EUPRIO Annual Conference 2010 in Stresa, Italy, “University Communicators establish their roles towards 2020”

Taking an alternative approach it will provide new ideas and insights.  It will enable us to develop new skills and find innovative ways to do our job. Stresa 2010 will not only help us to become “more professional”. It will help us to become winners.

We don’t have a shared view of university communications.  Across Europe there are huge differences between our roles, what we call ourselves, what we do, the skills and abilities we have and the salaries we earn.  The current economy has changed the way we need to perform as a profession. We feel less secure about the stability of our jobs with many people experiencing redundancies and restructures in their place of work.

In order to succeed we need to embrace change and move away from the more traditional approaches of practising communications. And, critically, over the next ten years we will all have a vital contribution to make in supporting the development of the Bologna process.   

So, what should we do?
We should play a key role in not only developing communication strategies to support structural reforms but also in communicating about issues such as stakeholder involvement, academic freedom and institutional autonomy, cooperation, widening participation, technological developments and so on.

 It’s time for us to think more deeply about what we want to be, about what our managers want us to achieve and what European higher education needs us to be now, and over the next 10 years.

 We have all had plenty of opportunities to discuss the ‘What’ and the ‘Why’.  At Stresa 2010 we will concentrate on the ‘How’.

 How will Stresa 2010 help us?
Stresa 2010 will commence with a keynote speech by the President of European University Association: "Towards Bologna 2020". This will be immediately followed by the ‘European Café’, an innovative, yet simple conversational process, which will allow us to move between groups, cross-pollinate ideas, and discover new insights into the questions we have about the Bologna Process.  

Together we will be able to develop a view of what we, as innovative, winning university communicators, need to be if we are to be ready to pick up the challenges of this decade. 

Stresa 2010 will also provide us with the tools we need.  There will be fifteen nurturing, training, intensive Master Classes, which will cover the skills we need.  Each Master Classes will last three hours.  They will be offered by skilled professionals from across Europe and America who will teach us new skills and share strategies for incorporating latest trends into our work.  

To ensure that we all have the time we need to talk and learn each Master Class will be limited to fifteen people, so we advise you to register as soon as possible for both the Conference and the Master Classes you wish to take. You will receive a certificate of attendance for your personal and professional development records.

Stresa 2010 will also offer you:
-    an Opening ceremony with the President’s welcome speech and a Lectio Magistralis from a top personality;
-    a Matchmaking session where you can get together with likeminded colleagues to, for example,  discuss an issue, share your expertise with others, find someone to help you learn a new skill, solve a problem, collaborate with colleagues on a project;
-    the General Assembly, i.e. the institutional core of the Conference where the year’s aims are discussed and voted for;
-    a Closing ceremony with the special Euprio Fellow Award attributed to top personalities;
-    the Euprio Awards’ Ceremony;
-    an exciting social programme in one of the most beautiful landscapes in Europe, with mouthwatering gourmanderies, Italian style, fashion and sounds.

We want you to be a part of our exciting conference; so, please, book your place now.
We are just waiting for you with the most welcoming hope.
We will all be winners, at last.

BRUNELLA MARCHIONE
President of AICUN   
PAOLO GARBARINO
Rector of Università del Piemonte Orientale   
PAOLO POMATI
President of EUPRIO