For the good of the 'Greater region'
One invaluable feature of a united Europe is its diversity and different approaches to research and learning. The EU-funded Uni-SALLL project represents a unified exchange and mobility programme for the five main universities of Saarland, Luxembourg, Lorraine and Liege, right in the heart of Europe. The 'Network of mobility centres of the Universities of Saarland, Luxembourg, Lorraine and Liege' links five mobility centres in these universities to enable researchers and students to travel to other universities in the network. The aim was to give the students and researchers significant opportunities to learn from their peers and exchange ideas or research. The initiative was linked to the EU's Euraxess project which promotes academic exchange, employment and relocation within Europe. The project partners - i.e. the universities in the network - developed a scheme for training visits from the first year. The mobility teams from different universities worked on training tools and content of visits from other institutions. They developed sophisticated welcome packs which include relevant data on establishing themselves in the host institution and country. Uni-SALLL also printed leaflets outlining its mission, distributing them at various events and conferences, and set up a website in 2009. Key visits took place during this first year of the project to launch the initial phase. The partners visited and inaugurated the newly renovated Université de Liège Student Mobility Centre. They also visited the Euraxess Service Centre at the University of Nancy. The partners prepared the workshop for the Euraxess Network Conference which took place in Potsdam, which focused on structuring visits to other academic institutions. They investigated the possibility of linking with the Interreg project UGR (University of the Greater Region), too, and the concept of setting up a PhD day. The term 'Greater region' refers to a common area for higher education, research and innovation in the heart of Europe, incorporating the areas included in the project. Once in full swing, UniSALLL is expected to bring up to a 50 % increase in incoming and outgoing researchers in the Greater Region. The project will offer positive socio-economic impacts as well by promoting exchange, mobility, education, travel, and the pursuit of knowledge.
