NEWS
Building Connections: EMIC Week Brings RUN-EU Partners Together in Leiria
26 November 2025
The fourth edition of the RUN-EU EMIC (European Mobility Centre) Week, hosted by the Polytechnic University of Leiria, took place from 3 to 7 November 2025, bringing together nearly 30 mobility experts from all alliance partners for a programme of work and shared experiences in Leiria.
The group participated in welcome sessions, campus visits, and meetings across the EMIC sub-strands, including administration and monitoring, mobility schemes, sustainable travel, and mobility promotion. These sessions, held at the School of Health Sciences and Campus 5, helped teams clarify ongoing tasks and prepare the next steps.
Throughout the week, participants reviewed the development of study programmes and staff training initiatives and continued the work on mobility promotion within the alliance. Approaches to Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs) and Internships were further aligned to ensure consistent and accessible mobility opportunities for students and staff. The programme also included an EU Values train-the-trainer session on Inclusion and Accessibility in Higher Education, delivered by Jaime Ribeiro and Manuela Francisco.




Alongside the meetings, colleagues had time to discover the region together – visiting the Batalha Monastery, seeing the waves of Nazaré, joining an excellent student-led city tour guided by Jennifer Rafael, João Lima, Margarida Fragulha and Tiago Neto (Vice-Chair of the RUN-EU Student Council), and sharing a farewell dinner with traditional Portuguese food and fado performed by Débora Madeira and Alexandre Laureano.
This week also reminded us why these encounters matter. Beyond the formal agenda, they reflect our shared commitment to opening doors and raising awareness about the opportunities that RUN-EU creates for students, staff, researchers and lecturers. When we meet in person, ideas grow more naturally, questions find quicker answers, and possibilities take shape. It felt meaningful to bring everyone together with one purpose: to strengthen, improve and share the programmes that make this alliance real for the people it serves.