Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași (UAIC) organized a Think Tank event on Friday, November 28, 2025, dedicated to the theme of equitable and universal access to education, as part of the European debate series of the EC2U University Alliance.
The Think Tank was organized by the UAIC local EC2U coordinators, Petronela Spiridon – Ursu and Genoveva Roșu, together with the WP5 representative, Lecturer Dr. Magda Samoilă, who also moderated the discussion.
The event took place starting at 9:00 AM, at Tafrali Café, and brought together a variety of institutional and community partners.
The welcome speech was delivered by the UAIC Vice-Rector for International Relations and Academic and Research Partnerships, Prof. Dr. Nicoleta Laura Popa.
The event was attended by representatives from UAIC (teaching staff and researchers), Iași City Hall, Iași Local Council, Iași Teaching Staff House (Casa Corpului Didactic Iași), DGASPC Iași (Directorate General for Social Assistance and Child Protection), Iași German Cultural Center, EuroEd and, Quarz Matrix (NextClass division)
The discussions held during the Think Tank aimed to identify solutions and policy recommendations to improve knowledge transfer and address contemporary challenges, particularly in areas such as digital citizenship and linguistic and cultural competencies.
Participants shared best practices, concrete actions taken, and barriers encountered. They also contributed ideas to identify creative potential and transformative initiatives designed to reduce divisions and foster equitable and universal access to education within the community.
The theme of the Think Tank directly aligns with the political priorities defined by the European Commission: the European Education Area, which aims to remove barriers and improve access to education and, the New Skills Agenda, which focuses on providing opportunities for all.
The EC2U reflection group aimed to contribute to these priorities by exploring the fundamental role of education in building democracy and social inclusion, offering practical solutions.
This event is part of a series of European debates organized by the EC2U University Alliance across eight other European cities: Coimbra (Portugal), Jena (Germany), Linz (Austria), Pavia (Italy), Poitiers (France), Salamanca (Spain), Turku (Finland), and Umea (Sweden), whose universities together form the European consortium EC2U – European Campus of City-Universities (https://ec2u.eu/).
The conclusions of all the debates will be presented at the EC2U Forum in Turku, Finland (May 18-21, 2026). These conclusions will form the basis for developing a common policy recommendation aimed at improving knowledge transfer and jointly addressing challenges related to digital citizenship and linguistic and cultural competencies at both local and European levels.
