UNWE Will Host the Expansion of ENGAGE.EU
UNWE will host the most significant event in the history of the European university network ENGAGE.EU so far - the expansion of the consortium with two economic universities which will be held on 26 May 2022 from 2.45 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. in Maxima Aula of UNWE.
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Official guests of the event will be the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Maria Gabriel and the Minister of Education and Science Acad. Nikolay Denkov. They and the nine Rectors of the partner universities will participate in the official ceremony on signing the contract for the ENGAGE.EU extension.
In the frameworks of the event Maria Gabriel will deliver a lecture on the Universities Role in Green and Digital Transition. The participants in the event will be welcomed by the Rector of the UNWE Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov and by Prof. Thomas Puhl, Rector of the coordinating university – the University of Mannheim.
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To the existing partners in the network of European economic universities - University of Mannheim /Mannheim, Germany/, UNWE /Sofia, Bulgaria/, LUISS University /Rome, Italy/, NHH Norwegian School of Economics /Bergen, Norway/, Tilburg University /Tilburg, Netherlands/, Université Toulouse 1 Capitole /Toulouse, France/, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business /Vienna, Austria/ will join the Universitat Ramon Llull /Barcelona, Spain/ and the Hanken School of Economics /Helsinki, Finland/.
European Universities is the European Commission's most important and largest initiative to transform higher education, science and innovation in Europe. Its objective is to create an unprecedented level of close cooperation between the higher education institutions in Europe.
The event will be broadcast lively through livestream on the UNWE Facebook page.
The official hashtags for the event will be #EngageEUExpansion, #EngagersGetTogether, #EngageEU.
ENGAGE.EU since the beginning
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ENGAGE.EU is our university of the future - one of total 41 European universities existing at the moment.
The future of Europe will be carved by major societal challenges: digitalization and artificial intelligence, climate change and sustainability, ageing societies and migration. Together with other leading European universities in business, economics, and social sciences the UNWE has formed the ENGAGE.EU alliance to provide European citizens with the set of skills and competences needed to tackle these major societal challenges. The initiative has been selected as one of the European Universities.
ENGAGE.EU is a consortium of seven universities sharing European values and a global outlook, being an academic home to over 100,000 students:
- University of Mannheim (Germany) – Coordinator,
- Luiss Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli (Italy),
- NHH Norwegian School of Economics (Norway),
- Tilburg University (the Netherlands),
- UNWE (Bulgaria),
- University Toulouse 1 Capitole (France), and
- WU Vienna University of Economics and Business (Austria).
The alliance will exploit the unique synergies of its excellent members, taking existing collaborations to a new dimension guided by a joint approach and a common goal, where each university brings its unique perspective shaped by its academic areas of specialization as well as geographical and economic context.
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| ENGAGE.EU Universities’ Rectors/Presidents, Vienna, January 2020 (from left to right): Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov (Rector of UNWE), Prof. Dr. Øystein Thøgerson /Rector of NHH/, Prof. Dr. David Alary /First Vice President of UT1/, Prof. Dr. Edeltaud Hanappi-Egger /Rector of WU/, Prof. Dr. Andrea Prencipe /Rector of LUISS/, Prof. Dr. Klaas Sijtsma /Rector of TilU/, and Prof. Dr. Thomas Puhl /President of UMA/ |
The three-year ENGAGE.EU project is a result of the efforts of a large international team of experts. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Michael Musov coordinated the work of the Bulgarian task force: Prof. D.Sc. Elka Todorova, Prof. Dr. Kamelia Stefanova, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Venelin Boshnakov, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Svetla Boneva, Dr. Rositsa Velinova, and Dr. Savena Borisova. The project represents a unique opportunity to test new models for education and research and examine their potential to further increase the quality, international competitiveness and attractiveness of European higher education. The ENGAGE.EU universities look forward to working together in this new European University. It will represent a unique opportunity to educate and inspire a new generation of citizens that will contribute to make Europe a global referent in how to tackle societal challenges.
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| Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov – Rector of UNWE, after the official signing of the ENGAGE.EU Mission Statement, Vienna, January 2020 |
On 1 November 2020 at the launch of the ENGAGE.EU project activities during the kick-off online meeting with the project team the Rector Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov who is a member of the ENGAGE.EU Board of Rectors declared: "We are on the threshold of one of the most ambitious and significant for the UNWE international projects, whose preparation started in November last year. The European Universities Initiative of the European Commission aims to create a qualitatively new model of systematic, structural and sustainable international cooperation between the higher education institutions. It is a model that will be one of the main tools for the implementation of the new EC policies in education and science; a model that goes much further than the traditional understanding of mobility. As the oldest and the largest economic university in the country, we are honoured to be part of this initiative. I have no doubt in the ultimate success". The Rector pointed out that so far the partnership within the ENGAGE.EU had achieved excellent results: the alliance prepares a new Horizon 2020 project entitled Science with and for Society and jointly with some of the partners the UNWE participates in two other research projects.
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| The Rector of the UNWE Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov is welcoming the ENGAGE.EU team |
In addition to the Board of Rectors the UNWE has two representatives in the Executive Committee of ENGAGE.EU: Prof. Miroslava Rakovska, Vice-Rector for Academic Activities and Assoc. Prof. Mihail Musov, Vice-Rector for Research and International Affairs - Project Coordinator.
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In January 2022 the alliance of the seven European universities ENGAGE.EU, part of which is the UNWE, announced and started its Think Tank Initiative. The approved researchers from each partner university will spend a week at the University of Mannheim in September / October 2022. They will have the opportunity to join research groups and various seminars as well as to work with colleagues from all universities in the consortium on topics of common interest. The Think Tank topic is: The Role of Digitalisation for Sustainable Development and its Impact on European Business, Economics and Societies.
"The ENGAGE.EU Think Tank aims to become a center for research at the highest level and to function as a forum for intensive interdisciplinary academic exchange in which scientists seek solutions to the challenges facing modern societies", explained Assoc. Prof. Mihail Musov, Vice-Rector for Research and International Cooperation and ENGAGE.EU Coordinator for Bulgaria. He added that by participating in the initiative the lecturers from the seven universities will have the opportunity to expand the boundaries of their research, to create sustainable research teams with foreign colleagues with whom to implement joint publications in leading scientific journals as well as to exchange experiences and ideas.
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| Assoc. Prof. Mihail Musov |
The first Annual Conference of the European University ENGAGE.EU took place on 21 and 22 October of the current year. It was hosted by the University of Mannheim, the coordinator of the Alliance. The event aimed to mark one year since the start of the joint project /ENGAGE.EU, funded by Erasmus+/ and to launch the new project initiative /ENGAGE.EU Research & Innovation, funded by Horizon 2020/. The forum brought together the Rectors of the partner universities, members of the Advisory Board, leaders of the project work packages and tasks as well as students. For two days more than 150 participants in the project discussed the results achieved so far and the possibilities to optimize the work and improve the communication and interrelations between the different work packages and tasks.
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The Bulgarian delegation in Mannheim |
The Bulgarian delegation was led by the Rector of UNWE Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov. Members of the delegation were: Mr. Maxim Behar and Mr. Yovko Atanasov - members of the ENGAGE.EU Advisory Board and the UNWE Trustees Council, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mihail Musov - Vice-Rector for Research and International Affairs, coordinator of ENGAGE.EU for UNWE; Prof. Dr. Dimitar Nenkov, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Venelin Boshnakov, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Svetla Boneva, Secretary General for Scientific Research Projects, Chief Assist. Dr. Yuri Tsenkov, Chief Assist. Dr. Ivan Valchanov and the students Alexander Dorohin and Martina Demirova.
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The Rector of the University of Mannheim is opening the Conference |
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During the panel discussions |
At the end of the official part the Rector of UNWE Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov awarded to Vienna University of Economics and Business the distinctions that our partner won in May of the current year from the First Online International Chess Tournament of the European University - ENGAGE.EU Cup`21.
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The Rector of UNWE is awarding the prize to Vienna University |
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During the joint session of ENGAGE.EU Management Board and Advisory Board
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The Rectors of the partner universities and the members of the ENGAGE.EU Advisory Board |
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| Presentation and work in groups "Reactivating & Building Links" |
The Conference ended setting a new beginning - the launch of the second key project on the development of the alliance - ENGAGE.EU R&I which is entirely in the field of research and innovation. Moderators for the opening meeting were Assoc. Prof. Mihail Musov and Prof. Boudewijn Haverkort from the University of Tilburg /online/.
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The opening meeting of the project ENGAGE.EU Research & Innovation /H2020/ |
The high activity of the Bulgarian delegation and the results achieved so far won for the UNWE to be the host of the ENGAGE.EU Annual Conference on 26-27 May 2022.
"My special thankfulness is to you, Dimitar, for taking the baton and that our next meeting will be in Sofia", wrote Prof. Puhl in a message to all Rectors in the Alliance.
