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The Talloires Network of Engaged Universities has elected Nieves Segovia chair of its Steering Committee. This international organization of universities committed to social development and sustainability was created in 2005 by Larry Bacow, president of Harvard University, and has 426 university presidents, chancellors and vice chancellors from 85 countries. It is the largest international network focused on university civic engagement.
Nieves Segovia, first woman and first non-American to chair this world organization, succeeds Anthony P. Monaco, president of Tufts University, who chaired Talloires Network of Engaged Universities since 2011. The organization is based at the Tisch College of Civic Life of this university, in Massachusetts (USA).
The Talloires network supports universities in their research, entrepreneurship and social innovation projects, in learning civic engagement and in supporting vulnerable groups. Among its objectives is that of raising awareness of the public role and social responsibility of universities and bolstering support for the global movement for civic engagement in education.
The international steering committee chaired by Nieves Segovia is made up of fourteen members, including the highest representatives of universities, directors of international and national education networks, former ministers of education and a representation of students.
According to Nieves Segovia, “students today are more sensitive to issues related to innovation and social impact, climate change or diversity. At UCJC – as the only Spanish B-Corp university- and at the rest of the universities that are part of the Talloires network, we channel that student interest and help them become models of social transformation.” In her opinion, “in the learning society, we have to be able to collaborate with all agents, to connect the university with its environment, so that proposed projects are geared to solving real problems and are thus relevant.”
Track record
Educator and expert in educational innovation, Nieves Segovia is president of SEK Education Group, founded in 1892. The group currently caters to over 21,000 students in its ten international schools in Spain, France, Ireland, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and at Camilo José Cela University.
She chairs the Steering Committee of the Talloires Network of Engaged Universities (Massachusetts, USA) and is a member of the Leadership Council of the Center for Universal Education of the Brookings Institution (Washington, DC), the World Council of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM, Belgium), as well as the Ashoka Support Network (Arlington, USA). She is also Vice President of the Global Sports InnovationCenter (GSIC, Singapore). She is an Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow at Harvard University.
In Spain, she is a member of the State School Council of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, chairs the Felipe Segovia Foundation and is vice-president of the Club de Excelencia en Gestión and Edutech Cluster. She sits on the board of trustees of the European Foundation Society and Education.
She founded and sponsors the Global Education Forum, a community of educational innovators, and SEK Lab, an Edtech accelerator. In 2017, she launched the UCJC Integra Programme, a university education scheme for refugees, now joined by Sphera, a centre for intercultural social entrepreneurship, and EachTeach, a global initiative for the training of refugee teachers.
Among other awards, Nieves Segovia has received the UNICEF Award for Education in Values and is considered one of the most influential women in education. She speaks regularly at educational forums and writes frequently for specialised journals and media.
UCJC, an engaged university
Camilo José Cela University was awarded the European Citizen Award of the European Parliament and the MacJannet Prize for its Integra Project initiative, whose objective is to facilitate access to the university for international students from countries in conflict so that they can achieve, in the most all-round way possible, a personal, social and academic integration in our country. It is the first Spanish university to be given this recognition.
