St Andrews announces membership of influential European university network

Tuesday 16 May 2017

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The University of St Andrews is to join the Europaeum, an association of leading European university institutions dedicated to maintaining strong cross border academic ties.

St Andrews is the first Scottish university and second in the UK to join the Europaeum, whose members include the universities of Oxford, Helsinki, Leiden, Munich (Ludwig-Maximilian), Paris I, and Prague (Charles).

The Europaeum is designed to serve as an ‘international university without walls’, in which scholars and future European leaders have an opportunity to share common learning and confront common concerns.

The Europaeum exists to foster collaborative teaching and academic exchange; to provide opportunities for scholars, leaders, academics, and graduates to participate in conferences, summer schools and colloquia; and to enable leading figures from the worlds of business, politics and culture to take part in transnational and multidisciplinary dialogue with the world of scholarship.

Above all, the Europaeum “aims to add to the sum knowledge about – and for – the new Europe, to help prepare the future citizens and leaders of – and for – Europe, to ensure that all partner universities are fully engaged in both explaining and making Europe’s future, and to leave all those involved in the Europaeum with an enlarged ‘sense of Europe’.”

St Andrews Principal, Professor Sally Mapstone, confirmed the University’s membership of the prestigious group in a recent message to staff.

“St Andrews is, and will remain, a highly connected global university,” she said.

“We are taking practical steps to strengthen our academic networks, in Europe and across the world. We have recently accepted an invitation to join the Europaeum, a network of research-focused European universities, and the Talloires Network, a global body of universities with a focus on civic engagement.

“When governments disagree, diverge or disconnect, academia has an even more important role to play in communication and the maintenance of relationships. This is a time to build bridges, not burn them.”

Dr Andrew Graham, Chair of the Academic Council of the Europaeum, commented: “We are delighted that St Andrews with its long tradition as an excellent university is joining the Europaeum. As Professor Mapstone has indicated, the timing could not be more significant, and we look forward to working with St Andrews to strengthen cross-Europe links.”


Background information

The Europaeum was founded in 1992 on the initiative of the University of Oxford. Its current members are the universities of Oxford, Barcelona (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Geneva (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies), Helsinki, Krakow (Jagiellonian), Leiden, Madrid (Complutense), Munich (Ludwig-Maximilian), Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne) and Prague (Charles). The Institute of Political Studies at Lisbon is an associate member. The Europaeum’s mission is to promote excellence in academic research and teaching collaboration between Europaeum partners, especially in the humanities and the social sciences, and to serve as a resource for the general support and promotion of European studies. It seeks particularly to bring together graduate students from across Europe and to engage them both with academics and in discussion of contemporary European issues.

The Europaeum is overseen by a board of Trustees. The members are Dr Pierre Keller (chair), José Manuel Barroso (former President of the European Commission), Philippe Burrin (Director of the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva), Dr Erhard Busek (former Vice-Chancellor of Austria), Professor Karel Stolker (Rector of the University of Leiden), Professor Yves Mény (former President of the European University Institute in Florence), Lord Christopher Patten (Chancellor of Oxford), HE Karel Schwarzenberg (former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic), and Professor Ngaire Woods (Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University).

Two rectors from the member universities serve in rotation.

The Trustees are advised by the Academic Council, which contains the Rectors (or their appointees) plus one other representative from each of the member universities. The Academic Council also oversees all the academic work of the Europaeum. The Chair of the Academic Council is Dr Andrew Graham (former Master of Balliol College, Oxford).

The head office of the Europaeum is in Oxford and the day-to-day administration is led by the Secretary-General, Dr Paul Flather.

For further information about the Europaeum, please contact either Dr Graham ([email protected]) or Dr Flather ([email protected]).

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews. Contact 01334 462530 or email [email protected].


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