Learning Communities in action: February-March 2023

Connected Community in Action: Cross-Campus Simulation on EU-Policy Making
 

The learning community 'Europe in the World' has once more held its successful Winter Simulation with a total of 34 students (Ba, Ms, PhD and graduates) taking part from VUB, CY, UoL and UoW. 
Led by VUB Brussels School of Governance Professor Trisha Meyer, the 2-day simulation exercise (9-10 Feb, 2023), focused on intra and inter-institutional negotiations of draft EU Digital Services Act. The exercise put the theory of EU policy-making into practice, allowing students to put themselves in the role of various EU officials and to gain firsthand experience of EU institutional negotiations, rules, and strategies as they drafted and came to a consensus on a text for the EU Data Act. All students will receive a EUTOPIA micro-credentials for their participation.

"This was my 1st simulation and I have to admit it was a very nice experience ! I discovered how many people can step-by-step arrive to a final text and I also better understood roles”

EUTOPIA Speaks, Listens, Hears! Languages Week takes place across our campuses

EUTOPIA just celebrated its inaugural Languages Week (6 - 10 March, 2023)!

The Chair of the EUTOPIA Alliance: Prof Tiziana Lippiello, Rector of Ca'Foscari University of Venice opened this cross-Alliance event and made a direct connection between the spirit and ethos of the Alliance, and a linguistically and culturally inclusive diverse learning ecosystem. Throughout the week, EUTOPIA students and members participated in over 40 online and in-person activities from academic talks, roundtables and language cafés to film nights, a translation slam, a multilingual games night and many more across the participating institutions (VUB, UL, UPF, UW, CY, TUD, and Ca’Foscari)!

Led by the learning communities 'Multilingualism and Diversity' and 'Text and Discourse Analysis', the hope is that Languages Week will become an annual point of reference celebrating the diversity of languages and cultures in our Alliance.

Connected Community in Action: Challenging Labour Migration within and beyond Europe

The learning community ‘Legal History’ held its peak event in Ljubljana from March 9-11 2023. 
Led by VUB prof. dr. Frederik Dhondt and UoL hosting partner prof. dr. Katja Škrubej, students and teachers from 5 EUTOPIA universities came together offline and online (VUB, UoL, UW, NOVA & CY). The LC was welcomed by the dean of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Law prof. dr. Saša Zagorc who highlighted the value of this thematic on labour migration from the historically integral role on understanding peoples movement over the years, as well as in our current societies.

This was followed by a brief word by EUTOPIA MORE lead at UoL prof. dr. Nataša Poklar-Ulrih and VUB EUTOPIA WP Coordinator prof. dr. Rosette S’Jegers. The event builds on research that has been conducted on the topic of labour migration by students across our campuses over the past months (i.e. labour migrations in France and Belgium, migration from Middle and Latin America to the UK, migration of Portuguese to America, and mobility after the break-up of the Habsburg monarchy on the land and sea).