Well, welcome, welcome. It is a great
pleasure for me to be here with all of you,
and thank you very much for being here, those of
you who are here, those of you who are online,
thanks to deans, friends, professors, colleagues,
my international partners from the office.
I thank you all very much for all the work
that we have all done to achieve this project,
which is the one that we are going to present today,
which is the Open EU, Open European Universities,
which means a paradigm shift in many ways.
This is not just a project, it is a different conception
of what the university is and within Europe, and
therefore it is a pleasure for us to be able to
make this presentation today, which is the
result of more than three years, four, of effort,
until it was possible to be part of the
initiative of alliances of European universities.
So before making the presentation itself, we are
going to make a much more graphic one through a
video that you can also see on the UNED
channel, which has subtitles if you want,
within the UNED channel and is both in English and in Spanish.
Now we are going to see the
version in Spanish, of course, so go ahead with the video for now.
At present, 64 alliances of European
universities have been approved by the
European Commission since 2017, made up of
more than 560 higher education institutions
from 35 countries. The third country in the European
Union with the most relations in this area is Spain.
54 Spanish universities participate in 52 of these alliances.
Its objective is to improve the quality and competitiveness of European
universities through cooperation in joint
research, innovative educational programs and technological advances.
In this international context, OpenEU was born
after the approval of the European Commission in July 2024.
It is the first step towards the only pan-European university based on
open, remote and digital education, thus filling
the void left by other alliances of universities.
OpenEU groups 14 universities, 9 of them
leaders in non-face-to-face education and 13
academic, business, rural, municipal and
civil associations throughout Europe.
The UNED is a member of OpenEU's full right.
The mission of OpenEU is to foster a superior
European quality education for all people
throughout their lives, at any time
and from anywhere, regardless of their
personal or professional circumstances, their
age, sex, nationality, time or place of
residence, without leaving anyone behind.
For this, OpenEU establishes an international network of
digital, inclusive and sustainable learning,
providing its students with tools that
allow them to bring their skills to the maximum
and thus increase their employability in the European Union and beyond.
OpenEU offers joint programs, both
official, with degrees and master's degrees,
as well as unofficial, among which the
microcredentials stand out and promotes multilingualism
through advanced tools in the Alliance's multilingual community and a
wide range of courses for learning the 12 languages of OpenEU.
OpenEU democratizes the internationalization
of higher education, offering multiple options
for student, teacher and administrative staff mobility.
In particular, thanks to digital technologies,
it takes advantage of the possibilities of
virtual and hybrid mobility, offering
international experiences between
the universities and members of the Alliance, without leaving home.
OpenEU contributes to the digital
transformation of higher education institutions
in Europe, supporting the integration of
emerging digital technologies in education
and mobilizing the results of research and innovation
in education, including artificial intelligence.
OpenEU promotes Democratic and European
values and takes on the commitment to fight
against climate change through the creation of an
active and innovative European university community.
OpenEU is governed by a model based on five pillars.
Quality, through a global and transversal plan
to guarantee quality throughout the Alliance.
Ethics and integrity, based on an ethical
and responsible use of technologies
and the promotion of the well-being of
the community in the digital environment.
Equality, diversity and inclusion,
promoting the participation of students
and equal opportunities, for example, with the gender equality plan.
The promotion of science and open
innovation and environmental sustainability in all processes.
OpenEU is the future of open, digital
and remote higher education in Europe.
The UNED is called to be a fundamental actor in the process,
which requires the involvement and commitment
of the entire university community.
We have not been left behind.
It is a unique opportunity that must be
taken to continue being at the forefront of higher education.
OpenEU is the future of open, digital
and remote higher education in Europe.
It is a unique opportunity that must be taken to
continue being at the forefront of higher education.
We are also achieving with this that it is given importance,
that the relevance of this type of universities is understood,
especially now in this digital era, which
is a new era in the history of humanity.
I would like to thank all my international partners,
who are sitting there, Encarna, Patricia, María, Nieves,
who else is there?
Monica.
Well, and some who are not here, because they have also worked hard
to get this forward, as well as, of course, the rector,
the deans, the whole community has participated.
And I want to thank you all, because this is a common project,
it is a team project, in this case the great team of the UNED,
which now makes up the great team of the Open University of Europe.
It is the only European project of open universities alliances.
The other 64, because there are 65,
are all from face-to-face universities.
So we are very unique in this.
And also, well, there are adjacent
projects that will work at the same time,
but let's say that as close to OpenEU,
as the one that Ana San Morano is leading,
the name, there I have forgotten the name, Ana, what was it?
Yes, it is your project, well.
Equality, diversity, inclusion, well, yes.
It's a long name, but anyway.
The important thing is that this gives rise to other projects
that are also related to this, because it is a macro project
that, as I said, changes the vision of what the European university is,
and goes beyond a project.
But we will talk about this later,
so let's move on to the presentation, which I don't see yet.