If our members are interested in using the SG booth at the EAIE Exhibition to promote their university, do not hesitate to contact the SG Secretariat .

• Our first session will be held on 19th September from 11.00 till 12.30 on Bridging Higher Education between Europe and Latin America.

For the last ten years, the SG Network has put much focus on co-operation with Latin-America, as the co-ordinator of the AlBan Programme, the EU initiative of high level scholarships for Latin America. Over 3000 students from 18 countries were offered the opportunity to study up to 2010 for a Masters or Doctorate degree in more than 300 European universities of their choice.
Building on this important co-operation experience, the SG Network together with four Latin American networks participates in the recently selected project, under component III of the EU ALFA III Programme, to implement the Alfa Observatory. This project aims at disseminating best practices identified in all ALFA editions, creating synergies among projects of this third phase, and ensuriing systematic collection, centralisation and dstribution of ALFA III results. With a main office in Europe at the University of Porto in Portugal and four antennas in Latin America, a website, a hotline and an e-help desk will offer constant support to all project co-ordinators.

These are two challenging examples of "Connecting Continents" through Higher Education, which fosters regional integration towards an EU-LA common area of Higher Education. Aims, experiences and results of these projects will be detailed and thoroughly analysed in the proposed session to the audience of the EAIE event.

Key Words:Co-operation with developing countries, development of qualified human resources, best practices dissemination, Common Area in Higher Education Latin America and Europe.

Chair: John Tuppen, Santander Group Network, Belgium

Speakers:Alberto Sereno, Santander Group European Universities Network, Portugal
Julio Theiler, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina
Suzana Queiroz Monteiro, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco,Brazil
Guillermo Morones Díaz, ANUIES, Mexico

For more details on the session please visit the EAIE website .

• The second session will also be held on 19th September from 15.45 till 17.45 on Managing EU–third country mobility projects in higher education
• The Erasmus Mundus External Co-operation Window Programme (now called 'Action 2: Partnerships' under the new Erasmus Mundus II programme) is a EU funded initiative that enables incoming and outgoing third country and European students and academic staff to benefit from the opportunity to study, do research and teach abroad. Consequently, universities participating in the programme can raise their capacities, build a pole of expertise and gain international visibility.
  In the last EM ECW call as many as 13 SG member universities were selected in 9 different lots and the Santander Group Network will present this wide and considerable expertise in the form of a session on good practices in project co-ordination. The session will also be relevant to EAIE participants in view of anticipated calls for proposals provided by the European Commission in the coming years.
   
  Programme of the session:
  • successful consortia and partnership build-up and management
  • application and selection procedures (online tools) types of outgoing and incoming mobility and target groups
  • management (structure and finances)
  • organising meetings (where, when, content)
  • efficient communication and dissemination strategies both within and outside the project consortium
  • recognition of degrees and quality assurance
  • Chair: Valère Meus, Ghent University International Relations Office, Belgium

    Speakers: Anila Troshani, EACEA, European Commission, Belgium
    Ivana Vujkov, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
    Barbara Costa, Universidade Do Porto, Portugal
    Mar Fernández Sainz, University of Valladolid International Office, Spain
    José Gutierrez Fernandez, EACEA, European Commission, Belgium

    For more details on the session, please visit the EAIE website .