Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow welcomed alumni to a Brussels celebration of Kent’s 50th anniversary.
The event took place on 5 November at the Academy Palace, home of The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium. Also attending from Kent were its Dean for Europe, Professor Roger Vickerman, and colleagues from the University’s Brussels School of International Studies.
During her welcome, Dame Julia spoke about the importance of Europe for the University. In particular, she emphasised the ways in which Kent’s four study centres in Europe – Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome – its links with a diverse range of European partners and the international nature of the University’s students, staff and alumni, ‘provide our UK domiciled students with invaluable opportunities to study and work abroad, and widen their educational and cultural understanding’.
During a visit to Beijing in October, Dame Julia met with several leading representatives of the Chinese government, industry bodies and the education sector, all of whom were interested to learn more about Kent’s role as ‘the UK’s European university’.
Earlier this year Dame Julia’s comments on the importance of the European Union were widely reported and welcomed by think tanks, the media and colleagues across the European HE sector.