The
Kick-Off meeting of the INGENIUM European
Alliance was held on 24 and 25 of January. Rectors and representatives from the
10 partner universities attended to the University of Oviedo, setting the official
start for INGENIUM activities.

The
INGENIUM European University, funded from the European Commission with €14.4
million for the next four years, is one of the new four alliances added to the
40 existing European Universities.

In
the historic building of the University of Oviedo, which dates back to 1608, the
groups of European universities discussed the collaboration and coordination of
the projects for the next four years, shared their views on issues related to
the European Higher Education Area and explored thoughts and ideas for further partnership.

University
of Crete was represented by mr.Kossioris Georios, Vice-Rector for Academic
Affairs, Lifelong Learning, International Relations & Outlook, mr.Pavlidis
Michail, Vice-Rector for Research & Development, mr.Argyros Antonis,
Head of the Department and Professor of Computer Science and mr. Chalkiadakis
Georgios, Deputy Director of the University’s Center of Infrastructure
Technology Services Informatics & Communications.

UoC
presented the Digital INGENIUM Working Package that will coordinate and
implement within the consortium and the way the institution’s infrastructure
will be organized and managed to achieve its WP. For the next four years,
teams from each INGENIUM University will work together, sharing views and expertise
to implement and deliver the European University projects in the
most effective way.

Through
this Kick-Off meeting, University of Crete presented its history, the
established significant educational and research collaborations, the
strong connection with the local community and the continuous effort of the
academic community to offer students studies of international standards. All
the European universities expressed interest in establishing new bilateral and
multilateral partnerships.

Cooperation
and teamwork towards the common vision of INGENIUM are key factors for partners
in order to build a new model of university education in European higher
education. The heterogeneity of the 10 European higher education institutions
is actually their strength in developing research and education partnerships,
and promote pedagogical innovation and entrepreneurship in their key areas of
activity.