Belgium's best is best for you! Michelle visited KU Leuven as part of the Una Europa "Live my Life" job shadowing exchange programme. Image Una Europa "Live my life" exchange programme Destination: KU Leuven, Belgium Year: 2022 Live my Life It was an honour to have the opportunity to participate in the Una Europa “Live my Life” exchange programme. After applying to the programme, I was matched with a colleague, Pieter, who has a similar role to my own at KU Leuven in Belgium. Una Europa facilitated a number of online sessions which provided an insight into the Una Europa project and introduced the participants, affording us an invaluable opportunity to discuss our roles and professional interests with our partners, setting the scene for our exchange. Belgium's best is best for you! Pieter’s colleagues welcomed me at KU Leuven in April 2022 and I immediately felt part of the team. It was an incredible week of sharing knowledge, ideas and discussing opportunities for collaborative working with colleagues from across the institution. My experience definitely resonates with one of KU Leuven’s key messages: Belgium’s best is best for you! A highlight was attending the on-campus open day at both Brussels and Leuven campuses, which provided a fascinating insight into the behind scenes planning and delivery of the event. I also attended a virtual working group meeting between the communications teams of the Una Europa member institutions, with colleagues across Europe pleasantly surprised to see an Edinburgh colleague joining live from Leuven. The greatest outcome of all, however, was that together with colleagues from SSPS and KU Leuven, we developed a proposal for a collaborative project and we are all delighted to be taking it forward. Overall, I found the “Live my Life” programme to be an incredible opportunity and I would highly recommend it to colleagues. I have returned to Edinburgh with a reinvigorated passion for European collaboration and knowledge sharing, and I am excited to see what the future will bring for Una Europa. Michelle TerrellStudent Recruitment Officer, School of Social and Political Science Current opportunities Una Europa "Live my Life Una Europa’s ‘Live my Life’ is a job shadowing programme aimed at Professional Services colleagues across Una Europa member universities. Targeted at colleagues in specific teams, look out for the next call and a chance to apply coming in early June 2023. Find out more about this job shadowing opportunity: Una Europa "Live my Life Find out more about all the staff opportunities available: Staff opportunities Read other staff stories Staff stories This article was published on 2024-06-24
