30 November 2022
Unite! strengthens its leadership with two new vice presidents
The two vice-presidents are the rectors of two Unite! partner universities, Ilkka Niemelä from Aalto University and Daniel Crespo from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech.
Based on the feedback from the European Commission, Unite! has decided to strengthen its leadership and establish two new Vice President positions. President Ilkka Niemelä from Aalto University and Rector Daniel Crespo from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech were elected for these positions by the Academic Forum of Unite! on 29 November, 2022.
Professor Tanja Brühl, President of TU Darmstadt, was elected to continue as the President of Unite! Together with the new Unite! Vice Presidents she will be responsible for developing the strategy of Unite! further as well as overseeing and leading the governance of the alliance. The Vice Presidents will additionally support or substitute the President in official policy meetings and for media appearances.Unite! and TU President Tanja Brühl:
Professor Tanja Brühl, President of TU Darmstadt, was elected to continue as the President of Unite! Together with the new Unite! Vice Presidents she will be responsible for developing the strategy of Unite! further as well as overseeing and leading the governance of the alliance. The Vice Presidents will additionally support or substitute the President in official policy meetings and for media appearances.Unite! and TU President Tanja Brühl:
“I am honored to be given the opportunity to continue to serve as Unite! president for three more years and support the development of our alliance. Together with my colleagues Ilkka Niemelä and Daniel Crespo, I will work to implement our vision for Unite! 2030. We want to carry the great enthusiasm for Unite! into further networks at our universities and beyond. Unite! rests on our commitment and engagement. I like to invite all of you: Join in shaping the future of our alliance!”
President Ilkka Niemelä : “I’m honored to have been elected as one of the two Vice Presidents of Unite!. After the pilot phase started in 2019, the alliance is entering a new exiting stage of development guided by its Mission statement 2030 prepared by a concerted effort of the Unite! community. I’m looking forward to working together with Tanja and Daniel to drive the Unite! agenda to be a technology and innovation driver for the advancement of a green and digital Europe.”
Rector Daniel Crespo: "Unite!'s decision to reinforce its governing team with two new vice-presidencies is a further sign of the will of all its members to strengthen the alliance. Incorporating into the leadership complementary visions and voices of how the European model of university, in which the nine partner universities are working, should move the alliance forward. I'm convinced that this path, which already outlines many of the opportunities allowing Unite! to progress in its projects with a stronger and richer vision, will also contribute to the transformation of the UPC. Therefore, as Vice-President of Unite! my commitment for the coming years is to bring the vision, knowledge and experience of our University to the governance of the alliance."
Rector Daniel Crespo: "Unite!'s decision to reinforce its governing team with two new vice-presidencies is a further sign of the will of all its members to strengthen the alliance. Incorporating into the leadership complementary visions and voices of how the European model of university, in which the nine partner universities are working, should move the alliance forward. I'm convinced that this path, which already outlines many of the opportunities allowing Unite! to progress in its projects with a stronger and richer vision, will also contribute to the transformation of the UPC. Therefore, as Vice-President of Unite! my commitment for the coming years is to bring the vision, knowledge and experience of our University to the governance of the alliance."
The ambition of Unite! is to create a new European university model through shared education programmes, virtual and physical mobility, innovative pedagogical methods, and harmonized models of governance.