The Global University Summit 2011 (6-7 May 2011)

University Presidents, Rectors and higher education representatives from the G8 and G20 countries came together last week in France for the 2011 Global University Summit on the overarching theme: "Sustainable development and the Knowledge society: What structuring and cooperation for society in the 21st century?".
Organised by the French Rectors’ Conference (CPU) and the PRES Bourgogne Franche-Comté, the event looked to build on the previous Summits in Sapporo (2008), Turin (2009) and Vancouver (2010) where the importance of sustainable development, with the urgent need for implementing effective government policies in order to deal with current economic, social and environmental problems, led to stressing the vital role of universities and higher education establishments in this field.
EUA President (Professor Jean-Marc Rapp) and EUA President-elect (Professor Maria-Helena Nazaré participated in the event which addressed three central themes:

• Networks and cooperation: "universities and territories"
• International mobility of students and research fellows
• Virtual networks and distance cooperation 

At the end of the meeting a joint declaration was formulated which outlines a series of actions around each of the three Summit themes and "that are based on ethical, equitable and solidarity principles of sustainable development at local as well as global level, and reaffirming that education is a public good". More information and the full declaration is available on the Summit website.