Arqus brings together all partner universities in Granada to further develop Communities of Practice

On 3 and 4 February, the Arqus Communities of Practice, co-led by the UGR and the University of Wrocław, gathered 20 members from all nine partner universities at the School of Civil Engineering of the University of Granada. The event brought together technical staff members and researchers from the Arqus universities, with the aim of promoting joint work initiatives to be carried out collaboratively between the different parts of the Alliance community.

The event included a meeting of the co-leads and management staff of the Arqus Communities of Practice, an evaluation session and a series of practical workshops. These aimed to improve the working practices of the technical and administrative staff of the nine Arqus partner institutions in topics such as inclusion and diversity.

In its welcome message, Guadalupe Soriano, Institutional Coordinator of the Arqus Alliance at the University of Granada, invited the participants to enjoy the city and take advantage of the meeting to strengthen personal and working relationships. Mónica López, Director of the School of Civil Engineering, and María Isabel Rodríguez, Deputy Director of the School (Internationalization) also welcomed the participants.

At the event, members of the Arqus Communities of Practice made progress in planning future activities and calls for proposals to involve staff from Arqus universities. The aim of these initiatives is twofold – to develop a common European framework and to provide training and exchange opportunities within the Alliance. 

The Arqus Communities of Practice

The concept of Communities of Practice, borrowed from learning theory, is that of “systems of collective critical inquiry and reflection focused on building a shared identity and collective intelligence garnered over time” (Nussbaum-Beach and Hall, 2012). It fits perfectly with Arqus’ self-conception as a “laboratory for institutional learning”, but grounds specific activities in their respective domains, thus weaving the social fabric required to enable collective learning.

Learn more about the Arqus Communities of Practice here.

The latest call for applications can be found here.