President of Católica takes part in debate on university diplomacy

The President of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP), Isabel Capeloa Gil, took part in a debate on University Diplomacy, as part of the activities of the Transform4Europe (T4EU) Strategic Assembly, at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland, on 22 October.

The aim of the conference was to debate the challenges of the European Education Area in the light of the values shared by T4EU's partner universities, such as European identity, the spirit of transformation and knowledge entrepreneurship.

Isabel Capeloa Gil argued that ‘it is necessary to honour the European university tradition, in which the university is seen as an international project’, emphasising the role of collaboration. ‘An alliance like Transform4Europe is crucial for collaboration’ at university level, she said.

The President also reflected on the consequences of Open Science. Although she defended its importance for cooperation between universities and for innovation, she mentioned that the research produced can sometimes be reused by external agents for purposes other than those initially planned, leaving the question: ‘how can universities deal with this?’.

The debate was moderated by Francisco Mendes-Palma, director of T4EU at UCP, with the participation of Polish ambassador Anna Pieńkosz, the Rector of the University of Primorska, Klavdija Kutnar, the Vice-Rector of the University of Silesia, Tomasz Pietrzykowski, and the director of institutional relations at the University of Alicante, Juan Llopis.

This conference was part of the inaugural event of the T4EU Strategic Assembly, which also included the transfer of the Alliance Presidency from the University of Silesia to Vytautas Magnus University, as well as an opening concert. The Strategic Assembly runs until 25 October, with various meetings between the rectors and administrators of the partner universities. At the same time, T4EU Week is taking place, where students and staff come together for various activities in Katowice and Cieszyn, Poland.