ENLIGHT kick-off week takes place from 1 to 5 March

In the first week of March, all students and staff of the University of Tartu, as well as everyone else, are invited to take part in the kick-off week of the European university network ENLIGHT. The programme offers inspiring international lectures and discussions about the environment, digital solutions, health care, equity, energy and teaching. Presenters include the former Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova and former President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy. From the University of Tartu, Professor of E-governance Robert Krimmer makes a presentation about digital solutions and health care on 2 March.

What is planned for the kick-off week? 

Presentations of the kick-off week deal with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on research over the next five years, the impact of local activities on the European climate, and many other exciting topics related to the five flagship areas of the project.

On the evening of 2 March, roundtables of rectors and project’s external advisors take place, at which Rector Toomas Asser discusses international cooperation with rectors of the National University of Ireland (Galway) and the University of Bordeaux, Herman Van Rompuy and the Chief Executive Officer of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens Monika Froehler.

The last day of the kick-off week, 5 March, focuses on teaching. The keynote speech will be by the former Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova, followed by presentations about challenge-based teaching. The wider audience might find the afternoon lectures and discussions taking place throughout the week to be most interesting.

Students will be invited to post photos of the extraordinary places in their city in a week-long joint action on Instagram.

Who are the members of the ENLIGHT?

In addition to the University of Tartu, the ENLIGHT network includes eight other partner universities across Europe: the Basque Country (Spain), Bordeaux (France), Bratislava (Slovakia), Galway (Ireland), Göttingen (Germany), Groningen (Netherlands), Tartu (Estonia), Uppsala (Sweden) and Ghent (Belgium). In a way, the network is like a huge university with more than 312,000 students and a common quality approach. Each university remains independent, but many processes and opportunities are harmonised to allow both students and staff to take part in the studies and teaching at other universities.

Which topics does the network address?

The project focuses on five flagship areas: health and well-being; digital revolution and impact of digitalisation; climate change; energy and circular economy, and equity. Other actions include closer cooperation between (doctoral) students, internationalisation of teacher training, harmonisation of information systems, promotion of entrepreneurship and multilingualism, engagement, wider learning mobility and regional cooperation. The listed topics and keywords indicate that a large part of the university will be involved in the project in one way or another.

Many actions of the project directly support the goals of the UT’s new strategic plan A2025, including the diversification of students’ learning experience, the teaching of future skills or knowledge transfer to resolve the challenges of society.

What is ENLIGHT?

ENLIGHT stands for European University Network to promote equitable quality of Life, sustainability and Global engagement through Higher education Transformation. The project aims to create a connected study and research environment with uniform quality standards, systemic student and research exchange.

More information about signing up for the kick-off week and its detailed schedule is coming soon. Keep an eye on the news!

If you are interested in the most important events of the network, subscribe to the ENLIGHT Newsletter. You can find the subscription form on www.enlight-eu.org. You can also follow the network on Twitter.

For more information about the ENLIGHT, see the UT website.

See also the home page of the network: https://enlight-eu.org/.

Further information: Tiina Jaksman, Project Manager, 737 6167, tiina.jaksman@ut.ee