1
Date: Wednesday 13May 2009 at 16.00-18.25
Place: Room 240. MainBuilding, UniversityofLatvia, Riga
MembersSubstitutes
Kari HyppönenChairmanKari Liuhto
Janis StonisVice-ChairmanUldis Sukovskis
Janusz GolaszewskiTomasz Dolegowski
Igor Joukovski Anatoly Zagorodny
Regina KarvelieneAusra Pelediene
Külli KõrgesaarVirve Vihman
Bernard LammekAniela Tejchman
Nora VenslovaiteRimantas Zelvys
Alexander Ivanov Dina Sulenka
Stanislav TkachenkoAlexander Kruglov
Invited
Aila Grönholm, Secretary of SC.
Elzbieta Fonberg-Stokluska, Warsaw School of Economics, Public Relations seminar in Warsaw, item 5
Juris Puce, University of Latvia, Evaluation of BSRUN since 2000, item 7
- Opening
Chairman opened the meeting and thanked the University of Latvia for hosting the meeting.
- Composition of the Steering Committee
Rector of KlaipedaUniversity, Professor Vladas Zulkus, has informed Chairman that Nora Venslovaite, Acting Director of the International Relations Office, will replace Inga Petrauskiene (former Pipinyte) on the SC since 26 March 2009 until further notice.
SC took note of the change and Chairman welcomed Ms. Venslovaite to SC.
3. Adoption of agenda
Agenda was adopted.
4. Approval of minutes of previous meeting
Draft minutes of the SC meeting held in Riga on 12 February 2009werecirculatedon 16 February. SC members were invited to comment by 23February 2009.
Minutes were approved.
5. Announcements
- IP application has been submitted by KlaipedaUniversity.
- EAIR Forum to be organised in Vilnius on 23-26 August 2009.
- MODERN workshop in Brussels on 8-9 June 2009
SC took note of the events and action.
6. Future events
- BSUA in Riga on 14-15 May 2009
Programme is attached. List of participants will be circulated separately before SC meeting.
Janis Stonis reported on the programme, participation and arrangements. Participation
was as high as 84.
SC took note of the report and thanked Janis Stonis for the good programme and the successful marketing of the event.
- Seminar on Internationalisation at Yaroslav-the-WiseStateUniversity of Novgorod on 18-19 May 2009
The programme of the seminar was attached. Participation was expected to be about 40.
SC took note of the arrangements so far.
- Quality and Qualifications in Translation and Interpreting IVin Grodnoon 8-9 October 2009
The Call for papers was circulated on 28 April 2009.
SC took note of the arrangements so far.
- Joint seminar with KlaipedaUniversity on 8-9 October 2009
Conference documentation update was circulated on 28 April 2009.
SC took note of the arrangements so far.
- Public Relations seminar in Warsaw
The proposed dates and location are 10-11 December 2009 at Warsaw School of Economics.
Draft programme of the event was circulated on 28 April 2009. The programme has two tracks: Business Relations and Media Relations.
SC had earlier expressed BSRUN interest especially in links with the Media.
Elzbieta Fonberg-Stokluska reported on the planning of the events and the local arrangements.
SC agreed to organise the event in Warsaw as planned so far and agreed to set a preliminary deadline of 19 June for the expression of interest (specific topics to be discussed). Call for Papers will be circulated during week 36 with a deadline of 9 October. Registration deadline will be 6 November. Chairman and Janis Stonis agreed to explore opportunities to organise the event as a joint one with EAIR at the EAIR EC meeting in Amsterdam on 28 May 2009.
- Financial Management in the Current Economic Situation
BSRUN has not organised special events for the Financial Directors of the members. In the current economic situation there might be a need for an event forthis particular target group also to enhance their knowledge of the opportunities BSRUN might offer in the future.
SC agreed to explore opportunities to organise a meeting for finance directors this year in the early autumn by sending a circular to known Finance Directors in the region (including Riga BSUA participants) and BSRUN contacts. The University of Latvia will assist in the arrangementsof the meeting and in the recruitment of participants.
7. Evaluation of BSRUN since 2000
BSRUN will turn 10 years in 2010. Therefore, the University of Turkuhas invited member institutions to Turku to celebrate the first ten years in the same city where the network was established on 28 February 2000.
In Kaliningrad, the Plenary Meeting agreed that BSRUN and its activities should be evaluated by the new SC in order to draft a proposal on how to continue after the next Plenary Meeting. Issues like membership criteria, fees and organisation should be elaborated in the evaluation. The report should be presented to the 2010 Plenary Meeting for decision-making. One important objective would be to evaluate the merits of BSRUN to its individual members and not only to the University of Turku. Statistics will be easily available.
The survey of BSRUN prepared by Mr. Ville Niinistö, M.Soc.Sc., who is currently an MP in Finland, for the BSRUN Plenary Meeting in Riga in 2004, was sent for information before the Gdansk and SiauliaiSC meetings.In Gdansk,SC took note of the earlier survey and its recommendations of which the loose and (naturally) expanding network has been the strategy followed so far.
Running a network of 40 universities has its limitations and, therefore, e.g. a more compact and smaller network of classical universities might be easier to manage, since the members may then have more interest in common. On the other hand, one might then lose the variety of activities that BSRUN is now able to offer.
For the future, issues like membership fees need to be discussed and collecting fees may cause the drop-out of the less committed members.
In Vilnius, SC agreed that the evaluation will be done by the SC assisted by some experts from amongst the membership to be chosen later on.
Janis Stonis confirmed in Siauliaithat Juris Puce and Kristina Zaksa will be engaged in the evaluation at the university.
The alternative scenarios for BSRUN drafted by Juris Puce in consultation with the Chairman were circulated on 28 April 2009.
Substitutes were invited to attend this SC meeting so that also they can participate in the discussion on the evaluation of BSRUN already at this stage.
Ordinary and substitute SC members who were not able to attend the meeting were invited to send their comments to Juris Puce () with copies to the SC members ().
SC continued discussion on the evaluation of BSRUN on the basis of the draft and the power point presentation by Juris Puce.
SC agreed to circulate an updated version of the draft questionnaire to SC for quick comments in late May in order to be sent to BSRUN members by 12 June with the deadline of 30 June for replies. The processing of replies will be done in July and August with a possible second deadline for replies in the beginning of September. First version of the amended draft scenarios should be available in late September/early October and the draft report finalised in November.
8. Date of next meeting.
SC agreed to the preliminary dates of 17-18 September 2009 for the next meeting to be organised in Klaipeda/Riga.
9. Any other business
SC endorsed the UN Academic Impact initiative with further information to be sent to BSRUN members for possible further action.
10. Closing ofMeeting
Chairman closed the meeting at 18.25
Chairman Kari Hyppönen