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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Thursday 3 November saw the launch of a unique consortium: CARPE, Consortium on Applied Research and Professional Education.
At the Consortium’s first networking conference in Utrecht, a collaboration agreement and the CARPE statutes were signed by the rectors of Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany), HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht (Netherlands), Turku University of Applied Sciences (Finland) and Polytechnic University Valencia (Spain). CARPE is the first-ever strategic consortium in the field of applied sciences. President Geri Bonhof, from Utrecht: “All of us conduct research that is demand-driven and that contributes to innovation in the professional practice. All of us have strong links with small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with local and regional governments, and with the public sector. And all of us embrace the themes of entrepreneurship, social responsibility, sustainability and internationalisation.” Rector Michael Stawicki from Hamburg: “We have developed many ideas for joint research. With CARPE, we are able to go to Brussels and say: “You are looking for applied research; CARPE can offer you this.” Manchester Metropolitan University, also present at the conference, shows interest in joining. Vice-Chancellor John Brooks: “None of us can predict the challenges that Europe will face. The challenge of social inclusion is an issue that concerns us all. Universities like ours can help solve big European and global challenges.”
“Trust is important in research. If you have good partners, you have good results.”
The main objectives of CARPE are to increase joint research activities and to develop joint programmes of study. Juha Kettunen, Rector of Turku: “Trust is important in joint research and development. If you have good partners, you have good results.” CARPE partners will seek to connect education and research with companies and other organisations in their regions to increase the social and economic value of the knowledge that they create. Rector Stawicki expects that the regional collaboration between his university and Siemens, IBM and Philips in Hamburg in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency may be more interesting to those companies now that other CARPE partners are also able to make a systematic contribution. Rector Kettunen also expects to see spin-off activity in his region: “When we strengthen the European dimension of our research and development activities, we support companies in South-West Finland.”
Connect globally: Latin America, China and Africa?
CARPE partners have strong links across the world, which in the future they plan to share. Polytechnic University Valencia has a strong presence in Latin America. “We can offer this added value to CARPE”, said Juan Miguel Martinez Rubio, Vice-Rector of International Relations. Hamburg University of Applied Sciences delivers German-taught programmes in Shanghai. During the signing ceremony in Utrecht, Rector Stawicki offered to open up these programmes to students of CARPE institutions. “Our European students should learn about China.” CARPE partners are already collaborating in Africa, setting up centers for entrepreneurship under African-European University partnerships that are designed to stimulate private-sector development and address the pressing issue of youth unemployment in Africa.
Students, practitioners and consumers involved in research
During the networking conference, held from 2-4 November 2011, academics from the five aforementioned universities discussed their activities in six different theme sessions. More than 80 academics presented their work at the conference and a number of them found future partners among CARPE delegates. It became clear that applied research becomes more dynamic when it involves not only researchers but also students and practitioners, and consumers such as patients or customers. Co-production clearly leads to increased creativity and knowledge transfer. Applied research and professional education are about learning systematically from specific experiences.
Joint topics within CARPE
Sustainability is an important topic among CARPE partners. It is expected that the number of joint projects, particularly in the field of renewable energy, will increase in the near future. As to Entrepreneurship: partners intend to collaborate on the innovation of their education in this field and develop a joint Master’s programme. They will also focus joint efforts on developing business models that promote innovation in small and medium enterprises. CARPE academics active in the field of Health Care wish to exchange on innovation of their education and do joint research on Healthy Life Styles. In Engineering, partners face a joint challenge: how to attract more students in the coming years. In all CARPE countries, young people’s interest in this field of work is declining. In addition, partners wish to expand research activity on the relation between technology and social processes. In the field of Social Innovations, partners will jointly seek to improve the quality of life in multicultural cities, with employment and social inclusion having been identified as key issues. Art may become the foundation for many CARPE projects. The combination of art and well-being is an interesting and growing area. An example is the combination of art and social work or youth work.
Contact: Prof. Dr. Helmut Laberenz, Vice President, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Phone: +49.40.428 75-9004/+49.40.428 75-9002, E-Mail: helmut.laberenz@haw-hamburg.de
http://www.carpenetwork.org
http://www.tuas.fi/public/default.aspx?contentId=301289
http://www.hu.nl/OverDeHU/Nieuws/Launch%20unique%20consortium%20CARPE%20at%20net...
CARPE statutes were signed by the rectors
Source: CARPE
Fact-Sheet with some informations about CARPE
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CARPE statutes were signed by the rectors
Source: CARPE
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