From 6-8 July 2022, St. Pölten UAS hosted the very first E³UDRES² Strategy Forum at its campus in Lower Austria. The event started off quite relaxed, with all participants being offered a guided tour around the St. Pölten UAS campus, some networking and drinks at one of the campus' terraces, and a joint dinner in the city center of St. Pölten. The following day, it was time to get to work: Hannes Raffaseder, E³UDRES² lead coordinator, welcomed the participants and used the opportunity to highlight all the achievements E³UDRES² can look back on already in just one-and-a-half years of the alliance working together. Iveta Putnina of Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences continued to brief the group concerning the alliance's vision and mission, as well as the refining steps in this matter that have already been taken in the past months. Michal Karpisek, who not only designed the programme of the event, but also moderated a big part of the Strategy Forum, then introduced the group to the main E³UDRES² priorities for the upcoming months - an essential step for the participants to be prepared for the tasks waiting for them.
Looking into the future
After this common introduction, the group split into five different work groups based on the individual preferences. The topics of the various work groups ranged from "Future university model, governance & shared services" to "Research serving the community and users" as well as "Regional engagement & entrepreneurship". A broad range of participants in the work groups, such as students, researchers, as well as higher education managers, made the results even more valuable, as their different views on the topics led to more comprehensive ideas and concepts.
The programme of the Strategy Forum continued to alternate between plenary sessions of all participants, where the results found in the work groups were discussed, as well as joint work in different focus groups. The last day of the Forum wrapped up with the conclusion that a lot of valuable ideas and concepts were developed for the future strategy of E³UDRES². At the same time, many participants experienced how hard it can be to bring ideas on the ground and turn them into something that can actually be implemented across the E³UDRES² institutions.
From St. Jakob to St. Pölten
The final day of the Forum also offered a special element on the programme: As the E³UDRES² Bootcamp took place simultaneously to the Strategy Forum in St. Jakob, Tyrol, the opportunity was taken to livestream the final group pitches of the Bootcamp teams to the Forum audience in St. Pölten (more here). Each insitution present at the Forum in St. Pölten then selected one of their members to be the jury for the pitch presentations.
With the Strategy Forum being over, the ideas and concepts drafted in the various work groups are now to be refined and evaluated. The next Strategy Forum is already in planning and will be hosted later this year in Romania by Politehnica University Timisoara.
Also during the Strategy Forum, a new chair and vice-chair of the E³UDRES² Board of Student Representatives were elected. Find more about this here: New chair and vice-chair of E³UDRES² Board of Student Representatives elected
Links
➞ St. Pölten UAS
➞ E³UDRES² Bootcamp 2022
