Approved Alliance of European Universities integrated by UÉ
The European Universities Alliance EU GREEN, integrated by the University of Évora and its four-year work plan, has been approved by the European Commission (EC), with a total funding of 14.4 million Euros, for the sustainable development of teaching and research in the areas of economic, social, cultural and environmental growth. EU GREEN is one of four (4) new transnational alliances of European Universities that now join the sixteen (16) alliances that have renewed the support of the European Commission.
Led by the Universidad de Extremadura (Spain) and integrated by eight (8) higher education institutions (University of Gävle (Sweden) Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences (Poland) Universitá di Parma (Italy) Université D'Angers (France) University of Évora (Portugal) Otto von Guericke Universität Magdeburg (Germany) South East Technological University (Ireland) Universitatea Din Oradea (Romania), the EU GREEN- European University alliance for sustainability: responsible GRowth, inclusive Education and ENvironment, aims to implement a collaborative strategy for the education of citizens and the development of innovative research that contributes to a favorable evolution of local and/or regional ecosystems.
The nine (9) institutions that make up the consortium are similar in size, location and mission within their respective national ecosystems. They are medium-sized universities located in relatively peripheral regions. This shared context "makes us particularly aware of territorial imbalances" says Hermínia Vasconcelos Vilar, Dean of the University of Évora, so "we advocate a fairer model, based on the concept of "distributed excellence" in which each city and region of Europe has a role to play.
With a joint academic community of over 144,000 students and 13,900 teachers and technicians, EU GREEN aims to be "an extensive European hub of education, research and innovation in sustainability that goes beyond the consortium borders and acts globally to provide solutions to local or regional challenges, which can be replicated worldwide", having sustainability as a transversal value in order to provide an effective response to the pressing challenges of our society.
As explained by the Dean of the University of Évora, "all institutions involved are strongly positioned in their respective territories and share a focus on regional development, being aligned with their respective Smart Research and Innovation Strategies (RIS3) and regional policies on sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals.
The EU-GREEN partners also share a common focus on increasing mobility and internationalization across Europe, demonstrated by the wide range of mobility programs they have put in place, and whose most visible face is the average of international students in all institutions, which is around 15%.
This transnational university campus will be, in the vision of the EU-GREEN Alliance "a recognized teaching space, student-centered and inspired by research", not only virtual but also physical. "We want to create experiences, we want to boost mobilities and we want to cooperate beyond the academic level," adds Herminia Vasconcelos Vilar.
In fact, the competences and skills of each of the partner institutions will be used not only to achieve a coherent mobility scheme for non-European regions, but also to share new approaches and methodologies on sustainability-related topics across the three pillars of HEIs: Education, Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer. Some of the main focuses of the Work Plan, now approved by the European Commission (EC) are the co-creation of knowledge with the various partners - researchers, students, industry, civil society, public authorities - through the development of innovative methodologies aligned with the idiosyncrasies of the regions of action; the promotion of sustainable regional ecosystems across Europe, ensuring a truly transformative impact on society that can be implemented globally and the development of strategies to educate citizens on sustainability, giving them the necessary tools to implement and monitor its evolution.
Together with the 24 alliances selected in 2020, the EC currently funds a total of 44 European Universities, which now involve 340 higher education institutions in remote regions of 31 countries, including all Member States as well as Iceland, Norway, Serbia and Turkey. This EC funding instrument involves the creation of European Universities, which are transnational alliances of higher education institutions, which may include Higher Education Institutions, Institutes of Technology, Schools of Arts, and higher vocational education and training institutions, covering a wide geographical scope across Europe.
Together these institutions are finding new ways for structural, sustainable, systemic and long-term cooperation in education, research and innovation across Europe by offering student-centered, jointly delivered curricula on inter-university campuses, where students, staff and researchers from all regions of Europe work together.
More information about EU-GREEN here.
