The Launch Week of ENLIGHT, the European University in which the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country is participating along with another eight universities across the continent, was held from 1 to 5 March. Public presentations, lectures and workshops, led by specialists from the nine universities, took place throughout the week. Most of the presentations and sessions were public. In total, more than 1,250 people participated in the various activities.

One of the most important events was the holding of a round table with the vice-chancellors, and which aimed to analyse the contribution of universities to the development of their communities. Irina Bokova, former Director-General of Unesco, Veronica Manfredi, Director of Quality of Life at the European Commission, Herman van Rompuy, Former President of the Council of Europe, and Monika Froehler, Executive Director of the Ban-Ki-Moon Centre, also participated in the event.

The flagship lectures addressed topical issues. They included the effect of the Covid-19 crisis on medical research, the effect of land use for tourism purposes in Mediterranean countries on the volume and devastating effect of rainfall in Northern Europe, and the importance of empowering students to achieve a more efficient education.

There was also scope for informal discussions and networking (virtual coffee breaks). The closing session of the week was led by the vice-chancellor of the Basque public university Eva Ferreira, given that the UPV/EHU has assumed the rotating presidency of the consortium. "The setting up of the ENLIGHT consortium is a strategic project for prestigious universities across nine European countries, many of which are in top positions in the Shanghai rankings. We have committed ourselves to collaborating closely in the future: we will be enhancing lecturer and student mobility, strengthening joint research and designing joint degrees. It is a broad, ambitious agreement that will deliver excellent results within a short time.

About Enlight

The ENLIGHT European University, whose project was approved by the European Commission in July 2020, is made up of the universities of Bordeaux (France), Ghent (Belgium), Groningen (Netherlands), Göttingen (Germany), Uppsala (Sweden), Galway (Ireland), Tartu (Estonia), Comenius-Bratislava (Slovakia) and the UPV/EHU. All of them stand out for their general character, their quality in the field of research, and the key aspect of their social commitment. They bring together a total of more than 300,000 students.

Over the next three years Enlight will be laying the foundations for an integrated university system that will make possible the free flow of students and staff through the pooling of academic and administrative resources, the confluence of quality assurance mechanisms, international connections and global commitment, through the establishing of wide-ranging research infrastructures.

Indeed, the aim of European universities is to promote the development of new generations of Europeans who can, through cooperation and creativity, address the great social and political challenges of the 21st century without cultural and linguistic differences being a hindrance.