Michael Murphy elected EUA President

The European University Association (EUA) is pleased to announce that Michael Murphy of University College Cork will be its next president. Elections were held at the EUA General Assembly in Paris this morning. A majority of the members present voted in favour of Murphy. He succeeds Rolf Tarrach, who has served EUA diligently over the past decade – first in the EUA Council, then as Board member and finally as president since 2015. 

Murphy, a member of the EUA Board since 2017 and Chair of the EUA Learning & Teaching Steering Committee, has held a variety of leadership roles including President of University College Cork, Vice-Chancellor of the National University of Ireland, Chair of the Health Research Board of Ireland, Chair of the Irish Universities Association and Chair of the Permanent Working Group of European Hospital Doctors. He graduated in Medicine from University College Cork and received his doctorate from the National University of Ireland.

Murphy competed with Martine Rahier for the EUA presidency. Rahier is the former Rector of the University of Neuchâtel. She too has dutifully served EUA over the years, notably as Vice President since 2015. After the EUA presidential election, Rahier was re-confirmed for a second term on the EUA Board.

The EUA president serves a four-year term and presides over the EUA Board, which is responsible for the preparation and implementation of the Association's policy and the planning of its activities.

In addition, the following new Board members have been elected for a first term:

• Josep Garrell, University Ramon Llull (Spain), Rector
• Patrick Lévy, University Grenoble-Alpes (France), President
• Marcin Pałys, University of Warsaw (Poland), Rector
• Franceso Ubertini, University of Bologna (Italy), Rector

EUA is also pleased to announce that one sitting Board member was re-confirmed for a second term:

•  Mari Sundli Tveit, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (Norway), Rector

The EUA General Assembly was held in the context of the Association’s 2019 Annual Conference, hosted by Sorbonne University and focused on “Driving innovation in Europe’s universities”.

This release was first published 11 April 2019 by the European University Association.