Josep M. Garrell takes office as EUA President

The European University Association is pleased to announce that Josep M. Garrell, former Rector of Ramon Llull University (Spain), has taken office as the Association’s President.

Professor Garrell was elected by the EUA General Assembly in Gdańsk in April. He succeeds Professor Michael Murphy, former President of University College Cork, who served in the role since 2019.

Marking the occasion, Professor Garrell noted that “If the European University Association did not exist, it should be created. EUA is the place where the universities of Europe come together: the place to listen to and learn from others.”

“It is the best tool that the universities in Europe have for defining together what the sector should look like in the future, for the benefit of society. I am looking forward to working with EUA’s members and partners over the next four years to strengthen Europe’s universities and to shape a fair and sustainable future,” he added.

Among Professor Garrell’s goals for his term are to:

• Sustain EUA as the primary influencer of the university landscape in Europe.
• Continue working on EUA’s top-quality portfolio of tools for impact.
• Intensify EUA’s communication actions to enable growth in visibility and the effectiveness of advocacy and lobbying.
• Continue EUA’s efforts towards academic assessment reform, both at the institutional and at the individual level.
• Strengthen the significance of universities' learning and teaching mission within EUA’s political agenda.
• Increase the actions oriented towards the creation of added value for all types of members of the Association, including in the area of leadership development.

From 2012 to 2022, Professor Garrell served as Rector of Ramon Llull University. He previously held several leadership roles at the university, including Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation, Secretary General and Vice-Rector for University Policy. He is also a former Vice-President of the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) and was first elected to the EUA Board in 2019.

The EUA President serves a four-year term and chairs the EUA Board, which is responsible for the preparation and implementation of the Association's policy and the planning of its activities. At its first meeting, the new Board approved Paul Boyle, Vice-Chancellor, Swansea University (UK) and Ivanka Popović, former Rector, University of Belgrade (Serbia) as Vice-Presidents of the Association. They are joined on the EUA Board by new members Vincent Blondel, Rector, University of Louvain (Belgium); Astrid Söderbergh Widding, Rector, Stockholm University (Sweden); Maurizio Tira, former Rector, University of Brescia (Italy); and Wim van de Donk, Rector, Tilburg University (the Netherlands); as well as re-elected member Marcin Pałys, former Rector, University of Warsaw (Poland); and sitting member Anne Lequy, former Rector, Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences (Germany).

This article was first published on 3 July by EUA.