EUTOPIA, a new alliance of six European universities that strives to create a connected and inclusive academic community across the continent, launches its strategy today at the Solvay Library in Brussels.
The Alliance has also today submitted its bid for the Erasmus+ ‘European Universities’ programme grant, which would boost its mission of working as a network of European campuses addressing global challenges – through collaborative research, increased mobility of students and staff, and with shared innovations which serve the wider public in regional communities.
Formed by Vrijie Universiteit Brussel, the University of Gothenburg, L’Université Paris-Seine, the University Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, the University of Warwick and led by the University of Ljubljana, the EUTOPIA Alliance is forging a new generation for European higher education.
Already, the Alliance is developing joint Masters courses, joint PhD studentships and fellowships for Early Career Researchers, student exchange programmes and teaching collaborations.
Furthermore, academic conferences are taking place across the EUTOPIA universities – such as a two day workshop on Complex Systems in October 2018, during which potential research collaborations in areas like robotics and artificial intelligence were explored. A workshop for researchers in the Humanities on ‘History, Memory and Conflicts’ is also planned for later in 2019.
The EUTOPIA Alliance unites over 165,000 students and 30,000 members of staff over six countries, with 90,000 international alumni associated with its member universities. Together, the EUTOPIA universities have research centres in 760 areas of knowledge.
At the heart of EUTOPIA is an open learning community, which is co-created in partnership with students and non-academic partners. In time, the Alliance may include other higher education institutions both within and outside Europe.
The six partner universities are working together to modernise education and training, and provide 21st century skills and competencies in all of Europe’s regions.
Caroline Pauwels, Rector of Vrije Universiteit Brussel, said “The VUB is happy that the EUTOPIA Alliance brings together 6 ambitious universities from very diverse metropolitan settings. Our joint project to create a common learning community and knowledge creation community aims to transform our universities into living labs of education and research innovation. Through Open Science and Open Education the EUTOPIA Alliance is driven towards the creation of a joint ‘multiversity’ with a strong multilingual, multidisciplinary and multicultural research and educational agenda. We aim to create mutual understanding through intensified co-creation of a common future for Europe.”
Source: VUB Press release
