Arqus Steering Committee members and WP Co-leaders met at Leipzig University to discuss the new Work Plan 2022-2026

On 24th and 25th January, the members of the Arqus Steering Committee and the Co-leaders of the 15 Work Packages met in Leipzig at the 52nd Steering Committee of the Alliance to oversee the implementation of the new Arqus Work Plan for 2022-2026.

The event was opened by the Rector of Leipzig University, Prof. Dr. Eva Inés Obergfell, its Vice-Rector, Prof. Dr. Matthias Middell, and the Arqus Coordinator and Vice-Rector for Internationalization at the University of Granada, Dorothy Kelly. On the first day, members of the Arqus Steering Committee and WPs co-leaders held separate meetings. An all-day joint meeting was developed on the 25th, ending with a guided tour of the city.

Members of the Arqus Management, Quality Assurance and Communications Teams together with the Project Officers at each Arqus University participated in this first Steering Committee Meeting of the new phase of the Alliance.

This event coincided with the meeting of the Directors of the Network of Language Centres aimed at developing a stable and sustainable framework for the promotion of language and intercultural competence across the Arqus community and beyond to its local ecosystems.

In her meeting’s final remarks and conclusions, the Arqus Coordinator, Dorothy Kelly, valued the event as “a unique opportunity to glimpse the synergies between the different Arqus work packages as well as to coordinate the teamwork with the transversal and support areas within the Work Plan: communication and dissemination, quality assurance and digitization”.

The Vice-Rector for Internationalization of the University of Granada also emphasized the role of the Arqus Communities of Practice as a lever for the staff development. Dorothy Kelly stressed that “the mobility promoted by our Alliance should not be considered as an end but a means to strengthen the cooperation and integration in key aspects of the learning, teaching, research and transference policies and strategies of our universities”. After thanking everyone for their dedication and effort during the meeting, the Arqus Coordinator invited the participants to the next 53rd Steering Committee meeting that will take place on 24th February, and, in particular, to the Annual Conference in Graz scheduled from 3rd to 5th April 2023.