The DRU project – Democratic Roles of Universities, coordinated by Amélia Veiga (CIIE/FPCEUP) and funded by the Horizon Europe programme / Marie Skłodowska-Curie Staff Exchanges (MSCA-SE), launched its activities on 9 February with an online kick-off meeting attended by more than 60 participants from three continents.

DRU aims to rethink the role of universities in democracies by connecting education and teaching, research, and society within an international consortium led by the University of Porto and composed of universities and non-academic organisations from Europe, South Africa, and Australia: Assumption Development Centre (South Africa); Aarhus University (Denmark); Budapest University of Economics and Business (Hungary); CAS/UT2J & Capitol (France); Deakin University (Australia); Erasmus Student Network (Belgium); Global Student Forum (Denmark); INCHER-Kassel University (Germany); Rhodes University (South Africa); UPTEC (Portugal); Joint Research Centre (Belgium); Durham University (United Kingdom); and the University of Porto.

In addition to discussing logistical and administrative matters, this initial meeting focused on the project’s main scientific objectives and on the action plans of the different working groups involved:

• Democratic Values and Their Institutionalisation;

• Governance Systems and Instruments;

• Participatory Research and Open Science;

• Education in Inclusive Universities;

• Universities’ Engagement with Society; and

• Communication and Dissemination.

Until January 2030, DRU will produce critical knowledge, develop innovative experiences, and create practical tools enabling higher education institutions to translate democratic values (such as equality and inclusion, individual freedoms, and civic participation) into concrete institutional practices that can be transferred to society.

Amélia Veiga chaired the meeting from Copenhagen (Denmark), where she is currently on secondment at the Global Student Forum (GSF), collaborating with its Executive Director, Jacob Blasius, and with colleagues from Aarhus University (Emdrup Campus). The activities include working meetings with several GSF teams, namely with the National Union of Students in Denmark, and focus on analysing the ways in which democratic values are effectively being embedded in the structures, norms, and institutional processes of everyday university life.

Secondments constitute a central pillar of DRU’s strategy for achieving its overall objectives: to develop a holistic approach to the democratic role of universities; to test, through experiments and case studies, innovative forms of research, education, and civic engagement; to create measurable criteria for assessing universities’ contribution to democracy; to strengthen the development of academic and non-academic staff within an interdisciplinary and intersectoral context; and, finally, to consolidate a sustainable international consortium with lasting impact beyond the four years of the project.

Amélia Veiga (CIIE/FPCEUP) and Jacob Blasius (Global Student Forum - GSF)