Activities and Projects 2013/2014

SGROUP EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES' NETWORK

A Gateway to Europe 

Over 30 European Universities

15 European Countries

Collaboration with USA, Latin America, Eastern Partners, China, and

Africa

SGROUP EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES' NETWORK

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The SGroup is a network with over 25 years of experience in university collaboration within Europe and beyond

SGroup members • The SGroup European Universities’ Network (SGroup) is a non-for-profit organisation founded in 1989 composed of over 30 higher education institutions from 15 European countries.

• The SGroup is a dynamic platform for modern, internationally orientated universities with the aim of expanding collaboration opportunities in education and research through the transfer of knowledge and development of strategic alliances.

• Its mission is based on four core areas of co-operation – internationalisation strategy, academic collaboration, academic mobility, and transfer of knowledge.

SGROUP EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES’

NETWORK

To reinforce international strategies of members

To expand collaboration opportunities in education

and research

To improve the quality of governance, teaching,

research, and administrative practices

VISION

- Berkley Exchange Programme – USA- Alfa Puentes – Latin America- ICon – Intercontinental Academic Mobility Programme- STEP Programme – Placements for students

SELECTED PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES

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Regional Collaboration & Mobility

- Summer schools for Doctoral Students- Specialised workshops and seminars- United Nations Academic Impact Project

Transfer of Knowledge

- Collaboration with university associations and HEIs with Latin America (AUGM, FAUBAI, ASCUN) - Erasmus Mundus iDEA Project

Strategic Alliances

- Networking for EU funded projects- Assistance with internationalisation of Science and Technology- Specialised courses and workshops

Strengthening Research Capacities

SELECTED SGROUP-CO-ORIDNATEDMOBILITY PROJECTS

The ICon Programme intends to facilitate mobility between the participating regions and institutions to enhance academic and research collaboration www.iconmobility.eu

The ICon Programme is an international mobility initiative between higher education institutions belonging to the SGroup European Universities’ Network (SGroup) and their partner institutions overseas (from Eastern Partnership, Latin America, and China to SGroup members and reverse)

The Programme aims at the exchange of knowledge and experience between regions through academic mobility at all levels:

– Undergraduate students– Graduate students– Doctoral candidates

SGroup role: Global Coordinator for Eastern Partnership, Latin America and China lots

– Postdocs– Academic Staff– Administrative Staff

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SELECTED SGROUP-CO-ORIDNATEDMOBILITY PROJECTS

The ICon Programme intends to facilitate mobility between the participating regions and institutions to enhance academic and research collaboration www.iconmobility.eu

Benefits for ICon Programme for SGroup members:

• Privileged access to a wide range of reliable and recognised institutions;• Structured information about diverse study offers available in Europe and LA; • All types of academic mobility available;• Visibility and promotion of partner institutions in both regions;• Recognition of study and quality assurance mechanisms.• Possibility of networking for new funding programmes;• Facilitation of bilateral collaboration between individual universities as well as the

associations of universities from both regions.

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Alfa PUENTES - Building Capacity of University Associations in fostering Latin American Regional Integration

• The ALFA PUENTES project is an international cooperation initiative aimed to boost regional development of higher education in Latin America, managed and implemented by university associations in both LA and Europe. The project is designed to improve mechanisms for modernisation, reform and harmonisation of education systems in Latin America and to enhance EU-LA university partnership.

• The ALFA PUENTES supports three sub-regional initiatives (Mercosur, Andean Community, and the Mesoamerican Region) that focus on processes related to teaching and learning, mobility and internationalization, quality assurance (QA) and university governance.

SGroup role: Partner institution

Alfa Puentes is an international cooperation project between Europe and Latin America, aimed at improving and modernising the higher education system in Latin America and at harmonising curricula between the two continents.

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CURRENT INTERNATIONAL EU-FUNDED PROJECTS

EGRACONS - European GRAding CONversion System

The European GRAding CONversion System - EGRACONS proposes a practical approach to compare the grade conversion systems across Europe and to increase the understanding of the grading cultures by the academic and non-academic stakeholders.

• The project aims at designing and developing an IT tool for the conversion of grades to allow universities to ensure a fair transfer and recognition of grades of mobility students according to the ECTS Users’ Guide published by the European Commission in 2009.

• The project consortium representing almost 80 higher education institutions from 34 countries, and other interested parties are seeking to arrive at a common European approach to ECTS grading tables implementation.

SGroup role: Joint-Coordinator with the Gent University www.egracons.eu

EGRACONS aims at developing a user-friendly web-based tool for grade conversion that will be made available to all European HEIs on a voluntary basis enabling transparent interpretation of students’ accomplishments.

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CURRENT INTERNATIONAL EU-FUNDED PROJECTS

IMOTION - Integration and Promotion of Staff Training Courses at Universities

The main aim of the project is the creation of an online platform that will collect and display staff training opportunities at European level.

This platform will help:

– HEI organising staff training to promote their events;

– HEI organising job shadowing to look for appropriate staff ;

– HEI staff to find the appropriate training or job shadowing opportunities;

– HEI to get feedback from the participants at staff training events

SGroup role: Partner institution www.staffmobility.eu

The platform will help academic and administrative staff of Higher Education Institutions in Europe find and evaluate staff training events in an integrated and systematic way.

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CURRENT INTERNATIONAL EU-FUNDED PROJECTS

SELECTED INTERNAL SGROUP PROJECTS2013/2014

SGroup facilities cooperation among its member universities by offering funding to bottom-up initaitves proposed by member universities for the Seed Money Programme. 4-5 projects are sponsored on annual basis each with up to 5000 Euros each on an annual basis.

Projects InstitutionsINTENT - Integrating Telecollaboration into your International Programmes

Co-ordinated by the University of Leon in collaboration with the University of Le Havre

R/EVOLUTIONS - Enhancing integration between young researchers from SG members through development of an international political research journal

Lead by Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan in collaboration with the University of Kent and the Malmo University

EARTHə - Europe and Africa Resource for Transcontinental Higher Education

Co-ordinated by Babes-Bolyai University in collaboration with the Sapienza University of Rome and Rovira i Virgili University

Creation of a co-operation platform between European Careers Services with SG Network

Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan

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More information about SGroup and the membership conditions you can find www.sgroup.be

Associate membership – universities from non-European countries. Entry to this class of membership will be by invitation of the Executive Committee and endorsement by the General Assembly.

Full membership – universities from across Europe which have signed the SGroup Charter. Entry to this class of membership will be reserved to universities offering PhD or equivalent degree courses and endorsement by the General Assembly.

SGroup enables its members:– to network for EU-funded projects in education and research;– to exchange good practices;– to share experiences;– to participate in specialised work groups, seminar and training courses;– to access first-hand information about educational and research policies in Europe– to promote expertise and to increase visibility of its members– to identify opportunities for academic collaboration

HOW TO COLLABORATE WITH SGROUP?

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Projects and activities offered by SGroup Full

members Associate members

Academic Mobility Berkeley Academic Exchange Programme with the University of California, Berkeley √

STEP Programme – Student Training Exchange Programme √ ICon Programme – Inter-Continental Academic Exchange √ √ ICon Mobility Platform √ √

Networking activities

Networking for EU-funded or international projects √ √ Promotion of members and their activities √ √ Participation in European Projects √ √ Access to database of experts √ √ Access to online work platform √ √

Policy making

Membership on Executive Board √

Initiating projects with internal funding schemes √

Voting rights at General Assembly √

BENEFITS FROM MEMBERSHIP

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BENEFITS FROM MEMBERSHIP

Projects and activities offered by SGroup Full

members Associate members

Meetings and workshops

Participation in General Assembly* √ √ Participation in Liaison Officers Meeting* √ √ Participation in specialised workshops and seminars* √ √ Participation in Summer schools available to students and doctoral candidates* √ √ *The participation at the events listed above is available to associate members with self-funding only

Scholarships and grants

Summer school grants – 5 grants for SG members √

Subvention for members for the costs of accommodation and meals during the GA and LO Meetings √

Applying for an internal funding scheme – 4 projects each up to 5000 Euros available on annual basis √

Services of SG Headquarters in Brussels

Meeting facilities in Brussels √ √ Lobbying for our members at European Institutions and organization of higher education √ √ SG News Bulletin √ √ Traineeship at SG Office in Brussels √ Organisation of study visits at European Institutions and organisations of higher education available to university management and faculty members

√ Access to information about available funding programmes available for research and education √ √

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BENEFITS FOR MEMBERS

• International visibility• Access to a large number of HEIs in Europe and overseas• Expansion of research collaboration opportunities• Exchange of knowledge and expertise• Networking and participation in EU-funded projects• Access to state-of-the-art IT tool to manage academic mobility

INSTITUTIONS

• Access to academic mobility at all levels• SG Doctoral Summer Schools• Access to centralised platform for exchanges and collaboration• Access to funding of innovative ideas• Collaboration in EU-funded projects• Networking opportunities for projects • Visibility of individual expertise• Participation in tailor-made workshops and seminars

INDIVIDUALS

SG COMMUNITY

We invite all academic community of SG member universities e.g. teachers, researchers, PhD candidates, and administrative staff to register at our platform made available at www.sgroup.be

• The SG Community enables:

– to obtain information about our projects and collaboration opportunities

– to join specific work groups or a database of experts

– to interact with partners universities

– to share expertise with SG members whenever appropriate

• To register please follow this link: http://sgroup.be/user/register

CONTACT

SGroup European Universities’ NetworkRue de Stassart 119Brussels, Belgium

www.sgroup.besgroup@sgroup.be