Report
Visit to the University of Aveiro, Portugal
19-21 February 2012
Ghent University Delegation:
Prof. Dr. Paul Van Cauwenberge, Rector of Ghent University
Prof. Dr. Koen Goethals, Chief Academic Administrator of Ghent University
Prof. Dr. Geert De Soete, Dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
Prof. Dr. Guy Vanderstraeten, Dear of the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences
Prof. Dr. Renaat Peleman, Chief Medical Officer of the Ghent University Hospital
Ms. Nele De Gersem, Coordinator India Platform UGent
Dr. Sarah Claerhout, Member Coordinating Team India Platform UGent
UGent delegation together with the University of Aveiro team:
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Overview of the meetings and discussions
Sunday, 19 February
Meeting of the UGent delegation with the Rector of the University of Aveiro Prof. Dr. Manuel
Antonio Assunção and the Vice-rector for research, Prof. Dr. José Fernando Mendes. Dinner with the
whole group.
Monday, 20 February
General Meeting
The UGent delegation met with the Rector, the Vice-rectors and the Pro-rectors of the UA:
Prof. Dr. Manuel Antonio Assunção, Rector of the University of Aveiro
Prof. Dr. Carlos Paccoal Neto, Vice-Rector UA
Prof. Dr. José Fernando Mendes, Vice-Rector UA
Prof. Dr. Eduardo Anselmo Ferreira da Silva, Vice-Rector UA
Prof. Dr. Joaquim Costa Leite, Vice-Rector UA
Prof. Dr. Jose Alberto Rafael, Vice-Rector UA
Prof. Dr. Gillian Owen Moreira, Pro-Rector UA
Prof. Dr. Liliana Sousa, Pro-Rector UA
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Presentation by the Rector of the University of Aveiro: “Innovation in a Distinctive Campus”
Presentation by the Rector of Ghent University
Presentation by the Coordinator of the India Platform UGent
University of Aveiro: www.ua.pt
Video: http://campuseuropae.org/en/universities/aveiro/video/index.html
Visit to the Medical and Health Department
After a walk through the beautiful campus of UA (with award-winning architecture) the delegation
met with representatives of the Medical and Health Department of the UA and visited the new
buildings of this department (in the south part of the campus).
Lunch with the whole delegation
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Afternoon: Parallel Visits
1. Meeting with the staff of the Medical and Health Department.
Members of the UGent delegation (Prof. Vanderstraeten and Prof. Peleman) met with the UA
medical staff and discussed possible collaborations.
2. Visit to the Education Department and a meeting with Prof. Odete Cruz e Silva (Health
Sciences Department and Neuropathological Disorders).
 The Education Department presented the research of the Research Centre for
Didactics and Technology in Teacher Education. The work conducted at the different
research laboratories was presented to two members of the UGent delegation (Prof.
De Soete and S. Claerhout).
 Prof. Odete Cruz a Silva presented the work done by the research group of the Centre
for Cell Biology, more specifically the research of one of its multidisciplinary research
groups: Neurosciences, see https://www.ua.pt/cbc/PageText.aspx?id=14850
3. Visit to the Departments of Chemistry, Electronics and Biology.
The Rector, the Chief Academic Administrator and the Coordinator of the India Platform
UGent visited these three departments and were introduced to the research being
conducted there. They met with the researchers of the Centre for Environmental and Marine
Studies; Organic Chemistry, Natural Products and Food Stuffs; and the IT department.
4. Meeting with Dr. Niall Power of the International Office at the University of Aveiro.
Dr. Sarah Claerhout had a meeting with Niall Power to discuss the involvement of the
University of Aveiro in an upcoming Erasmus Mundus Action 2 application (a separate India
lot). They exchanged contact information and agreed to get in touch very soon in order to
prepare the project proposal (deadline for submission of the application is 30th April 2012).
Dinner with the whole delegation
The Rector of UA hosted a dinner for the delegation.
Tuesday, 21 February
Closing Session
During the closing session a summary of the visits was made. Potential collaborations for the future
were explored and contact persons were appointed.
1. Possible cooperation in Medicine (Guy Vanderstraeten)
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Polytechnic:
Cooperation in education/training and research in Speech therapy-Physiotherapy-Nursing
Eg. updating curriculum training
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Eg. research domains to be discussed (locomotor-neurological-internal medicine)
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Master Physiotherapy:
Cooperation in the curriculum and continuum with the basic training,
Master-thesis and research in the field of Physiotherapy
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Medicine:
Cooperation in the curriculum of Medicine training
Set up research lines in accordance with the research of Ghent University (cf. list of research
provided by Prof. Renaat Peleman)
Contact with Prof. Paul Boon concerning the MRP on innovative methods in understanding
brain diseases.
2. Other collaborations
Other possibilities for collaboration will also be explored in the near future. Let us sum up
some of the opportunities mentioned during the closing session:
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Education department: the use of ICT in education and inclusion in special education.
The relevant researchers at the UGent will be contacted and together with them we will
explore the potential collaboration. The education department was also interested to be
involved in the Erasmus Mundus Action 2 application.
Neurosciences: the focus of the research conducted at the Centre for Cell Biology on
Neurosciences (one of the multidisciplinary research groups) is complementary to the
MRP on neurosciences at Ghent University. This might lead to fruitful collaborations.
The relevant researchers at UGent will be contacted (e.g. Prof. Paul Boon and Prof. Wim
Fias).
Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies: the relevant researchers at the UGent will
be involved to explore further collaboration (eg. Prof. Magda Vincx). Marine@ugent:
mobility?
Biology: UA’s very interesting field stations and facilities for researchers in Brasil might
be used by UGent biologists (eg. Prof. Luc Lens).
Complementarities with the UGent MRP on bio-informatics should be explored further
(eg. Prof. Yves Van De Peer).
Cooperation agreement: none of the two parties are interested in signing empty
Memoranda of Understanding. The collaborations will now be made more concrete and
given the form of a Cooperation Agreement with clear foci by topics. By May 1 st 2012 a
first draft of this cooperation agreement should be ready.
A visit of a UA delegation to Ghent University in the course of 2012 will be a good
opportunity to bring the collaboration to a higher level. The UA will consider UGent as a
special partner for cooperation of their university. They hope to be able to work towards
a broad collaborative partnership with Ghent University.
Both universities have identified and appointed a responsible contact person to further
develop this cooperation: Koen Goethals (Chief Academic Administrator of Ghent
University) and José F. Mendes (Vice-Rector Research of the University of Aveiro).
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The UA would like to learn more about the model of Tech-Transfer at Ghent University
and about its Science Parks. During a visit to Ghent the UA team could be introduced to
these facilities.
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Concerning the India Platform UGent:
- Collaboration on the application for an Erasmus Mundus Action 2.
- Consortium Meeting in Ghent in June 2012 to continue building a European India
Platform with the UGent, the UA and the University of Pardubice. These three
universities are core partners in a European consortium that wants to work collectively
towards setting up an branch of their institutions in India. The Rectors of these three
universities will meet to strengthen this ambition.
- The UA was asked to become a stakeholder of the India Platform. This will be made
concrete in the June 2012 meeting.
- Collaboration on global health care with Indian partners.
A few days after the visit of the UGent delagation this article appeared on the website of the
Unversity of Aveiro:
notícias
20/2/2012
Ensino e investigação em Ciências da Saúde entre outras áreas
Delegação de Gent visitou a UA para estudar reforço da
cooperação
Uma delegação da Universidade de Gent,
constituída pelo Reitor, o administrador, os diretores das
Faculdades de Medicina e de Psicologia e Ciências da
Educação, o diretor do Hospital de Gent e ainda duas
representantes da India Platform, uma plataforma de
cooperação com entre universidades europeias e a Índia,
visitou a Universidade de Aveiro durante dois dias. Os
objetivos da visita a 20 e 21 de fevereiro, foram o reforço dos
laços de cooperação entre as duas universidades, sendo a
Medicina uma delas, e ainda a discussão da estratégia da India
Platform.
A visita atual surge na sequência de uma outra do Vice-reitor,
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José Fernando Mendes, a Gent, no final de 2011. Trata-se de
reforçar e alargar a cooperação que tem vindo a desenrolar-se
entre as duas universidades.
Como salientava o Reitor da Universidade de Gent, Prof. Paul
Van Cauwenberge, durante a visita, as duas instituições têm
várias características comuns. Uma das semelhanças é a
existência de quatro áreas científicas comuns de maior
desenvolvimento. Outra, é o facto de serem duas
universidades médias nos seus países, embora Gent tenha
mais alunos inscritos do que Aveiro. As duas universidades
perspetivam agora a cooperação na área da Medicina,
nomeadamente quanto a atividade docente e de investigação,
curso que se iniciou em Aveiro no presente ano letivo.
Na manhã de dia 20, para além da reunião que incluiu a
apresentação das duas universidades e da India Platform,
decorreu a visita ao futuro edifício das Ciências da Saúde da
UA, em fase de conclusão. À tarde, os representantes da
universidade belga visitaram laboratórios com atividade de
investigação no âmbito do Centro de Investigação em
Materiais Cerâmicos e Compósitos (CICECO), à unidade
Química Orgânica de Produtos Naturais e Agroalimentares
(QOPNA), ao Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar
(CESAM), ao Instituto de Engenharia Eletrónica e Telemática
de Aveiro (IEETA) e ao Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT) e
respetivos Departamentos de acolhimento desta atividade:
Química, Eletrónica, Telecomunicações e Informática e
Biologia.
A UA é uma das três universidades europeias, com Gent e
Pardubice (República Checa), participantes na India Platform.
A cooperação tomará a forma de um consórcio de
universidade, de acordo com o Reitor da Universidade de
Gent. E poderá, eventualmente, ser alargada com mais uma
ou duas universidades europeias, segundo a coordenadora da
India Platform, Nele De Gersem. Entre os objetivos deste
consórcio, que está a ser constituído, estão: a construção de
programas educativos conjuntos e a constituição de uma
universidade em Karnataka, Índia, a criação de programas de
mestrado de estudo da Índia contemporânea e ainda a
geminação entre cidades que acolhem estas instituições
cooperantes.
A entrevista ao Reitor da Universidade de Gent, Prof. Paul Van
Cauwenberge, no final da visita ao campus da UA,
está disponível.
* Este texto foi escrito ao abrigo do novo acordo ortográfico.
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