Inspiration, information and involvement. To promote joint local ownership of the project and internal support, it is crucial to involve academic authorities, beyond the rectoral team. A delegation made up of vice-rectors of the three sectors, deans and institute presidents participated in a meeting with their peers in Oslo. On the agenda: workshops, presentations and moments of discovery to meet and advance reflection " what do we want to achieve together ? "
Testimonies :
Thomas Pardoen, President of the Institute of Mechanics, Materials, and Civil Engineering (iMMC):
"We had an interesting moment of sharing with colleagues from other institutions in the field of science and technology. It's amazing to see the complicity we've had. in a short time we were able to gather a rather surprising number of ideas. And to agree also on the fact that we wanted to do something new but that we would also have to suppress things if we wanted to move forward with this great initiative. So it's very positive for now."
Alexandre Guay, President of the Institut supérieur de Philosophie :
"I very much appreciated the discussions where the humanities tried to support the fact that they are essential to all possible disciplines and programs, knowing that very often we have this inferiority complex of believing that the humanities have less weight than the hard sciences for the future, which is obviously not true."
Michel Verleysen, Dean of the Louvain School of Engineering (EPL) :
"This morning was a time when we allowed ourselves to have a vision, when we were not stuck in our daily management, when we allowed ourselves to have ideas a little out of the box that bring a new breath to our work and to the university, we hope, and to the universities that make up the alliance. The real challenge, of course, will be to make things that are very complicated on paper happen, because they are really disruptive. That's why we're here and I hope this alliance project will help bring this vision to the university."
Tania Lima, Director of Global Engagement at Kings College London :
"I've been part of the coordinating team for the past year and it's been a fantastic experience to see all the ideas we've had being discussed by the deans and the experts on the subjects, and get our proposals improved and see the energy. It was inspiring to me me and made me feel very strongly that we have a good proposal."