Euskampus Bordeaux Eguna 2022, in Bordeaux

• The Regional Education Minister Jokin Bildarratz is committed to a more Euroregional and international model for the university, as well as to greater mobility in the Euroregion
• More than 200 people are taking part today and tomorrow in the annual meeting of the Euskampus Bordeaux cross-border campus community

The Regional Education Minister Jokin Bildarratz, together with the Deputy Regional Minister for Universities and Research, Adolfo Morais, took part this lunchtime in the opening session of Euskampus Bordeaux Eguna 2022, the annual meeting of the Euskampus Bordeaux cross-border campus community, which this year is being held in Bordeaux. Today and tomorrow, more than 200 people from the Euskampus Bordeaux community will be taking part in this event, which will allow them to share and showcase all the projects and collaborations that are being developed within the framework of the cross-border campus.

In addition to Minister Bildarratz, the regional minister and vice-president for Higher Education and Research of the Regional Council of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Gerard Blanchard; the rector of the UPV/EHU, Eva Ferreira; the president of the University of Bordeaux, Dean Lewis; the director of the DIPC, Ricardo Díez; and the director of Tecnalia, Jesús Valero, also took part in the opening of the event. 

Greater mobility in the Euroregion

During his speech at the opening, Minister Bildarratz referred to the objectives that are being worked on, together with the UPV/EHU, with a view to the next plan for the university system for the period 2023-2026. And he highlighted one of them, which is closely linked to today’s event: “the aim is to advance in the evolution of our university towards a more Euroregional, more European and more international model. We are committed to greater mobility in the Euroregion, we are committed to the promotion of the ENLIGHT European university, we are committed to collaboration that contributes ideas and solutions to social challenges from the perspective of promoting what we could call a Smart Euroregion.”

In this vision of a Smart Euroregion, in the words of the minister, “higher education and scientific knowledge must be pillars and support the necessary collective response to social challenges.” In this regard, he highlighted the work of the Cross-Border Cooperation Laboratories (CCLs), and the creation of the CCL-Sarea network. “I consider this CCL Network label to be fundamental; it reinforces the sustainability of the laboratories in the present and in the future. It is an excellent and necessary initiative. The Basque Country and Nouvelle Aquitaine share the objective of developing projects to increase our scientific capacity for excellence.”

Finally, the Minister of Education proposed a new objective for the cross-border campus, in line with the university and scientific policies being developed by the Basque Government and the universities. “I suggest strengthening the collaboration policy in the 4Gune and KSIgune training clusters, as well as deepening the perspective of our vision of collaborative research excellence IKUR 2030. We have time to talk and propose ways of tackling them. We can and must widen our circle of collaboration, and I am convinced that the Euskampus Campus of International Cross-border Excellence has been, is and will continue to be fundamental for this joint future that we must continue to build together.”

Euskampus Bordeaux Eguna

Euskampus Bordeaux Eguna is the annual meeting of the community that makes up the Euskampus Bordeaux cross-border campus. The event provides an opportunity to share, give visibility to and highlight the set of projects and collaborations that are developed within the framework of this strategic alliance between the UPV/EHU, the University of Bordeaux, the DIPC and Tecnalia, extending to the entire Euskampus Board of Trustees and its collaborating entities.

As in the previous edition, held in San Sebastian, this new edition of Euskampus Bordeaux Eguna focuses on promoting interaction and active participation of all its attendees, through a two-day programme. The event alternates plenary sessions with participatory workshops, moments of informal meetings and moments of social and cultural encounters. In short, it is an opportunity to interact with the aim of getting to know each other better and continuing to weave collaborative networks.

In this edition, the achievements of the 5 Cross-Border Cooperation Laboratories (CCLs), one of the main initiatives of the Euskampus-Bordeaux cross-border campus, will be presented and the new selected CCL will be publicly announced. Research teams from the Basque Country and Bordeaux work together in these CCLs, which has made it possible to generate truly cross-border research communities. Their success has led to the creation of CLB-Sarea, a programme funded by the Department of Education for the development of CCLs.

A look at 2030

This year, Euskampus Bordeaux Eguna is carrying out an exercise to visualise the cross-border campus of the future, with the help of all the participants and their contributions. The participatory workshop “How do we envision the cross-border campus in 2030?” aims to be a space in which, from the cultural, linguistic, institutional and disciplinary diversity of the Euskampus Bordeaux community, researchers, students, administrative staff and political representatives will work collectively, with their contributions, to help generate a shared vision of the cross-border campus with a 2030 horizon. This vision will guide the design of the future framework agreement of the Euskampus Bordeaux alliance, to be renewed in March 2023.

On the other hand, tomorrow, the activity “On board the Euskampus Bordeaux Campus” will give 15 selected people the opportunity to present in 173 seconds (this is the distance in nautical miles between Bilbao and Bordeaux), focusing on their experiential side, the project or initiative they are developing or have developed within the framework of the collaborations between the Euskampus entities. This activity is open to research staff, project and programme managers, students, technical and administrative and service staff who are participating or have participated in a project, experience, initiative or programme linked to the collaborations developed within the framework of the Euskampus Bordeaux Campus.

Euskampus Bordeaux cross-border campus

The Euskampus Bordeaux Cross-border Campus is an initiative that arose eleven years ago from the programmes of excellence of the UPV/EHU and the University of Bordeaux, with the collaboration of the DIPC (Donostia International Physics Center) and Tecnalia. It is a model of international cooperation that provides an attractive and innovative higher education environment, creates a leading cooperative research space in Europe and promotes territorial ecosystems of high added value for innovation together with companies, social organisations, public administrations and citizens. The Campus constitutes an academic and research community made up of more than 100,000 students, nearly 10,000 researchers and more than 4,500 administrative and service staff.

Notable achievements during its eleven years of existence include the consolidation of joint master’s degrees in leading areas, the presentation of doctoral theses on a joint supervision basis and joint research work through the creation of Cross-Border Cooperation Laboratories (CCLs).