This year’s spring General Assembly of YERUN was held from March 14 to 16 in Limerick, Ireland. All rectors, presidents, official representatives, and institutional coordinators were welcomed by the host, Prof. Kerstin Mey, Ph.D., President of the University of Limerick, and YERUN President, Prof. Snježana Prijić-Samaržija, Ph.D., University of Rijeka Rector.
After last year’s autumn session held in Maastricht, when the GA adopted the decision to accept a new member, the meeting in Limerick was also attended by the representatives of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun.
On the first day of the three-day assembly, the participants had the opportunity to attend an online lecture held by Professor Jamil Samli, Ph.D., global tertiary education expert providing policy advice and consulting services to governments, universities, professional associations, multilateral development banks and bilateral cooperation agencies. Until January 2012, he was the World Bank’s tertiary education coordinator. He wrote the first World Bank policy paper on higher education reform in 1994.
During the meetings, university leaders participated in discussions and workshops dedicated to the future of higher education. Emphasis was placed on strategic decisions related to new approaches in education and how to build a meaningful organizational structure that would help create a possible or desirable future.
The YERUN central office briefly presented the previous activities and results of the working groups, and the university leaders were presented with the idea of investing in a collaborative research platform, developed by SDU (University of Southern Denmark). With regard to the goal of expanding the network and accepting new members, possible universities in countries where YERUN is not yet present were also discussed, and the question of the future budget and the possibility of increasing the amount of the annual membership fee were also highlighted.
The next session of the General Assembly will be held in October 2023, hosted by the NOVA University in Lisbon.
REPRO FREE 160323 The Young European Research Universities Network (YERUN), founded in 2016, brings together like-minded young research universities in Europe, with the primary objective of raising the voice of young universities in Europe via a dedicated strategic representation and lobbying action and strengthening their cooperation, maximising opportunities to collaborate in areas of mutual interest and benefit. This years Yerun General Assembly was hosted by University of Limerick President, Prof Kerstin Mey, March 14th – 16th. Pic Arthur Ellis. 
