Happy Birthday, BSRUN!
Exactly 20 years ago on 28 February 2000 on the initiative of the University of Turku the Baltic Sea Region University Network (known as BSRUN) was founded. The background was the strong interest of the university, city and region in the cooperation in the Baltic Sea region in general and the extensive links of the university with other institutions in the region. The symbol of the Network is the Bengtskär lighthouse which testifies both to the maritime culture of the region and the enlightenment universities bring to their environments.
The starting point was the exchange of information and experiences, joint events and projects focused on the management and administration of universities in order to train the new senior management of the universities and to establish professional links for them with their colleagues in the neighboring countries without needing to go any further.
The Network’s value is in its members – it only may survive if members are interested in cooperation and exchange with each other. BSRUN member institutions are now located on both sides of the EU-Russia/Belarus border. If you are interested in learning from your neighbors and developing something together across the national borders, our member universities are among the very best you can find.
The Network held hundreds of seminars and conferences with over 5500 participants. We found very attractive topics for universities from the region: Campus Development (from development to construction), Educational Reforms (from mergers to university boards), Internationalization etc. At the same time BSRUN has strategic partnerships with intergovernmental institutions like CBSS and BSPC to provide expert counseling on the regional cooperation and development.
We’d like to thank you all for your cooperation and support over the course of these twenty years. BSRUN is inviting you back to Turku again to officially celebrate the anniversary on 3-4 June 2020.
