From October 16 to 18, 2024 : the university of Tours organises an international symposium on university language policies
The University of Tours is organising the first NEOLAiA international symposium on university language policies from October 16 to 18 at MAME, cité de la création et de l'innovation (Tours).
Co-financed by the European Union, the three-day event will bring together specialists in language policies and universities from other European alliances, with conferences, workshops and round tables. The collaborative work carried out as part of this conference will serve as a basis for drawing up a joint Charter on the language and intercultural policies of the NEOLAiA partner universities. The scientific organisation of the symposium has been entrusted to the DYNADIV laboratory at the University of Tours.
The programme has been put together in partnership with the University of Jaén, which is in charge of the multilingualism workstream within NEOLAiA, and the 7 other universities that are members of the alliance.
The presentations will be webcast and interpreted live in French, English and Spanish.
September 19, The IAE is organising a NEOLife back-to-school event on inclusion and Special Study Plan
As part of the « Inclusion at work and management » chair, the IAE is organising an "Inclusion and SSP" event on the Deux-Lions campus on Thursday September 19. , l'IAE organise une rentrée « Inclusion et RSE » sur le campus des Deux-Lions le jeudi 19 septembre.
This NEOLife event is aimed at students and staff from the Deux-Lions campus and will be open to anyone who wishes to attend (students and staff).
The aim of the half-day event is to raise participants' awareness of a culture that values diversity and professional inclusion.
The programme includes a conference, workshops, a round table and a one-woman show:
From June 17 to 19 2024: First meeting of a research group organised by the ICD laboratory
On the initiative of Anna Krykun and Cécile Chapon, the 'Interactions Culturelles et Discursives' (ICD) laboratory at the University of Tours hosted the first meeting of the NEOLAiA research group entitled 'Self and Community in front of History: Narratives, Identities, Life Practices'. For three days, lecturers and researchers from the University of Örebro, the University of Jaén, the University of Nicosia, the University of Tours and the University of Bielefeld presented their research themes and exchanged experiences and best practices. Common themes and an agenda of scientific and educational projects were defined collectively. The next virtual meeting is already scheduled for November, and the next annual conference for May-June 2025.
In addition to the seminar, on Tuesday 18 June, the NEOLAiA office welcomed Ivana Adamiková, Director of International Relations at the University of Ostrava, and José Ignacio Jiménez González, Vice-Rector for International Relations at the University of Jaén, who were visiting Tours. The morning was devoted to a visit to the Tanneurs site, the facilities dedicated to international students, the Language Resource Centre (LRC) for the Humanities and Languages, and the MAME site, the venue for the first NEOLAiA international symposium on plurilingualism (16 to 18 October). A visit to the FacLab at Tonnellé, with a simulation, gave the partners an opportunity to find out about the system that will be deployed internationally as part of WP2 Teaching.
June 12 and 13 2024: First meeting of the teaching working group
From 12 to 13 June 2024, the University of Tours, coordinator of the Work Package 2 Improving Teaching and Learning, welcomed around thirty partners from the universities of the NEOLAiA Alliance to discuss the implementation of the various tasks to be carried out over the next four years and to define the schedule for future activities.
During the first day, discussions focused mainly on the pedagogical aspects of NEOLAiA, with a view to offering students and teachers collaborative and innovative teaching experiences in response to societal challenges.
On the second day, the partners were able to visit and discover the Grandmont and Portalis Faclabs. They were offered hands-on activities to give them a better understanding of student involvement in a place where multimedia content is co-created.
These days were an opportunity to strengthen the links between the Touraine and European teams, who had mainly met remotely over the last six months, and to encourage exchanges and collective work. Various colleagues from the Education Department, the Continuing Education Department and teacher-researchers from the university involved in different tasks also had the opportunity to meet their counterparts.
The next face-to-face meetings of WP2 will be held at the University of Salerno in Italy in December 2024.
June 11 2024: Visit from Ida Andersson-Norrie and Pia Bro-Nygårdhs from Örebro University (Sweden)
Ahead of the first meetings of the members of the Education working group (WP2), led by the University of Tours, Ida Andersson-Norrie, strategic advisor and member of the NEOLAiA Steering Committee, and Pia Bro-Nygårdhs, coordinator of NEOLAiA at the University of Örebro, came to MAME to meet Angela Altes-Mathieu, regional coordinator of PÉPITE Centre-Val de Loire, and Christelle Rivas, Head of Entrepreneurship and Research, to talk about support schemes for entrepreneurship in the region.
The visit to MAME also gave Tony Orival, a research engineer in the sociology of work and organisations, an opportunity to explore the in situ research and simulation rooms of the Usetech'lab, supported by VYV 3 Centre-Val de Loire, the University of Tours and the CHRU de Tours.
The afternoon was devoted to a working meeting focusing mainly on the Research workstream (WP5).
From June 4 to 6 2024: Annual meeting of the working group dedicated to entrepreneurship
The University of Tours took part in the first annual meeting of the 'WP6 - Entrepreneurship' working group, which was held at the group's coordinating university, the University of Suceava in Romania.
After a tour of the campus and a look at the existing student facilities for entrepreneurship, the partners set up collaborative working sessions to finalise the working group's first deliverable, the foundations of a working framework for the next 4 years.
From June 4 to 7 2024: Annual meeting of the mobility working group
The University of Tours took part in the first annual meeting of the "WP4- Enhanced Mobility" working group, which was held from 4 to 7 June 2024 at the group's coordinating university, the University of Ostrava in the Czech Republic.
The meeting was an opportunity to hold workshops on some of the tasks of the NEOLAiA project: developing the intercultural skills of students preparing for Erasmus mobility, setting up mobility windows and standard course programmes to facilitate the recognition of student mobility, setting up networks of professional experts between the 9 NEOLAiA universities to encourage the exchange of good practice and facilitate teamwork within the alliance.
June 4 2024: Morning presentation of 3 key projects
The NEOLAiA European university project was presented to the press, partners, institutional representatives and university staff, alongside the Loire Val Health project (health research and teaching) and the Loire Valley Innov' project (innovation and cooperation with regional economic players).
Round tables focusing on research and interdisciplinarity, the training of researchers and staff, the training of students and doctoral candidates, and the promotion of research and development provided an insight into the action plans and possible links between these three projects over the coming years.
May 2024 : France 2030 supports the European University NEOLAiA
Following the application submitted by the University of Tours in December 2023, the Secrétariat Général pour l'investissement France 2030 is officially contributing €1.1m over four years to the NEOLAiA European University. This financial support is in addition to that provided by the European Commission (€14.4m for four years, including €1.6m for the University of Tours).
The independent expert committee underlined the high quality of the project submitted and praised its ambition, which is fully in line with the objectives set by France 2030, in that it aims to trigger and deepen institutional cooperation between the nine higher education establishments in NEOLAiA, by making it systemic, structural and sustainable.
UT participation in the international staff week at the University of Jaén (Spain), May 2024
From May 13 to 17 2024, the University of Jaén, lead partner in the NEOLAiA project, an alliance of European universities, organised a week of training on the possibilities and avenues for collaboration around internationalisation in higher education.
On May 18, Colombine Madelaine, UT's Vice President for International Relations, gave a plenary lecture to an audience of representatives from 21 universities in Europe and Africa, presenting the framework for creating and implementing European university alliances.
José Maria Lopez Casado, director of the LEA department at UT, attended the full week of training as a participant. Meetings between NEOLAiA partner universities were organised alongside the event.
1st NEOLife event organised in Tours on April 5 2024
The university of Tours organises a day of conferences and debates on the theme of "Migration - plural approaches and representations".
For more details on this day, the programme can be found on the dedicated page
Meeting with Sylvie Retailleau, Minister for Higher Education and Reseach, on March 22 2024 at the university of Tours
During Sylvie Retailleau's visit to Tours, Colombine Madelaine, vice-president in charge of international relations, Céline Bodin, project local manager, Hanan El khadir, educational adviser, Amandine Deloustal and Soufyane Chafik, student ambassadors for NEOLAiA, had the opportunity to present the alliance and discuss student involvement in the project.
March 2024, Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) Inclusion et Diversity
From March 11 to 15, seven students from the Sociolinguistics and Didactics of Languages Masters programme at the University of Tours visited the University of Örebro, a member of the NEOLAiA alliance, as part of the BIP Comparative International Perspectives on Education: Inclusive Education Practices for diverse learners. Marc Debono, teacher-researcher at the University of Tours and delegate for WP7 Plurilingualism, accompanied the students on this trip and took part in the lessons given in this programme.
March 2024, two new meetings as part of the NEOLAiA network
Two delegations in Tours in March 2024
From March 11 to 15, Magnus Kristoffersson, associate professor of law at the University of Örebro and leader of WP5 research for the NEOLAiA project, and his teacher-researcher colleagues, Eleonore Kristoffersson, Karin Blad and Joel Berg, were invited by the Faculty of Law at the University of Tours to give lectures in various undergraduate and postgraduate law courses. One day was devoted to presenting research in Tours, including visits to the CESR, the MSH and the UseTechLab.
On March 21, students from the Student Union at the University of Örebro came to meet the two NEOLAiA student ambassadors from the University of Tours, Amandine Deloustal and Soufyane Chafik. In the presence of Andreas Mulard, Student Vice-President, and Marion Clément from the Student and Campus Life Department, the day gave the students the opportunity to compare their university systems and prepare the activities that will be offered by and for the students of the alliance.
The NEOLAiA office at the University of Tours takes up its duties
Since the start of the project in January 2024 and its kick-off meeting in Brussels on 7 and 8 February, the project team, responsible for steering the activities in which the University of Tours is involved, has taken up its duties and is made up of :
Céline Bodin, project local coordinator
Hanan El khadir, pedagogical advisor, co-leader of the WP2 Teaching
Claire Durand, WP2 Teaching and WP4 Mobility project manager
Clémentine Périnaud, WP5 Research project manager
Benjamin Depauw, WP3 diversity and inclusion and WP7 Plurilingualism project manager
NEOLAiA launch days on February 7 and 8 2024
more détails
Two new meetings as part of the NEOLAiA network
The NEOLAIA partners are meeting in Jaén to prepare their bid for the 2023 European university call.
6th European Conference on Plurilingualism - November 9-12 2022
As part of the NEOLAIA European University project, teachers from the universities of Tours and Jaén took part in the 6th European Conference on Plurilingualism, held in Cadiz (Spain) from 9 to 12 November.
