May 1-3, 2018
Twice a year, academics, leaders and administrators from Aurora universities meet at one of the member universities' campuses.
On 1-3 May, 2018 the 4th bi-annual Aurora Network gathering has taken place at the University Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
The bi-annual Aurora gatherings consist of:
- A number of parallel thematic workshops, both of the key priorities of the Aurora Network and on other themes that are interesting to all, most or some of the academics/ administrators concerned in the Aurora Network partner universities.
- The Presidents’ meeting, which is the formal general council meeting of the Aurora Network association.
- A plenary meeting at which the various working groups report on their progress, plans and aspirations and at which the strategic development of the Aurora Network of engaged research universities takes shape.
Program
You can find the program grouped per day below or download the schedule here.
| 18.00 – 20.00 | Reception at Motel One lounge |
08.00-11.30: Registration in Building S06
08.00-10.00: Three Parallel meetings
- Institutional coordinators meeting
- Students meeting
- Communications officers meeting
10.00-10.30: Networking break
10.30-11.30: Joint meeting of Institutional coordinators and group chairs.
11.30-12.30: Working time
12.30-14.00: Lunch and Networking break
14.00-17.30: Working time
17.30-18.00: Organised transport from university to Zeche Zollverein
18.00-18.45: Guided walking tour at Zeche Zollverein (for those interested)
18.00-19.00: Reception at Red Dot Design Museum, Zeche Zollverein
19.00-21.30: Dinner at Red Dot Design Museum, Zeche Zollverei
21.30 and 22.00: Organised transport from Zeche Zollverein to Motel One
09.00-10.30: Working time for groups
10.30-11.00: Networking break in Glaspavillon
11.00-12.30: Open Forum Debate on University Democracy
12.30-14.00: Lunch and networking break
14.00-15.30: Plenary session
- Aurora in five years? By Thomas Jörgensen
- Presentation on bibliometrics analysis of SDGs
15.30-16.00: Farewell coffee/tea break
16.00-17.30: General Council in Sentate Room
Working Groups
In the key priorities of Aurora: – Diversity & Inclusion, – Societal Impact & Relevance of Research, – Student Engagement, and – Innovation of Teaching & Learning, an programme strategy is the basis for distinct Aurora projects that are now in various phases of implementation. A limited number of these working groups met during the Duisburg-Essen Aurora Biannual in Essen. Others meet at other moments at one of the Aurora universities or in virtual conference settings, or plan to meet at the Antwerp Aurora Biannual, 29/30 November 2018.
You can find an overview and description of the workshops below or download an overview here
The group on Diversity & Inclusion has met as a whole in Essen to discuss the various ongoing activities and projects.
These include the Annual Aurora Diversity & Equality Award, the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire for Aurora students and staff, the project on refugee students, the project on gender-sensitive budgeting, and possibly others.
Specific attention was given to the Aurora Inclusive Internationalisation Project (see also below).
For more information or participation contact:
Neira Becar: n.becar@vu.nl
At the specific request of the Aurora students, a portal with Open Educational Resources available to all Aurora students has been developed.
This project is part of the programme for Innovation of Teaching & Learning.
The group has met in Essen to discuss and plan further development and extension of the portal.
For more information or participation contact:
Anke Petschenka: anke.petschenka@uni-due.de
The group aims to exchange expertise and experience on organizational, technological, methodological and legal aspects of e-assessments. It has identified 5 work packages as deliverables of the project, documenting and sharing experience and jointly developing innovative practices. This project is part of the programme for Innovation of Teaching & Learning
For more information or participation contact:
Milou DeSmet: milou.desmet@uantwerpen.be
The purpose of this project is the sharing of best practice in strengthening appreciation for teaching as part of the academic profession and in setting standards for teaching quality.
This project is part of the programme for Innovation of Teaching & Learning
For more information or participation contact:
Silvester Draaijer: s.draaijer@vu.nl
The objective of this project is to develop a method for rigorous benchmarking which allows for in-depth self-assessment, better-informed strategy & vision, evidence-based planning & decision making, and state-of-the-art monitoring of performance – in short: better research policy. The project consists of modules for academic quality and for societal impact of research. The group in Essen has continued the work started at previous Aurora Biannuals.
This project is part of the programme for Societal Impact & Relevance of Research.
For more information or participation contact:
Jord Hanus: jord.hanus@uantwerp.be
Bibliometricians from the Aurora universities have developed and tested a bibliometric tool to assess output, quality, and use of academic research both within Academia and in society from the perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals – instead of the traditional disciplinary perspective.
They have presented a Beta version of their analysis in the Aurora plenary on May 3rd, but have used the working session on May 2nd to further work on their tool.
This project is part of the programme for Societal Impact & Relevance of Research.
For more information or participation contact:
Maurice Vanderfeesten: maurice.vanderfeesten@vu.nl
Students from a disadvantaged background stand lower changes to gain international e.g. though experience study abroad than other students. This project develops a toolkit and staff training course to remedy this situation – within Aurora and afterwards at other interested universities. Although a Erasmus+ subsidy was not granted, the project group has started and used Essen as part of their working time table.
This project is part both of the Diversity & Inclusion programme and also of the Internationalisation programme.
For more information or participation contact:
Helena Gillespie h.gillespie@uea.ac.uk
Open Forum Debate: University Democracy
From 11.00-12.30 A forum debate took place in the Glaspavillon.
Find more information on the debate below or download a PDF here
University democracy can and does mean very different things in different higher education systems in Europe. The level of autonomy granted to universities differs. Aurora universities are subject to different governance traditions and legal frameworks: some universities work in a corporate framework (e.g. UEA and VUA), while many of the others work in a framework of elected leadership. Within these systems, various internal stakeholders like professors, other academics, students and non/academic staff may have different formal mandates. Independent of the formal mandate, tradition may give some stakeholders a stronger or weaker influence in practice than their official mandate shows.
The Plenary Session
Download the pfd with supplementary information on the Plenary session.
Both plenary sessions will have time for discussion.
14.00-15.00
The first part of the plenary session has had a major focus on the external developments and the impact that these should or should not have on Aurora.
To focus the discussion, three alternative scenarios were presented.
- What would be needed if Aurora aspires to be one of these 20 European Universities Networks – with a strong focus on international mobility and joint degrees?
- What would be needed if Aurora aspires to be as visible and as strong as these European University Networks, but pursuing its own strategy focused on *) matching academic excellence with societal relevance, *) learning from and with each other to best serve our regional communities, and *) seeing international academic collaboration as an interesting side catch of the Network?
- What would our position be if we continue our current speed of development in the Key Priorities, with the projects that are in the course of being developed and started?
To kick-off this strategic discussion, Thomas Jörgensen from the EUA gave an overview of the external developments and his observations on the various scenarios for Aurora in the perspective of these external developments. The required resources at each of the Aurora universities to successfully implement any of these strategies is of course a crucial part of the discussion.
In the discussion, the Aurora presidents concluded that intensification of collaboration is required, but that also participation by Aurora universities in an European Universities´ Network should not be excluded.
15.00-15.30
Maurice Vanderfeesten from the University Library of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam presented a bibliometric analysis of output, quality and impact of the research by Aurora universities in the respective Sustainable Development Goals.
This was followed by a discussion in which the Aurora presidents and other participants embraced the SDGs as overarching narrative for the Aurora Universities Network.