Dear colleagues,

The 9 May is Europe Day, a day that celebrates peace and unity in Europe and the anniversary of the historic Schuman Declaration.

It therefore seems a fitting opportunity to update the TeamUofG community on the University’s European endeavours and our continued commitment to European collaboration, despite the UK’s departure from the European Union. 

The University of Glasgow will always be a proudly European institution. As a globally minded, civic university we are committed to working in consort with international partners on collaborative research, teaching and learning opportunities, as well as staff and student mobility. Brexit has not and will not change this.

Accordingly, we are pleased that UK universities will continue to associate with Horizon Europe. As an institution, the University of Glasgow has been tremendously successful in securing funding from Horizon 2020 with 212 awards worth in excess of €116m. Our research will remain globally focused in support of tackling the grand challenges of today and tomorrow.

Although we are disappointed to no longer associate with Erasmus+, we welcome the introduction of the UK-wide replacement Turing scheme. Our approach will continue to be to facilitate bilateral exchange with partners wherever possible, and to encourage our students to enjoy opportunities within Europe. In fact, the Senior Management Group has committed to underwriting compulsory placements within Europe until 2024/25 so students can plan with confidence. We will also continue to utilise Erasmus+ funding that has already been awarded to the University, with these grants running until May 2023.

We have also enjoyed extraordinary success via the ERASMUS MUNDUS Joint Master Degrees (EMJMDs) scheme, under which we coordinate eight programmes. We are proud of our involvement in the development and delivery of EMJMDs and are open to continuing to work with partners around the world in the new ERASMUS MUNDUS funding round (2021−27).

More broadly, the University of Glasgow is delighted to be a founding member of The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, providing us with the opportunity to engage with 20 distinguished research universities from across the continent to enhance the voice of research and innovation for the future of Europe.

We are also thrilled to announce our associate member status of the European University Alliance, CIVIS. Through CIVIS we will provide new opportunities to our staff, students and local stakeholders via various initiatives, including Open Labs, the development of innovative pedagogies, and virtual and blended mobility. It is our ambition to become a full member of CIVIS in the fullness of time. 

We are pleased to have a number of priority partnerships within Europe, including the innovative European Centre for Advanced Studies (ECAS) delivered jointly with Leuphana University in Lüneburg as well as Radboud University in Nijmegen.

The University of Glasgow remains European by heritage and by design. We remain a welcoming and inclusive home to all our European staff, students, colleagues and allies – and we remain wedded to our research partnerships and to the exchange of ideas.

To find out more about our European activity, there are live online sessions throughout next week as part of our International Week for Staff, and you can also visit our new Glasgow and Europe web pages.

As a community, we look forward to the University’s future European engagement.

With very best wishes,

 

Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli

Principal and Vice-Chancellor

First published: 7 May 2021

<< 4 May 2021