Brussels, 13 June 2019
Guiding Refugees via European Exchange and Training (GREET) project - final event
Theme
ACA and UNICA are organising a joint stakeholder event at the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels on behalf of their project teams – GREET and Academic Refuge. The event, titled Higher Education Values in Practice - Integration of highly skilled refugees and at-risk academics in Europe, will focus on academic values and the role of Europe’s higher education community in supporting students and scholars with refugee background and academics at risk.
The partners in the two projects have for years supported thse vulnerable groups in various ways – from providing individual grants and placements for academics at risk, academics with refugee background, to national-level support frameworks for higher education institutions to support refugee students in their academic paths.
With a combination of plenaries and group work sessions, the event will bring together major higher education stakeholders, from higher education institutions, individual students and academics, policy makers at all levels and civil society organisations active in this area.
About GREET
Guiding Refugees via European Exchange and Training (GREET) is a Horizon 2020 Science4Refugees project which aims to contribute to the integration of highly skilled refugees in European higher education through mutual learning and exchange of good practices among national support structures and higher education institutions (HEIs) in 9 European countries (Austria, Belgium/Flanders, Germany, Greece, Finland, France, Norway, Sweden and the UK).
By scaling up successful practices in Germany and Finland by means of a peer learning activity (PLA) and disseminating its results through EU-level webinars, the project enables debates at European level on current practices and obstacles for their implementation, search for joint solutions and improvements for a better and more effective integration of highly skilled refugees residing in the participating countries. The results of the project (PLA, webinars, stakeholder event) will be systematised and stored in the online compendium – a repository of existing policies and practices available to the wider higher education community. The online compendium will be launched in September 2019.
About Academic Refuge
The EU-funded (Erasmus+) ‘Academic Refuge’ project aims to improve the capacity of European universities to assist refugees and threatened academics on campus and to promote understanding and respect for higher education values.
The two overlapping project objectives are 1) to improve the capacity of European universities to assist refugees and threatened academics; 2) to promote greater respect for academic freedom and greater protection for higher education values. This project raises greater awareness of the importance of academic freedom to a healthy higher education sector, the consequences for society at large when such freedom is repressed, and the steps we can take as a sector to protect higher education values.
Programme
Thursday 13 June 2019
| 11.30 – 13.00 | Registration & lunch |
| 13.00 – 13.30 | Welcome by the European Committee of the Regions Laurent Thieule, Director Legislative Work, European Committee of the Regions About the GREET and Academic Refuge projects Ulrich Grothus, ACA President Marit Egner, Senior Adviser – Department of Research Administration, University of Oslo |
| 13.30 – 13.45 | Keynote speech Wajid Khan, MEP |
| 13.45 – 14.45 | Panel on higher education values European action to promote higher education values Annick Suzor-Weiner, Professor, Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie and Université Paris-Sud (moderator) Kati Verstrepen, President of the League of Human Rights Markus Laitinen, Head of International Affairs, University of Helsinki Monika Steinel, Senior Policy Analyst, European University Association Olga Hunler, Visiting Researcher, University of Bremen |
| 14.45 – 15.00 | Launch of e-handbook “Promoting Core Higher Education Values – Perspectives from the Field” Stefaan Smis, Professor of international and human rights law, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) |
| 15.00 – 15.20 | Break |
| 15.20 – 16.30 | Parallel sessions 1. Values in higher education as risk management Lauren Crain, Director of Research and Learning, Scholars at Risk Adinda van Gaalen, Senior Policy Officer, Nuffic 2. Awareness raising for supporting higher education in emergencies Sini Piippo, Senior Programme Manager and International Contact Point for Erasmus+, Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI) James R. King, Director, IIE Scholar Rescue Fund Marita Häkkinen, Coordinator, University of Jyväskylä IIE-SRF Fellow, Visiting Scholar, Oslo Metropolitan University |
| 17.00 | Guided tour of Brussels – DiverCity Prof. Eric Corijn, Professor of social and cultural geography, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) |
| 19.00 – 21.00 |
Reception at Beursschouwburg |
Friday 14 June 2019
| 9.30 – 10.00 | Welcome note Themis Christophidou, Director General, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (EAC), European Commission |
|
10.00 – 11.15 |
Parallel sessions
2. The future of support for at-risk academics in Europe?
3. Networks, associations and task forces as support structures and advocacy tools |
| 11.15 – 11.30 | Break |
| 11.30 – 12.45 | Initiatives to support integration of highly skilled refugees into higher education in Europe David Crosier, Eurydice (moderator) EU-level support: Mihaela Costache, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (RTD), European Commission National initiatives: Kaisu Piiroinen, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture Regional initiatives: Julia Kracht Araújo, Senior Desk Officer, Higher Education Programmes for Refugees, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Institutional initiatives: Mathieu Schneider, Associate Professor in history of music and Vice-President of the University of Strasbourg Students’ perspective and involvement: Majdi Bido, Assistant preliminary studies for new immigrants, University of Siegen |
| 12.45 -13.15 | Achievements and outlook Academic Refuge: The Next Steps GREET: Past and upcoming results |
| 13.15 –14.15 | Networking lunch |