sessions to set in motion the alliance's various future projects.
This event marks the launch of a project that will have a major impact on the day-to-day lives of the university's staff and students:
Researchers and doctoral students will benefit from new opportunities for research collaboration on Sustainable Development Goal 11 (sustainable cities and communities) with European ecosystems by contributing to roadmaps on 7 topics, taking part in themed scientific cafés and receiving support in setting up European research projects.
Administrative staff will be able to travel to exchange practices with their counterparts, in particular during the international weeks organised at the various universities.
For teachers, it means the opportunity to benefit from support in setting up European training projects and internationalising their teaching (COILs with partners). More broadly, for students, the internationalisation of their training pathways will take the form of student mobility with new partners, double degrees, hybrid mobility programmes (BIPs), access to online courses given in partner universities, particularly in optional courses, and cooperation with students at European events such as the European Hackathon.
For more information on the PIONEER alliance, visit the dedicated page and the alliance's website.