The new EUPRIO approach

Official Legal status  With the creation of a permanent seat for EUPRIO in Leuven (Belgium) the organisation has an official legal status (with charter and mission statement). This status is important for the continuity of EUPRIO and a necessary  condition if EUPRIO in future wants to try to get funding or grants from third parties.

New conference format At the Stresa Conference a new conference format was introduced. The new format offers extra options to deepen communication knowledge (master classes) and makes  interaction about communication issues between members easier  (European Plaza).

The new approach aims at making EUPRIO more than a conference organisation.

• Deepening and improving content conference/concentration on HE-issuesThe coming years conference will be, instead of unconnected and independent yearly events, the culminating parts of a process  involving members to some extent between the conferences as well. This is being done by concentrating on yearly changing issues that play an important role in the international  HE-environment and are of general importance for a broad range of academic disciplines. By deepening the knowledge of these issues in general and specifically showing how to handle them from a communication point of view EUPRIO-members could be given the tools to cope with questions concerning these topics at home.

• Ongoing communication/national meetingsAround these issues national discussions between EUPRIO-members and/or  non EUPRIO  HE communication professionals will be organised in different countries by the national representatives. The results will be published on the website and brought together at the conference.

• Cooperation with partner organizationsNext to that EUPRIO will seek partnerships with European organisations  that primarily concentrate on specific issues. Partners will help EUPRIO to get a better insight in the backgrounds of a topic. Conclusions for communication are drawn at the conferences and members will be given all the gathered information.

• Investigate options for external fundingThe concentration on international HE-issues, the comparison between different European countries and the cooperation with partners not only strengthens the position of EUPRIO and deepens the knowledge of its members,  but could also open up possibilities for getting funds or grants.

To improve the collection of information within the various EUPRIO communities in Europe, each country representative’s duty is to conduct focus groups in his/her  country.

The focus group concentrates on the subject/issue selected for the coming conference. To guarantee comparable results a framework and a set of questions will be delivered to the national representatives  by the Task Force preparing the coming conference. This framework and the questions will be formulated after evaluation of the results of the European Plaza at the conference a year before.

Next to the discussion on the coming issue the focus groups will help guide the choice of topics for future conferences and the sessions of the European Plazas. Topics of future discussion may focus on domestic concerns for a specific question whatever as long as it relates to higher education and has a European impact.

According to the modes of its own, the national representative may choose to convene ad hoc meetings, to use part of a national meeting or to consult its members by e-mail exchange.

The national meetings will be held – depending on the date of the conference – between 10 to 5 months before the conference  and will lead to a report mandatory written in English. The report will be published on the EUPRIO website.

If possible, the report will also state best practices that could usefully be brought to the attention of the entire community. Finally, it would be interesting to propose a list of personalities who could be approached as an expert for the preparation of a dossier or as a speaker for the conference.

Although contributions should mainly concern the theme of the conference, contributions external to the theme of the year, but of important concern for the community, could be added. The report will then have to clearly state the purpose of the contribution.

The different reports, no longer than 2 pages including possible new themes, will be analyzed by the Task Force members. In case interesting new themes are proposed the Task Force  will then make proposals to the Steering Committee to decide on future conference and European Plaza themes.

National representatives will inform the Task Force in September – at the conference the year before – of the opportunity that is theirs to hold such meetings. Preferably they already give an indication of the date of the national meeting. Most ideally the different meetings are held at different moments during the 10 to 5 months period stated above. Finally the Task Force will award the country having made the most significant contribution to this work.

EUPRIO will concentrate the next few years on a strategy which combines two important premises:

EUPRIO is a networking organisation of volunteers in the area of communications and pr. It concentrates on that role and won’t  investigate or research the general consequences, policies behind or implications of HE-issues which are of interest on international or even global level. The ambition of EUPRIO focuses on the consequences for corporate and marketing communication. What advise can be given, which communication strategy is most effective, what are the different communication problems that have to be tackled and do differences between the European countries exist? These are the kind of questions which are essential for EUPRIO.

Before these questions can be answered EUPRIO-members need to have a general inside. When it comes to getting that general inside into these issues EUPRIO will look for partnerships with preferably other European HE Associations or HE related organisations that are strongly involved with a specific issue (core business).  In EUPRIO vocabulary these organisations are defined as ‘ EUPRIO-partners’.

What is (depending on the issue) expected from these partners:

• Partners deliver the necessary information about an issue by which EUPRIO-members can get a general insight.
• Partners can deliver speakers for keynotes.
• Partners have an insight which universities could be seen as frontrunners when comes to be active with a specific issue.
• Partners have an idea of the actual situation in the different European countries when it comes to coping with an issue.
• Partners can give information on how an issue is handled/what the impact of an issue is outside Europe.

What does EUPRIO offer possible partners:

• EUPRIO will organize discussions in different European countries which give an insight in the view of communications professionals when it comes to effective ways of communicating about an issue.
• EUPRIO will invite delegates of a partner organisation for the yearly conference in which the communication consequences will be discussed and a final statement will be given.
• By informing about and having discussions on a specific issue with her members EUPRIO will create an extra awareness among HE communication professionals  all over Europe.

In general the EUPRIO partner strategy will improve the visibility of the organisation and could possibly open ways of making the voice of HE-communicators more heard.  An improvement of this position is an important condition to create a better starting point for possible funding by third parties. Partners could help EUPRIO to find the right institutions to appeal for funding. To be clear: EUPRIO is not going to ask partners for funds.

To make the new approach work the understanding, help and involvement of many people is needed.  This master plan describes the targets, the target groups, the means and messages and  a timeline to support a successful introduction and maintenance of EUPRIO’s new approach.  The new approach will start in 2011. First an issue will be selected  and after that a process starts that ends at the conference in 2012. At the end of  2011 a second issue will be selected and a parallel process aiming at the conference in 2013 will start as well. The years after that the same procedure will be followed. Possible issues will be presented by the different Taskforces to the Executive Board and the Steering Committee. After that the EUPRIO members will be given the opportunity to state their preference (this can be done via a digital survey or at conferences/European Plazas).

Task Forces lead the way to the different conferences

To make the change towards the new approach possible a new EUPRIO working group is introduced: the Task Force. This group will be responsible for the process leading towards a conference and the content part of the conference. This being the case the Task Force will take over the temporary role of the former conference group. Compared to the conference group the Task Force will focus on a continuing communication process with the EUPRIO members. Next to that the Task Force will work closely together with the local conference organisation.

3.1 The process leading towards a conference will always start approximately 18 months before the actual conference date. This automatically means that after the start of the first Task Force a second one will be installed  half a year later (at the earlier conference) and start its work at latest after 6  month concentrating on the  conference to be organised 18 month later. The same timeline principle will be followed  for Task Force3, 4, 5  and so on.

Every Task Force consists of maximum 6 EUPRIO members and has its own chairman. The chairman works in close contact with and keeps the executive board constantly informed. T o guarantee continuity 2 members of the former Task Force take part in the next Task Force. Every Task Force has 1 member (linking pin) representing the university that  organises the conference.  Together with the local organisation this member is responsible for the organisation of the conference in itself and the social program during the conference.

Delivering effective information of/communication on important international HE issues with a focus on communication and marketing communication consequences of this issue, with the aim to create enthusiasm and understanding among EUPRIO members;

Creating interest of EUPRIO-members to take actively part in the process, with the aim to make more members active;

Delivering effective communication of/communication with relevant third parties, with the aim to make first contacts for cooperation with EUPRIO easier;

Creating interest of third parties to work together with EUPRIO by showing the added value of cooperation.

One of the main aims of the new approach of EUPRIO is to get more members actively involved. If you are interested in taking part in:

• Future task forces;
• The organisation of national meetings;
• Blogging or otherwise being active on the EUPRIO website;
• The process of attaining external funding;

Send an e-mail to: denis.ancion@maastrichtuniversity.nl.