Following the Cities Learning Together conference to be held from 18-20 November at Hong Kong Institute for Education, RUR proposes a U21 workshop where some of the issues raised at the conference can be explored by the U21 network.

Attendance is open to all U21 members and a registration form is available from U21 Managers at each institution or from Sarah Ward, U21 Coordinator at University of Glasgow at [email protected]

Closing date for registrations is 18^th October 2013. The Registration Form (attached below) should be returned to Sarah Ward, email as above.

Background to the U21 RUR Group

Research universities, active in the global arena, share common aspirations to contribute internationally, nationally and within their regions to intellectual, cultural, social and economic advancement. Within their regions they exist in juxtaposition with other universities and higher education institutions whose mission is less broad and founded more clearly within their geographical region. 

Whilst all U21 universities feel a strong commitment to their geographical region they differ in how this commitment is expressed within their strategic documents, how it is executed, managed and monitored at an operational level and in how they engage with other HEIs within their region. There appears to be no clear picture of the way an international research university should or could engage with its region for its own and its region’s best advantage.

This group was established by academics at Universities of Auckland, Glasgow and Melbourne. In addition, interest in involvement was expressed by UBC and Lund and recently these have been joined by Tec de Monterrey and Queensland universities.

Outcomes and outputs

• RUR group consists of a core group concerned with regional engagement. This network regularly offers other U21 members the opportunity to contribute to its activities.
• Guidance on mapping and benchmarking tools for all U21 institutions in the form of online publications
• Virtual seminars focused on specific interest areas within external engagement
• On-going bilateral and multilateral collaborations, including where available externally funded work.
• An analytic paper reviewing the role of regional engagement across U21.

The group has its own website which can be viewed at http://rur.pascalobservatory.org/

Further information on the group can be found at: http://www.universitas21.com

Accommodation

Delegates for the Learning Cities conference will be staying at the Eaton Hotel, Kowloon.

Workshop delegates who wish to stay at Eaton Hotel and travel to UHK can take a bus from outside the Eaton Hotel to Aberdeen, and take the stop for UHK. Journey time is approximately 35 minutes, dependent on traffic.

Delegates looking for an alternative option can find accommodation on the Hong Kong tourism website.

University of Hong Kong – Orientation information

For information and orientation at University of Hong Kong, please see the visitors section of their website.

For additional information on the university, and local advice, please contact Emily Mang at [email protected]

Queries

For further information on the U21 RUR Workshop, please contact [email protected]