Paris, 18^th October 2021

After eighteen months of virtual meetings, staff weeks and virtual activities, the eMerge consortium had their first in person meeting since the start of the pandemic on 18^th October 2021, hosted in La Maison de la Bretagne, Paris, France. All partners were represented providing the opportunity to meet with and welcome colleagues from the Universitatea „Dunăre de Jos” din Galați, Romania, a new partner who joined the consortium in September 2021.

The four workshops were led and facilitated by Prof Mairead Moriarity, Vice President Global and Community Engagement, University of Limerick, Ireland who had the pleasure in announcing the recently approved Erasmus+ Key Action 2 partnership project, coordinated by the University of Limerick with the participation of eMERGE partners Université Rennes 2, Europa-Unversität Flensburg, Univerzita Mateja Bela.  The project, TRIP (Training and Realising Innovations in Internationalisation at Home Pedagogies) is a three year partnership focussed on the creation of a more inclusive higher education system, where the Sustainable Development Goals act as a catalyst to effect change across all levels of the partners through the lens of Internationalisation at Home.

The meeting reaffirmed commitment to continued cooperation. It offered time to reflect on collaborative activities, which have taken place virtually, such as the virtual staff week in March 2021 hosted and organised by Université Rennes 2, the recently launched Student Forum, managed by Inland University of Applied Sciences, Norway. It also provided the opportunity to strengthen current agreements between the partners that will continue to shape the future strategic direction of the consortium.

The consortium reflected on their European Universities Initiative application submitted in 2020 provided and worked to enhance and redevelop work packages for a potential future application, should a new call be launched for 2022.  

The next consortium meeting will be hosted by Inland University of Applied Sciences, Norway, in November 2021, followed by a meeting at the University of Limerick, Ireland in January 2022, with a consortium staff training week taking place in parallel to the consortium meeting.