This week, a meeting of the Europe and French-Speaking Africa Region of the IALU (International Association of Lasallian Universities), which includes the La Salle Universities in Spain, France, Andorra and Côte d'Ivoire, was held in Lyon. Josep M. Santos, general director of La Salle Campus Barcelona, was appointed Regional Director of Europe and French-Speaking Africa last July, thus entering the International Board of the IALU.
The meeting was attended by representatives of ECAM Lyon (France), ESAIP Angers (France), the Polytechnique Institute LaSalle Beauvais (France), La Salle Campus Madrid (Spain), UOLS - LaSalle Open University (Andorra) and La Salle Campus Barcelona-URL (Spain).
Issues discussed included changes to the image of ECAM Lyon, which hosted the meeting, and which is now called ECAM La Salle. Attendees reviewed how the beginning of the year has developed, as well as new projects and other relevant events at their respective centres. La Salle Campus Barcelona explained the works going on to adapt the space that will be home to the Internet of Things Institute of Catalonia (IoTICAT) from September 2019. 50% of the project is financed by the European Union’s Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The meeting also saw work starting on the organisation of the next meeting of the IALU in Europe planned for 2021, as well as the latest details of the Lasallian Education Conference to be held in March in Mexico. Additionally, participants coordinated implementation of the LS Talks project, a series of interviews with experts in La Salle centres around the world under a shared theme.
The purpose of the meeting was to bring together initiatives from different centres that can then be extended to others, such as research and the possibility of collaborating in joint projects, as well as making progress in common projects such as the new La Salle Universities website and the LSDreams international competition, both led by teams in Barcelona. LSDreams is currently accepting projects and this year it has seen new categories offered such as collaboration between students from different centres. The prizes will be awarded on 26 April.
In the international sphere, mobility among students, teachers and staff is to be especially encouraged, in order to increase the exchange of knowledge throughout the Network and open the door to further collaborations.
One further highlight is the fact that La Salle is this year celebrating the third centenary of the death of its founder, Saint John-Baptiste de la Salle. As such, the centres taking part shared the commemorative events they have planned, with 14 May marked as a key date, one when the Lasallian Network will be holding a public event.