UT RECTOR PROFESSOR AAVIKSOO TO CONTINUE AS EUA BOARD MEMBER

The list of candidates standing for election to EUA Board consisted of 11 current or former Rectors or Presidents of European universities. Besides UT, they represented the following universities: London Metropolitan University (England), Freie Universität Berlin (Germany), Aveiro University (Portugal), the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), Istanbul Technical University (Turkey), Karlstad University (Sweden), the University of Twente (the Netherlands), the University of Turin (Italy), Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) and the University of Algarve (Portugal).
Over 600 representatives of European Universities and Rectors' Conferences participated in the General Assembly and the subsequent convention, events that are also attended by the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso.

According to Mart Laidmets, Executive Secretary of the Estonian University Rectors' Conference, the fact that UT Rector was the sole representative of East European universities elected to EUA Board should be seen as a sign of distinction not only of the University of Tartu but of the entire country it operates in. Laidmets also stressed the significance of an Estonian representative being able to participate in the shaping of European higher education policy as an EUA Board Member.

The new President of the European University Association and the new 8-member Board were elected for a 4-year term running from 2005 till 2009. The EUA Council published the preliminary list of candidates on 21 January, with the possibility of adding further candidacies until 28 February.

EUA is the highest body in questions of European higher education trends and development. As of January 2005, the Association had 759 members from 45 European countries.
Additional information on EUA is available at http://www.eua.be/eua/index.jsp.


Illari Lään
Head, UT Public Relations and Information Office

Additional information: Mr Mart Laidmets, Executive Secretary of the non-profit corporation Estonian University Rectors' Conference, tel. +372-50-25322