The ECIU will be celebrating its 10th anniversary on 1 November at the University of Twente. The ECIU Charter was signed in Dortmund in November 1997 and it is a much stronger Consortium that today can look back on 10 years of close collaboration.

Achievements include three new joint European Masters Programmes under the Erasmus Mundus umbrella, a series of joint educational activities under the aegis of the ECIU Graduate School, close collaboration between technology transfer officers in the EU funded DIFUSE project, the fourth successful run of the ECIU Leadership Development programme, staff development activities and perhaps most importantly a feeling that the Consortium actually can make a difference to individual members.

Author: ECIU Secretariat

In early October, Strathclyde, TUHH and Aalborg received the good news that the joint Masters Programme in “Global Innovation Management” had been selected and would receive funding from the European Commission.

The course is a 2-year, 120 ECTS programme delivered in English and intended for excellent graduates of first degrees in Engineering, Science or Technology. All student cohorts have a common first year at Strathclyde and select in semester 3 to study at either TUHH or Aalborg with the 4th semester consisting of project/thesis writing.




Author: ECIU Secretariat

Prof Eberhard Becker will be welcoming the ECIU's Founding Fathers to the upcoming Board meeting at Twente. The Founding Fathers will take part in the 10th Anniversary celebrations at Twente.

Eberhard Becker comments:
“The ECIU has come a long way since its early days in the late nineties and our distinctive profile as an innovative consortium has helped shape our identity and our activities. Over the years, we have learned that successful international collaboration takes time and that different instruments are needed to engage staff in the work of the Consortium in a bottom-up way.

We are now proud to offer current and prospective leaders in our organisation the chance to attend our leadership development programmes; staff with an interest in exploring curriculum development opportunities in the form of new European joint masters programmes will get solid support and advice through the ECIU Graduate School framework ; and knowledge exchange activities such as DIFUSE show that we have made efficient use of available funds to share and build on expertise and best practice within the Consortium.

The full ECIU Executive Board looks forward to the challenges in taking the European and global higher education and research agenda forward, and in ensuring that our staff and students benefit from ECIU activities.

I would like to thank both former and current ECIU Executive Board members, and ECIU Local Coordinators, in their continued support for the ECIUs work and would like to extent a particular thank to our Founding Fathers who will be celebrating the 10th Anniversary with us.




Author: ECIU Secretariat

The ECIU Associate Partner Rostov State University has been reorganized into Southern Federal University (SFU) by the RF government decree within the National priorities state programme. Besides RSU, three other institutions of Rostov Region – Taganrog State Radio-Engineering University, Rostov State Teachers Training University and Rostov State Academy of Architecture and Arts - have been incorporated into Southern Federal University.

There have been established only 2 such universities in Russia – Southern Federal University in the south of Russia and Siberian Federal University in Krasnoyarsk, Eastern Siberia.

The restructuring of universities has been undertaken with the aim of enhancing competitiveness of regional economy, training highly qualified specialists, strengthening research and academic ties with foreign countries and creating an entrepreneurial university.
Professor Vladislav Zakharevich, a former rector of Taganrog State Radio-Engineering University, has been appointed SFU rector. Professor Alexander Belokon, a former rector of Rostov State University, has been appointed SFU President.

Southern Federal University is a legal successor of Rostov State University and has confirmed its commitments to foreign partners.


Author: ECIU Secretariat

A delegation of representatives from ECIU institutions are visiting Pyeongtaek University in South Korea from 5-10 September. Pyeongtaek and ECIU are joint hosts of a symposium on Global Higher Education with invited guests and ECIU and Pyeongtaek speakers.

The visit is furthermore a fact finding mission to establish in more detail what the opportunities for future educational collaborative activities are.

Author: ECIU Secretariat

The universities of Aveiro, Autonoma in Barcelona, Strathclyde and Twente have met to discuss opportunities for synergy and collaboration between their respective summer school activities.

Whilst each institution run different programmes with separate aims and target groups, the meeting participants felt that there were many areas for further development and work will be ongoing over the autumn months to write up a proposal for collaboration opportunities.

Please contact the ECIU Secretariat for more information.

Author: ECIU Secretariat

The ECIU Leadership Development Programme for 2006/07 has been announced, and applications are invited.

In an early stage of their co-operation ECIU adopted a Leadership Development Programme, knowing that staff is by far the most important asset of knowledge institutes and aiming to establish a cohort of individuals who understand the European dimension of higher education, are appreciative of the innovative culture in the partner universities, and will form a self-reinforcing network of people who will maintain and grow the entrepreneurial spirit of the participating universities.

This year’s programme will be run by Twente, the Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg and Strathclyde and based around a cycle of action learning, allowing participants to come together to review actions and to help each other learn from their personal experience. The course will be based on a practical assignment set by a university board or senior management team, and the outcome of the assignment will be a product that is useful to a university board in terms of policy development and change. The programme comprises three plenary meetings of three days each, one meeting at each of the universities running in the programme, and a practical assignment. The first meeting will discuss ‘Strategic management’, the second ‘Strategy and multi-level governance’, and the third, ‘Strategy, governance and decision-making’.

Further details, including eligibility criteria and the application procedure, can be found at www.bbt.utwente.nl/eciu/.


Author: Fiona Campbell

The University of Warwick is hosting the AC21 Conference on 4-6 July. The conference theme is "Exploring the globalisation of higher education and the demands on leadership, the development of enterprise and innovation in universities and the changing relationship between universities and their students.

Speakers include Gina Poole, Vice-President, Innovation and University Relations, IBM and Baroness Diana Warwick, Chief Executive, Universities UK. Dr Aard Groen from the University of Twente will be presenting the results from the ECIU Entrepreneurship research project at the conference.

Author: ECIU Secretariat

On 8 June 2006, the European Commission circulated a Communication about "The European Institute of Technology: further steps towards its creation".

The Communication builds on consultation with stakeholders and member states and addresses some of the problems, which have been raised in discussions about the EIT. It is clear that the Commission intends the EIT to promote and attract excellence and expects the EIT to assist in the growth of the European knowledge society.

Please read the full communication by following the link below.

Author: ECIU Secretariat

The ECIU Speaker Eberhard Becker, the Vice-Speaker Andrew Hamnett and the ECIU Secretary will be meeting with Mr David Coyne in the European Commission on 19 January to both discuss the Commission's work within the European Higher Education Area and the activities of a coherent consortium like the ECIU.

The meeting is a follow-up to initial contacts made between the management of the ECIU and Mr David Coyne during the EUA Convention in Glasgow in March 2005.

Author: ECIU Secretariat