What does it mean for your University and/or for you to be part of the Coimbra Group?
As a European university not belonging to the EU, we need to nurture our links and exchanges with our European colleagues. These links were already very present from our very beginning, dating back to the XVIth century for some members. Universities are long standing institutions that need to provide a long term vision for the societies we live in.
What’s your favourite memory/experience?
Being on a boat trip on Lake Geneva, with Coimbra Group colleagues at the occasion of an Annual Meeting, and watching the sunset together.
How can the Coimbra Group most effectively shape the future of higher education and research in your opinion?
We are stronger together. And the geographical diversity of the Coimbra Group makes it unique; a strong focus on education (in innovation, mobility, with other regions/networks) could help us to define our specific voice, now that university networks are multiplying.
How would you describe the Coimbra Group in one word?
Abracadacoimbresque, definitely !

Olivier Vincent, Senior scientific advisor, University of Geneva