Westminster Business School has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), the largest University and sixth oldest among the highly ranked tertiary education institutions in Greece.
Westminster Business School joined the UK-Greece Strategic Partnership in Education programme run by the Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs and the British Embassy in Athens, which is aimed at fostering collaboration between UK and Greek universities. As a result of this initiative, a MoU was signed through which the two institutions have agreed to collaborate with each other on research and teaching, as well as field visits and immersion programmes.
Dr Karen Jackson, Reader in Economics and Assistant Head of the School of Organisations, Economy and Society, alongside Dr Panos Hahamis, Senior Lecturer from the School of Applied Management, met with colleagues from AUTh on 9 March at a meeting where both organisations reiterated their commitments to developing a long-term and trusted partnership.
Professor Nikolaos Papaoiannou, Rector of AUTh, opened the meeting to discuss fostering collaboration in areas such as study visits, student exchange, collaboration with research groups and centres, and on research projects and publications. Colleagues at the meeting agreed to establish a joint task force to maintain the good progress that has been achieved between the two institutions thus far.
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is the largest University in Greece and is located in the centre of the city of Thessaloniki. It is among the most highly ranked institutions in Greece, and supports more than 88,000 students on their undergraduate, postgraduate and Doctoral programmes.
Talking about the new partnership, Dr Karen Jackson said: “After all the hard work of so many staff in both institutions over the last year, this visit and the MoU marks an important first step towards a strong and lasting partnership. Our European partners remain a vitally important part of our internationalisation strategy.”
Professor Grigorios Zarotiadis, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Political Sciences, AUTh added: "After Brexit, bilateral UK-Hellenic relations will remain as strong as they have been historically. Especially in terms of academic collaboration; there are new prospects, even new opportunities that have to be utilised. The working meeting we held with the University of Westminster led to important conclusions and outlined the practical steps we need and can take.”
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