The University of Nottingham, United Kingdom (UK), has joined the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU), which has Kaunas University of Technology as the only member from Lithuania.
Nottingham is a global, research-intensive university that further strengthens the ECIU international research network. As well as its main base in the UK, Nottingham has campuses in Malaysia and China.
“The University of Nottingham has had university-industry relations in its mission statement for almost 90 years. In this way, the university combines an excellent scientific track record with entrepreneurship and innovation. Add to that the extensive relations the university has with Asia, and I am sure this new member will strengthen ECIU as a whole”, says Victor van der Chijs, President of the ECIU.
The University was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881. It is a significant university in the UK, with around 34,000 students and 9,000 staff. There are many similarities with the ECIU members regarding the entrepreneurial mind-set of students and staff, and the innovative approaches to education, research development, and internationalization. Nottingham’s experience in operating two large-scale campuses in Asia adds an interesting international dimension to the network.
This autumn, the meeting of ECIU universities’ Vice-Rectors for Research took place in Nottingham. Leonas Balaševičius, Head of KTU International Doctoral School introduced the idea of the collaboration between ECIU universities’ doctoral schools, and presented the guidelines for the 3rd international PhD Summer School in Palanga. The representatives of the innovative universities also discussed the possibility of opening up free PhD modules for the doctoral students from ECIU universities.
According to L. Balaševičius, the University of Nottingham will strengthen the ECIU by adding to the activities of innovative research and entrepreneurship.
Six global Research Beacons drive the new ECIU member’s research agenda and spread from food security to healthcare, future transport systems, and the development of green chemicals. Ranked 8th for ‘Research Power’ amongst all UK Universities, Nottingham’s research work is globally relevant and at the leading edge of discovery.
About ECIU
Founded in 1997, ECIU is a Consortium of universities set up to share information and knowledge about good practices and the challenges that each member faces with regard to university governance and cooperation with society. It seeks to share values and harmonize positions so that it can present itself to European instances and other universities and university networks as an entity capable of accompanying and influencing the European agenda in the field of higher education cooperation policy and regional research and development.
KTU is a member of the Consortium since January 2016. It is the only Lithuanian university among the ECIU members.
