The main aim was to reflect on ways to move the Santander Group forward in a period of continuing and substantial change both in the global context for higher education and research and in the ways in which universities react to these changes. It providedthe possibility to build on ideas expressed at the Liaison Officers’ meeting held in Tarragona in October 2008.

Three important questions arising from this situation were addressed:

• What do such changes imply for Santander Group universities?
• How can we learn from each other in our responses and how can a ‘European vision’ be translated into practical responses at the institutional level?
• Faced with such challenges, how can we combine together more effectively and make our Association more responsive to the contemporary needs of members?

Cluj-Napoca is the unofficial capital of Transylvania, built on the site of a Roman municipality, located on one of the main European routes, from Vienna to Bucharest. Positioned in a hilly area, the city spreads around the Someş River towards the surrounding hills. The 2000-year-old Cluj-Napoca is one of the most vibrant cities in Romania.

Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai is a modern institution which has gained a solid national and international reputation thanks to its achievements down through the decades. The University is now an active participant in most of the European and American academic associations. Located in a geographical area characterized by the presence of diverse ethnic and religious groups, the University adheres to a policy of multiculturalism, its students and teaching staff being Romanian, as well as Hungarian, German and Roma.

 

To visit the website of the General Assembly, please click here.

 

To view the Programme of the General Assembly, please click here.

 

 

 

Professor Dirk Van Damme, Head of CERI at the OECD

European Universities in a Changing World