European Neighbourhood Task Force External relations task force for neighbouring countries Contact: Artur Schmitt (Chair); mobile phone: (+34) Anna Quici (Coimbra Group Office); phone: (+32) Coimbra Group Annual Conference Groningen, 10 – 13 June 2014 Mission  to complement the worldwide internationalisation activities undertaken by the Coimbra Group and its member universities  to bring together the experience and expertise in cooperation with institutions in neighbouring countries  to facilitate, support and undertake joint projects and initiatives  to promotes international academic cooperation and intercultural dialogue  to develop links with and among Coimbra Group universities  to raise awareness about the Coimbra Group among institutions in neighbouring countries  to improve knowledge about universities from the targeted regions among Coimbra Group members Task Force Meetings  Minsk, 12 February 2014  Galway, 22 May 2013  Brussels, 8 January 2013  Granada, 19 November 2012  Göttingen, 29 May 2012  Brussels, 16 December 2011 ... Joint Meetings  TF Doctoral Studies and Research, Galway, 23 May 2013  TF Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries, Galway, 23 May 2013 Actions and Activities  to initiate and support collaboration projects run by Coimbra Group universities together with higher education institutions in the targeted regions  Joint Erasmus Mundus Action 2 Seminar (Erasmus Mundus as a Catalyst for Internationalization: Sharing Best Practices and Exploring Future Perspectives, Belarusian State University, Minsk, 10 – 12 February 2014)  Erasmus Mundus Action 2 projects for North Africa (U Granada), the Middle East (U Pavia), Israel (U Iaşi), Eastern Europe and the Caucasus (U Göttingen, U Montpellier, U Iaşi, U Turku, U Bologna), the Russian Federation (U Turku, U Barcelona) and the Western Balkans (U Graz)  to gather and promote information about collaboration activities between individual Coimbra Group universities and institutions involved in higher education in neighbouring countries  Presentations and reports at all Task Force meetings  to follow developments and changes in higher education in neighbouring countries and relay the information to Coimbra Group universities  Reports from partner universities in the region  Presentations by high level officers at the European Commission and National Tempus Offices  to carry out activities such as meetings, seminars and exchange schemes in order to generate and facilitate contacts to and involvement of students, scholars and university administrators from the targeted regions with Coimbra Group universities  Coimbra Group Scholarship Programme for Young Researchers from the European Neighbourhood  Minsk Event (see above)  to identify networks of institutions involved in higher education who may become partners in cooperation and exchange activities  First contacts with associations in the Russian Federation and the Arab World  to seek external project funding from the European Union and from other institutions  Strategic Partnership (Erasmus+ KA2) proposal regarding multilinguistic and multicultural summer schools (EMICSS, U Poitiers)  Initiatives for Tempus projects supporting internationalization and student mobility with Eastern European (STEEM, U Granada) and North African (BITMaP, U Padova, jointly with TF ACP) partners Regions  Western Balkans  Eastern Europe  Caucasus  Russia  Central Asia  North Africa  Middle East Scholarship Programme  for young researchers from the targeted regions  scholarships offered by U Granada (2), U Graz (2), RU Groningen (1), U Heidelberg (1), AICU Iaşi (1), U Jena (1), KU Leuven (3), U Padova (2), U Salamanca (1), U Tartu (1)  Strong impact on individuals and institutions  Very positive feedback  “one of my most valuable research experiences”  “a great academic experience”  “a significant change in … academic life for many scholars”  “you are doing a great job”  “You are doing a great job - continue it!” Active Member Universities U Barcelona U Bologna TC Dublin NUI Galway U Göttingen U Granada U Graz RU Groningen U Heidelberg AICU Iaşi U Istanbul U Jena U Kraków KU Leuven U Padova U Poitiers SU St. Petersburg U Salamanca U Tartu U Turku U Uppsala Åbo Akademi Coimbra Group Annual Conference Groningen, 10 – 13 June 2014