The annual meeting of vice-chancellors in the U4 on Sunday-Monday represents an excellent opportunity to consolidate contacts among the vice-chancellors in this now five-year-old network. Sibrand Poppema (vice-chancellor at Groningen) is now the veteran of the group; Ulrike Beisiegel (Göttingen) and I (Eva) have been part of this for two years, while Anne De Paepe (Ghent) acceded to the post of vice-chancellor this autumn and attended for the first time.
The meetings of the vice-chancellors coincides with a larger U4 conference involving most individuals who are active in joint activities, so the aggregate Uppsala delegation consisted of some ten people, including our three vice-rectors.
We received reports from the various subject clusters, where not least the humanities and medicine have managed to launch substantial joint activities. The so-called horizontal activities also presented reports. The joint leadership programme has been a great success; this is the picture we have gleaned from Uppsala participants, and it has been corroborated by the other universities. The recurrent courses in teaching in the international classroom have also worked out well.
There is potential for collaboration in several areas. Besides the opportunities presented by Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020, there is scope for collaboration on alumni events and other international activities.