PoliTO discussed its vision on the governance of the European University Alliances at the CESAER Annual Meeting
The CESAER Annual Meeting (CAM) 2025 took place at Brno University of Technology (BUT) at the end of last week. Politecnico di Torino was represented by Professor Roberto Zanino, Senior Rector’s Advisor for International University Networks, for the European University Alliance Unite! and member of the CESAER Board of Directors, and by Mara Baccolla, Institutional Liaison officer between CESAER and Politecnico di Torino.
Professor Zanino, serving as co-chair of the CESAER Learning & Teaching Task Force until the end of 2025, promoted the organization of a High-Level Round Table Discussion titled “European University Alliances: Governance Models and Future Vision”, moderated by Professor Justyna Szostak (TU Gdansk), co-chair of the Task Force. Speakers included Vanessa Debiais-Sainton (Member of the Cabinet), Roxana Mînzatu (Executive Vice-President of the European Commission), Ena Voûte (Pro Vice Rector for International Affairs at Delft University of Technology), Enora Bennetot Pruvot (Deputy Director for Governance, Funding and Public Policy Development at the European University Association) and Ludmila Hrachovcová (Chair of the EULiST Student Board, Master’s student at Brno University of Technology).
“The session, which was highly attended, first presented the main findings of a study conducted by the Task Force since the beginning of 2025 – Professor Zanino explained – It is based on surveys involving students and academic staff from CESAER members participating in European Alliances and, for the first time in this field, on interviews with Presidents and Rectors of CESAER members across all 13 Alliances represented in our Association. Among the key conclusions: the need, now finally implemented also by Unite!, to define governance’s responsibility roles with Alliance-wide, not merely representatives of individual member institutions; a strong shared interest, also at the European Commission level, to interconnect the ecosystems members of the Alliances to advance EU competitiveness, as called for by the Draghi report. We also explored, prospectively, the opportunity to develop collaboration among ‘vertical’ Alliances specialised in science and technology – in particular in STEM disciplines, which was also the core focus of the CAM”.
Other highlights at CAM included: the High-level conference “Shaping the future of STEM education: Advancing excellence through transnational cooperation”, featuring speakers from MIT-NEET and ESA, and the re-election of Professor Orla Feely as CESAER President and the election of eight new Board members, with Politecnico as the only representative from Southern Europe, and a strong Nordic representation (3 out of 12 – the Rectors of Aalto and Aalborg, and the Vice Rector for Technology Transfer at NTNU). Moreover, the Board of Directors approved Politecnico’s bid to host CAM 2027.
Before then, current and newly elected members of the Board of Directors will meet at Politecnico in early December for the handover meeting, marking the transition to the new CESAER Work Plan.
