At the September meeting of the YUFE Strategic Council in Nicosia, Cyprus, those present at the gathering signed a joint declaration calling for the revival of a shared European identity. On behalf of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, the document was signed by prof. dr habil. Przemysław Nehring, Vice-Rector for Education and Executive Director of the YUFE at the NCU.
At the meeting, the members of the YUFE Strategic Council expressed their concern for the future of Europe, resulting in a declaration that has been jointly drafted by an Alliance of Young European Universities. The document emphasises that the mission of the YUFE Alliance is to educate the next generation in line with European values based on democracy, social inclusion and the celebration of rich diversity.
In the YUFE declaration, community members are called upon to revive a European identity centred on democracy and social inclusion. It is a voice of opposition to the growing anti-European atmosphere, intended to fragment the community into separate parts with divergent values.
In our daily work, we experience that we are even stronger together - as universities, societies and countries," the document reads.
The signatories also emphasise the key role of European universities in educating their students to be open-minded, highly skilled and prepared to enter the job market. This will not be possible without a community of values. - Continued and sustainable support will allow us to be a stable foundation in an unstable political landscape, concludes the YUFE Strategic Council.
The Cyprus Declaration was signed by representatives of all the YUFE partner universities, ETS Global (non-academic partner) and the YUFE Secretary General. The full text of the document is available at https://yufe.eu/yufe/eu-statement/
Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE) is one of 50 alliances selected by the European Commission to build and test the European University model - open, non-elitist and inclusive, and which promotes innovation, interdisciplinarity and the highest quality in research and education.
The YUFE is made up of ten dynamic, young, student-centred research universities (with a total of more than 190,000 students and more than 32,000 staff) and four non-academic partners working on higher education, the job market and entrepreneurship.