Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome at this event celebrating the 15 th anniversary of the League of European Research Universities. Since its founding fifteen years ago, LERU has emerged as a prominent advocate of research at European universities. LERU was and is motivated by the belief that basic research plays a pivotal role in society, amongst others through the contribution it makes to innovation and, by the way, not the other way around, as some appear to think: without basic research no innovation! Bringing this message constantly and successfully, LERU has progressed from a simple network as we have so many today, to the leading network in Europe, and I dare say one of the leading networks in the world. 1
What are the critical factors of this success? LERU s original aim was to inform politicians, policy makers and opinion leaders about the importance of research-intensive universities. not only of the LERU-members, but of all universities. And we have maintained this role up to today, representing the interest of universities at large of course, without ignoring our own interest. But you can t blame us for that! But what are the critical factors behind LERU s success? - First of all, I would like to mention the carefully chosen position- and policy-papers. Drawing on the impressive academic potential and expertise of its network, LERU has a strong and significant impact on research policy in Europe, using these papers to voice opinions on important topics. Here I mention only the papers on the role of universities ( What are universities for ), or the recent paper on Citizen Science, or on Teaching in research-rich universities. 2
The wide range of subjects, the quality of the papers, and the timing, makes them a strong part of LERU s outreach and reputation. - Secondly, the meetings and activities in Brussels and Europe, and our contributions to the research policy debate, have established LERU s reputation as a major stakeholder in the European Union. LERU now has an important and well-respected voice in the discussions about the future of Europe s research policy. This includes a very constructive collaboration with the EUcommission and the European parliament. Over the past years LERU also intensified cooperation among like-minded organisations worldwide in order to stress the importance of universities for research and innovation. - And as final and probably most important factor behind our success, I would like to mention the many activities within LERU. Our strength stems from the bottom-up approach in which all member universities participate in the activities, and the rectors of all universities meet twice a year for in-depth discussions on a variety of topics. 3
In doing so, LERU increasingly has become a platform for cooperation between the members, ranging from exchange of best-practices in doctoral studies to e-learning and integrity. This bottom-up approach makes LERU a vital, vibrant and powerful community. Some of LERU s highlights of the past 5 years It is undoable to summarize all of LERU s achievements over the past 15 years. But allow me to mention some of the recent highlights: - May be not the most important contribution to the debate, but certainly the most cited one, is the paper LERU published on the economic impact of research universities. One of the key findings was that LERU universities contributed a total economic value of 71 billion euro s and 900,000 jobs across Europe in 2014. 4
LERU made the specific point that this figure is for the LERU members only, and by multiplying these figures with the contribution of the other research-universities in Europe, we are looking at an enormous economic impact and at the motor of European innovation. - The importance of universities in research and innovation has always be the point of LERU in the debate on Horizon 2020. When this program passed European parliament, LERU congratulated the European policy makers for sending an important signal of support for research and innovation. We consider it wise that the European Union invests in growth and jobs, which on the longer term will benefit the economy and society at large. By the way, we clearly acknowledged the tireless efforts of the European Commission in this. But remember: LERU continuously keeps close tabs on aspects of Horizon 2020 which it has identified in the past as crucial issues, such as simplification, the rules for funding, the ERC and Marie Curie programmes, social sciences and humanities, and twinning and teaming efforts. 5
And let me reiterate here once again: further cuts on Horzion2020 like those for EFSI, are not really acceptable. - A third highlight is our collaboration with central and eastern European universities The researchintensive universities that are members of LERU have been able to form a unique bond over the past fifteen years, and have succeeded in successfully advocating the interests of researchintensive universities in Europe and beyond. But they are keenly aware that, regardless of their location and other differentiating factors, all research universities in Europe face similar challenges affecting all aspects of their activities: education, research and societal engagement. The challenges of universities in Central and Eastern Europe differ more in intensity and in degree of development, than in fundamental characteristics. 6
That is why a group of Central-European universities (called CE7 ) and LERU joined forces last year. Together, LERU and the CE7 took on a number of thorny issues, and showed policy makers that win-win solutions are possible. For example, universities across Europe suffer from chronic Horizon2020-problems, such as ongoing excessive red tape and underfunding in much needed areas of research. In the low-income countries, these problems are compounded by others, such as low salaries (although we seem to have a solution since last week s announcement on a salary-increase for researchers from these countries). Also in the area of education, there are common EU-level challenges, for example in the area of student mobility, online learning and skills development for students. 7
- Let me finally mention one other highlight: LERU took a very important step forward last year. We welcomed two new member universities as of January 1 st of this year: Trinity College in Ireland and Copenhagen University in Denmark. Both universities are top research universities but complement LERU also otherwise - in the sense that they represent two countries which before were not represented within LERU. This makes LERU now present in 12 countries; together with the CE7 it makes LERU visible in 19 European countries. Outlook over the next 5 years I could mention much more: The European Research Area (ERA), The Global Council of Research Intensive Universities and United Nations, the EU Copyright reform and the LERU support for Open Science. But since time is limited here, it is sufficient to say that LERU is going strong today and will be going even stronger over the next 5 years. 8
I have outlined the critical factors with are deciding on this strength: a committed community of rectors, and communities of staff and faculty from the members which are engaged and committed on many levels. I like to mention one more crucial factor: that is the LERU office with a small number of highly skilled and engaged people, ranging from support staff to policy advisors. And leading the office have been a number of outstanding secretarygenerals. Sadly, the first one recently died: Herman VandenBerghe. He and his successors, and certainly the present secretary-general Kurt Deketelaere, have been instrumental in LERU s success. Because of them and the excellent LERU-office, but most of all the outstanding member-universities, we look at a very bright future. Again, welcome at this event. I wish you a very pleasant afternoon as guests of LERU. Prof. Bert van der Zwaan Chair of LERU and Rector Magnificus of Utrecht University 9