UNIVERSITY NETWORK
OF THE
EUROPEAN CAPITALS OF CULTURE

Welcome page

I. UNeECC Erasmus Meeting in Avignon
3-4 May, 2010

The University Network of the European Capitals of Culture will hold its I. UNeECC Erasmus Meeting on 3- 4 May, 2010 hosted by the University of Avignon.
The main aims of the meeting are to stimulate mobility among the UneECC member institutions and to provide an opportunity to share best practices and explore new fields of cooperation.

Preminilary programme:

Monday 3rd May:
Morning: Arrival of participants
From 2 pm to 6 pm: Presentations of the member institutions (each participant will be requested to give a 10-minute presentation of his/her institution and of its international activities within the Erasmus proframme)
Evening: Dinner at a local restaurant (offer by the University of Avignon)

Tuesday 4th May:
From 9 to 9:30: Tour of the Campus
From 9.30 to 1 2am: Networking discussions
12.30: Lunch at the student restaurant (offered by the University of Avignon)
From 2 to 5 pm: Networking discussions
From 5 to 6 pm: Discussion of possible joint activities (e.g. Erasmus intensive programmes) and conclusion
Evening: dinner at a local restaurant (offered by the UNeECC)

Participation is free of charge. We kindly ask sending institutions to cover travel and acoomodation costs. The registration deadline is 20th February 2010.

To download registration form, please click here.
Hotel and travel information.

We kindly ask you to send your registration form by email to Ms. Gyöngyi Pozsgai, Secretary General of UNeECC: pozsgai.gyongyi@pte.hu

We are pleased to inform you that the

Fourth ANNUAL CONFERENCE

of the

UNIVERSITY NETWORK of the EUROPEAN CAPITALS of CULTURE

will be held in Pécs, Hungary, one of this year's European Capitals of Culture on 14-15 October 2010.

The conference will be jointly organized with the

COMPOSTELA GROUP OF UNIVERSITIES

The venue of the conference is the University of Pécs.

The themes of the conference are:

Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion
The Assessment of the European Capitals of Culture Programme

The Call for Papers to our Annual Conference will soon be sent out to our member universities.

Should you like to receive a Call kindly please contact Ms. Gyöngyi Pozsgai at pozsgai.gyongyi@pte.hu

Opening ceremony of the Pécs2010 European Capital of Culture Programme

The European Capital of Culture programme began on 10 January 2010 with an opening ceremony in Széchenyi Square. The all-day cavalcade of the opening ceremony of the Pécs2010 European Capital of Culture programme built upon the basic values of its events – openness, receptive attitude, the interactive force of tradition and innovation as well as civil communities – presenting a wide range of festive and theatrical programmes. The opening event also emphasized the cooperation with the other two capitals of culture, Essen in the Ruhr Region and Istanbul, which will be decisive for the programmes of the entire year.

The programme of the ceremony introduced certain essential happenings from the history of Pécs through a wide-scale production by the cooperation of Pécs artists, famous people and 300 students. /MORE

European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 now open!

The Ruhr is one of the European Capitals of Culture 2010. The cultural capital year was officially kicked off on 10 January at the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site Zeche Zollverein, the region’s main landmark, by German President Horst Köhler with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and other political heavyweights in attendance. More than 100,000 Ruhr residents braved icy temperatures to celebrate the grand opening until the early morning hours. /MORE

Istanbul is now officially one of the 2010 European Capitals of Culture...

Through the opening celebrations organized by the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency and held simultaneously across 7 different centres of the city, Istanbul is now “officially” one of Europe’s Culture Capitals... With the start of 2010, Istanbul celebrated its new title as European Capital of Culture on Saturday, 16 January 2010, through various activities and festive celebrations held in 7 different centres of the city. The celebrations started with a protocol event taking place at the Haliç Congress Centre, where Ministers from Turkey as well as neighbouring countries participated, along with high level statesmen and diplomats, leading members of the business, culture and arts world, local and foreign press members. /MORE

The University Network of the European Capitals of Culture held its

3. UNeECC General Assembly Meeting and Annual Conference

on 22-23 October 2009, in Vilnius, one of this year’s European Capitals of Culture.

The Conference was jointly hosted by the Mykolas Romeris Unversity and Vilnius Gediminas Technical University. This unique collaboration clearly demonstrates how universities can and must contribute to the success of a European Capital of Culture programme.

In this European Year of Innovation and Creativity the central theme of this year’s UNeECC Conference was ‘Innovation, Creativity and Culture’.

University students and faculty, as well as cultural professionals active in past, present and future European Capitals of Culture presented papers in 5 different conference tracks:

1.   Cultural diversity as basis for Creativity and Innovation
2.   Creativity and Innovation in University Culture
3.   The Impact of Innovation and Creativity on Culture
4.   Creativity and Innovation and European Capitals of Culture
5.   Didactic Innovation and the University

The Vilnius conference touched upon key issues emerging from the relationship between ‘innovation and creativity’ and culture. Given the academic objectives of the conference, presentations focused on new insights into innovation and examined questions like ’Are innovation and creativity the priviliged playground of technicians and engineers, or is it on the contrary the essence of fine arts? And what about the interrelation between the two? Is one at the service of the other, or can they find common ground?’

Nearly 40 speakers from 20 countries shared their ideas with the participants and the presentations were followed by very interesting debates and discussions.

The Keynote Speaker of the UNeECC Conference was Professor Edward de Bono, EU Ambassador for the Year of Creativity,2009. The title of his presentation was ’The biggest problem is not climate-change, but inadequate thinking’.

Parallel to the UNeECC Conference the II. UNeECC Student workshop was organized with the participation of 27 students from 11 countries of Europe.

UNeECC meeting in Madrid, 18 September 2009

Since 2008 UNeECC organizes an informal network meeting during the annual conference of the European Association for International Education (EAIE). This gathering of international relations officers is a unique opportunity to meet face-to-face with potential new members. On 18 September 2009 the Universidad Europea de Madrid, she herself a new member, welcomed 15 representatives from 10 different institutions. During the meeting Gyöngyi Pozsgai and László Komlosi gave an overview of UNeECC’s activities, whereas representatives from the Mykolas Romeris and Gediminas universities in Vilnius warmed the participants to the programme of next month’s annual conference and general assembly of UNeECC. From the exchange of ideas that ensued, it was obvious that the initiatives now taken to get students involved in UNeECC are met with approval. The participants also discussed the problem of getting more researchers involved in the network.

Wim Coudenys

Address from the President

Dear visitor,

Welcome to the website of UNeECC, the University Network of the European Capitals of Culture.
UNeECC is a unique academic network since its member universities are all located in cities which have been, are or will be European Capitals of Culture. As such, UNeECC not only aspires to stimulate regular academic cooperation, i.e. education and research, between its members, but also aims at developing and reshaping the universities' regional position. UNeECC wants to foster collaboration between cities and universities and is convinced that together 'town' and 'gown' will contribute to the success of the European Capitals of Culture.
Since its creation in 2006 our network has known a considerable growth and now comprises almost 50 member universities from 20 countries. Moreover we are proud of the ‘European mix’ UNeECC represents: members universities come form both ‘old’ and ‘new’ EU Member States, as well as from Candidate countries; among them are institutions with a long-standing tradition as well as recently founded universities. They all share a true vocation in the development of a more outspoken European dimension in their research and education and the engagement to join forces with local authorities so to strengthen the impact of the European Capitals of Culture by giving academic support to the organization of the programmes and initiating additional events aimed at specific audiences. From our website and the activity reports it contains, you will learn that UNeECC does not restrict itself to advocacy of the European cultural cause, but actively participates in it through conferences, lectures series, student activities, research dating and active networking, notably in the field of internationalisation.
‘Thinking European and acting regional’ is a UNeECC-ly added academic value we can offer since it emanates from our cultural diversity, interchange of ideas, international collaboration, and our thirst for new challenges and opportunities. We invite all our colleague universities in past, present and future European Capitals of Culture to join our network and share their experience and aspirations with us.
Looking forward to meeting you at one of our activities!

Prof. dr. Flora Carrijn
President

About UNEECC

The University Network of the European Capitals of Culture (UNeECC), an international non-profit ass ociation, was founded in Péécs Hungary in December 2006, by 15 founding members.

The creation of UNeECC originates from the idea that it would be useful for Universities and establishments of Higher Education based in European Capitals of Culture to use this well known and prestigious European institution to stimulate new forms of academic and educational institutional collaboration.
Read more about UNeECC

European Capital of Culture

The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union for a period of one year during which it is given a chance to showcase its cultural life and cultural development. A number of European cities have used the City of Culture year to transform completely their cultural base and, in doing so, the way in which they are viewed internationally. Read more about ECC

MarkCon 2007