During the month of June 2026, the Department of English and American Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy and Science, Silesian University in Opava (Czechia), welcomed several academic colleagues from Aleksandër Moisiu University in Durrës (Albania).

The mobility brought together colleagues from the Institutes of Foreign Languages, creating valuable opportunities for professional exchange and future cooperation. The visiting academics represented a wide range of expertise, including English language teaching methodology, linguistics, sociolinguistics, English literature, culture and translation studies, classroom management, technology-enhanced learning, intercultural studies, and many more.

Good practices

Throughout their stay, they engaged in inspiring discussions with colleagues from the Department of English and American Studies, namely Michaela Weiss, Diana Adamová, Barbora Hamplová, and Veronika Nogolová, who are themselves experts in these fields, sharing good practices in language teaching, curriculum development, innovative pedagogical approaches, research, and the internationalization of higher education. The exchange of perspectives fostered meaningful academic dialogue and helped identify common areas of interest for future collaboration.

The meetings resulted in several concrete outcomes. The institutions agreed to organize mutual invited lectures for students and academic staff, explore opportunities for Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) activities, and develop joint specialized projects, further strengthening cooperation within the STARS EU Alliance.

Cooperation in teaching

The Department of English and American Studies at Silesian University in Opava looks forward to continuing this successful cooperation with Aleksandër Moisiu University and implementing the initiatives discussed during the June mobility.

The visit strengthened the partnership between both institutions and laid the foundation for future cooperation in teaching, research, and academic mobility, further supporting the internationalization goals of the STARS EU Alliance.

The next event will take place in March 2026 at the Silesian University in Opava

STARS EU will hold its 2026 Annual Conference from 25 to 27 March in Opava, Czechia, hosted by Silesian University in Opava. Under the theme “Transformative Education for Europe’s Future,” the conference will bring together academic leaders, researchers, educators, and partner institutions from across Europe to reflect, strengthen cooperation, and define the next steps in the development of the STARS EU Alliance.

Over three days, participants will take part in plenary sessions and the official opening, thematic workshops, working group meetings, strategic discussions on shared priorities, and networking activities across European institutions.

The conference emphasizes transformative education as a key approach to address current social, digital, and environmental challenges. This approach promotes critical thinking, creativity, empathy, and civic engagement, preparing students to play an active role in shaping Europe’s future.

Tree important appointments

Around 180 people, including alliance members, experts, and stakeholders, are expected to attend what will be the third STARS EU Annual Conference in Czechia, following those held in France and Albania. The STARS EU Annual Conference 2024 took place on 21–22 March in Besançon, France, and was organized by the Marie et Louis Pasteur University,  old university of FrancheComté. A central theme of the event was the role of higher education and research in supporting regional development, with sessions exploring how universities can contribute through education, research, and knowledge transfer.

The second annual conference  took place from 19 to 21 March 2025 at Aleksandër Moisiu University in Durrës, Albania, bringing together academics, researchers, policymakers, and representatives from industry and public institutions. The event was held under the theme “Research the WORLD. Reach the STARS,” and focused on interdisciplinary research, collaboration, and the role of universities in shaping the future of higher education, innovation, and regional development. Key topics included knowledge transfer, regional economic empowerment, and how research partnerships can drive societal progress across Europe.

For further information about the next conference, registration, and updates, click here.

The University of La Laguna (Spain) hosted the live session of a BIP course on Machine Learning for Data Science for a week at the end of January. This is the third edition of the course and the first time the Spanish institution has hosted its in-person portion, specifically at its School of Engineering and Technology.

Around thirty students from institutions linked to this BIP attended: Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), Hochschule Bremen-City University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Bragança Polytechnic University (Portugal) and the University of La Laguna itself, all part of STARS EU. Students from the Celso Suckow Federal Center for Technological Education in Fonseca (Brazil) also joined .

During the opening session, professors Juan Albino Méndez and Rafael Arnay, both from the Department of Computer and Systems Engineering at the University of La Laguna, presented the program for this week’s work, which focused primarily on mentoring practical projects developed in groups by the 32 participating students to be presented on Friday, January 23. Two seminars were also held: one on data analysis using Knime software and another on machine learning in energy systems.

This BIP on Machine Learning in Data Science is worth 6 credits, corresponding to 60 hours of work, both in-person and online. During this practical week, students developed a hands-on Machine Learning project using real data provided by the instructors. They applied the methodologies described during the online instruction to develop a model that solved the proposed problem.

The course has been designed to explore different Machine Learning techniques , from basic concepts to advanced methods, and learn how to apply them to analyze complex datasets and extract meaningful information.

At the end of the course, students should be able to, among other objectives, discern what type of solution should be used; establish a chronological and functional view of AI techniques and their connections with other sciences; know the main models and implement them to solve practical problems; understand the limitations and advantages of computational intelligence techniques; and adapt AI techniques to specific case studies, for example, Pattern Recognition problems.

In addition to the aforementioned Juan Albino Méndez and Rafael Arnay from ULL, the teaching was provided by Uta Bohnebeck (Bremen); Rui Pedro Lopes (Braganza); Meriecke Bouma and Remi Thüss ( Hanze ); and Eduardo Bezerra (Fonseca), many of whom also traveled to Tenerife to tutor the face-to-face work .

Our alliance launches STARS EU Highlights, a new series of video podcasts about the teaching-learning process from a current, comprehensive perspective shared by those who make it possible: teachers, students, expert staff and other key players in the field of higher education. The first episode is entitled ‘’” and is now available on Spotify and YouTube.

This first episode of STARS EU Highlights explores what it means today to be a European student within a university alliance such as STARS EU, in a context shaped by new policies moving towards a joint European degree and towards more flexible, inclusive and integrated academic mobility.

Presenter Emily Jane Lee Glober speaks with Elana Veldkamp, STARS EU Community Manager at Hanze University of Applied Sciences (the Netherlands), and Davut Turk, a second-year International Business student at the same institution. Together, they offer complementary perspectives on the opportunities provided by flexible mobility through Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs), student support services and intercultural learning.

The message is as clear as it is compelling: STARS EU enables students to pursue more accessible, inclusive and personalised transnational learning pathways. The opportunity to take courses during short stays in nine different countries, as well as to undertake placements and even short-term joint master’s programmes, not only prepares students to compete in a global labour market, but also helps to foster active European citizenship.

STARS EU Highlights has been promoted by the University of La Laguna and was was created as a space for conversation and shared learning, exploring innovative techniques and methodologies, as well as the challenges and improvements that are transforming higher education in Europe. Through interviews and informal dialogues, the series will focus on real experiences, recounted by those involved, as well as best practices and innovative approaches developed inside and outside the classrooms of the STARS EU alliance.

The first season will consist of seven episodes that will appear on the second Wednesday of each month until July 2026. Each episode will address a specific topic related to the educational system, international collaboration in this field, and the role of individuals as protagonists in the teaching-learning process.

STARS EU has launched a program of online seminars in which specialists from the various areas that are part of the alliance will present innovative projects and proposals based on science and knowledge with the potential to support regional development.

Under the name of Stars Talks, these interventions will be open to the entire public through this link on the Zoom platform, and their format will be simple: the talks will be short (between 15 and 45 minutes) and there will be time for the public to debate and ask questions. It is planned that there will be one of these STARS EU Talks every month, ten in total each year.

The dates and speakers of the first three are already known: on April 17, María José Ferreira, Director of Research and Quality of the Portuguese Footwear Research Center, will present “Portuguese footwear cluster – Innovative green materials, processes and products”; on May 15, Mikael Ericsson (University West) will speak on “Sustainable Industry– A New Thematic Interest Group”; and on June 19, José Sigut Saavedra (University of La Laguna) will speak about “Medical Diagnosis using Artificial Intelligence – Application to Retinal Images”. All of them will begin at 13:00 (CET), accessed through the Zoom link mentioned above.

These webinars have been promoted by the alliance’s Challenge Lab and the topics they address will be suggested from the different STARS EU structures. In addition to the focus on regional development, the interventions will also promote EU values and support the Green Transition and Digital Transition processes.

Green materials

On April 17, María José Ferreira, Director of the Labs and Research and Sustainability Department at CTCP, the Portuguese Footwear Technological and Research Centre, will speak about innovative green materials, processes and products in the Portuguese footwaer cluster. “Our planet is facing challenges that are causing the footwear sector to accelerate its efforts to be sustainable by adopting green and digital solutions”, the expert explains. So, there are many potential areas of intervention, and several variables remain, so significant research and innovation need to be done.

She will explain the global approach of projects like GreenShoes4.0 and BioShoes4All, along with examples of the new and “next generation” of sustainable materials and processes, including biological and biobased materials, man-made bio-based materials, material-to-material recycling, and new concepts of functional, durable, or circular handbags or footwear.

A critical step towards sustainability in footwear is doing a product life cycle assessment (LCA) to measure and reduce its environmental impact throughout its life cycle. Results and strategies to reduce the products’ carbon footprint will be introduced

Maria José Ferreira holds a graduation in Chemistry, a Master in Environmental Sciences, and a PhD in Environmental Engineering. She has experience in R&D project preparation and coordination; physical and chemical testing of footwear and related materials (leather, plastics, rubber, composites, textiles, nanomaterials); and safety at work and environment management. Her research activity is carried out at CTCP in cooperation with industrial companies and R&D entities across Europe, focusing on new materials and processes, sustainability, products with lower environmental impact and recycling.

She has coordinated for CTCP more than 60 projects. She is a member of EU TAB for the EU Product Environment Footprint development and the delegate of Portugal to the Standardisation Committees, enrolled in developing National, CEN and ISO Standards applicable to footwear and related materials.

 

Suistanable Industry

On May 15, Mikael Ericsson will present the new Thematic Interest Group within the STARS EU alliance, that will address the Sustainable Industry. As the expert summarises, under the “Sustainable industry” concept, it can be included both production, new materials, resource-efficient process and product development, and industry close to services such as digitization, energy supply and circular business models.

Mikael Ericsson is head of the Industrial Automation Department of University West, and researcher in technology, production technology. His work is mainly focused on research interests such as robotic welding and robotic welding simulation. He also teaches robotics to engineering students.

 

AI for medical diagnosis

José Sigut Saavedra, from University of La Laguna, will offer the last talk scheduled so far on June 19, “Medical Diagnosis using Artificial Intelligence – Application to Retinal Images”. In his dissertation, he will explain how artificial intelligence can help the medical specialist make a better diagnosis and detect a pathology at a more incipient stage.

In this case, the main focus will be on retinal images which contain very useful information for the diagnosis of eye conditions such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma or age-related macular degeneration, among others. This type of diseases can become a major public health problem. Specifically, in the Canary Islands the rate of diabetics is quite high and it is necessary to control the effect that this may have on the retina.

Jose Sigut graduated in Physics from the University of La Laguna in 1993 and received his PhD from the same university in 2002. He is currently Associate Professor at the Department of Computer and Systems Engineering and head of the multidisciplinary group MIAG (Medical Image Analysis Group) formed by members of the Department and the University Hospital of the Canary Islands.

His research activity is mainly focused on the application of Computer Vision and Deep Learning techniques to the automation of diagnosis in the medical field. As a result of this activity, he is co-author of 48 journal articles. He has also published and disseminated the results of his research in 63 conferences. In addition, he has been a visiting professor at the University of Queensland, the Technical University of Munich, the University of Genoa and the University of Iowa.

The next STAR Talks will be announced soon.

One of the objectives of STARS EU is to contribute to regional development, mainly through higher education, research, teaching and transfer activities. And this was the main issue that occupied several sessions of the annual conference of this alliance, held on 21 and 22 March in the French city of Besançon, organised by one of the allied institutions, the University of Franche-Comté.

Thus, in addition to the researchers, professors, technical staff and students who are already part of the alliance, local stakeholders were also invited to this event so that they could contribute their point of view on the role that universities can have in the development of the regions where they are located. These guests participated in a specific panel on this issue, as well as in a working session with the presidents, rectors and TIGS leaders, not to mention the numerous networking opportunities that the meeting facilitated.

In that discussion panel participated representatives of several regions, such as Benjamin Rodrigues (Bragança Portugal), Christian Schütt (Bremen, Germany), Pauline Prat and Laurent Volle (Bourgogne Franche-Comté, France) and Astrid Burhöi, (Västra Götaland region, Sweden), under the moderation of Daniel Hissel, vice-president of Socioeconomic Partnership and Innovation of the University of Franche-Comté. Issues such as the need to improve digital skills, entrepreneurship and English in professional contexts, and to make the technical person more aware of the socio-political context were raised. STARS EU was seen as an opportunity to bridge the gap that sometimes exists between research and society.

In addition, during the first day of sessions, three other discussion sessions focused on the possible contributions of the alliance to the Research and Innovation Smart Specialisation Strategy (RIS3) from the point of view of knowledge development, STARS EU curriculum and entrepreneurship. These discussions are based on the diagnosis of this strategy developed by the Regional Transition Accelerator, which was presented during the opening of the conference by its coordinator, Marieke Steenbergen.

Opening

The opening ceremony was led by Samir Jemeï, Vice-President in charge of International relations of the University of Franche-Comté and, in addition to Steenbergen, was attended by the President of the host university, Macha Woronoff, the President of Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Dick Pouwels, and the Vice-President in charge of Higher education & Research of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Region, Laëtitia Martinez.

Macha Woronoff recalled that this was the first STARS EU annual conference following the approval in July 2023 of the project submitted to the European Commission, by virtue of which the alliance now has the status of European University. She stressed, however, that STARS EU is not just this project, but a long-term vision that aims to respond to the challenges of the present and the future and to train the leaders of tomorrow who will have to face them.

Dick Pouwels congratulated the host university on the recent celebration of its 600th anniversary and, taking advantage of the fact that Besançon is known as the French capital of watchmaking, told a parable in which the protagonist asked the price of an antique watch he had inherited in different shops, and was told in all of them that it was a cheap object. But when he asked in a watch shop, he was told to his surprise that the price was one million. The moral is that the right place and the right people will give you your real value, hence the importance of recognising your own value, and also the value of other people.

Finally, Laëtitia Martinez explained some initiatives that her region has put in place to bring researchers and decision makers together to find new answers to social, economic and environmental challenges. She also emphasised the need to involve students in the process.

Status of the alliance

As has become customary at each annual meeting, the alliance coordinator, Rima Dijkstra, took stock of the current state of STARS EU, pointing out the goals achieved and also the pending tasks, always with the four main aims of the alliance as a guideline: to develop the European University project; to create a new future-oriented students’ generation, to promote innovative, flexible and diverse challenge-based educational and research systems; and to contribute to green and digital transition and sustainable development of regions.

Thus, with regard to the Regional Transition Accelerator, research on the similarities and complementarities of the partners in the context of RIS3 has been completed, and networking with local and regional stakeholders has begun to be strengthened. Among the challenges, she cited the creation of infrastructures for innovation and entrepreneurship and, in the longer term, making recommendations for a joint policy on regional transition.

On the collaboration in education, addressed by the Curriculum Lab, the STARS EU Competences Catalogue has already been created and a learning community has been built within the alliance. The next steps are the creation of the Future Competences Catalogue and the Joint Micro-Credential Catalogue, as well as weighing up possible joint doctorates and other academic degrees.

Research is covered by the Challenge Lab, and research priorities have been established, several STARS Talks have been held and the STARS EU Seed Grants for joint projects have been developed. The design of the alliance’s list of research needs and the implementation of the technology transfer office are still pending.

The TIGS has already developed a strategic agenda for the next three years and an action plan for 2024-25, hold regular meetings and develop joint initiatives such as projects, papers, courses and events.

Work has also progressed on the implementation of the STARS EU campus, both physically and digitally, and is currently in the comparative study phase for its development. A challenge identified by Dijkstra was the need to increase student mobility by 50% and staff mobility by 40%.

In terms of dissemination and communication, there is already a Communication Plan for the alliance and its adaptation to the nine allied universities, and the first issue of the quarterly newsletter Nova has been published. It now remains to make progress in branding, improving the website and opening the Open Data repository, as well as training in Open Access.

Also highlighted was the activity of the Student Board, which has an action plan for the next academic year and is getting involved in the different working groups of the alliance to ensure that the student perspective is always taken into account.

Among the risks faced by STARS EU, its coordinator pointed out the lack of involvement of staff and students, economic sustainability, mobility, the complexity of legal frameworks for designing joint degrees, and institutional resistance to change, among others.

Finally, the next steps of the partnership are to implement the European project and to apply for Erasmus+, Interreg, Horizon Europe, FP10, national and regional calls for proposals. In the longer term, the legal entity of the partnership will have to be addressed and the extension of the project to more years will have to be tackled.

Other meetings

After the opening, the conference itself got underway, with guest speakers including Karel Haegeman from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, who gave a provocative presentation on the role of universities and innovation in achieving place-based transformation; and on Friday 22nd, Pam Fredman, who presented her WEXSUS (West Sweden Nexus for Sustainable Development) project, which has started in 2024 after several years of preparation, with the aim of creating an “arena” in which universities and local actors collaborate.

In addition, the teams in charge of the tasks of the eight project work packages, the TIGs, the alliance groups, the STARS EU commission and the steering committee were able to advance their work, with the advantage of being able to do so face-to-face and not virtually, as is the norm in the alliance. The in person meetings are assets that not only allow work to progress, but also strengthen links between members, which also has a positive effect on the purely professional side.

That is why the alliance will continue to promote, as far as possible, on-place meetings. The next ones will be on 5 and 6 November at Bremen University of Applied Sciences, to continue monitoring the progress of the European project, and in 2025, on 21 and 22 March for the next annual conference, this time in Albania, organised by the Aleksandër Moisiu University of Durrës.

(Photo credits: all images in the body of the text have been taken by Nuno Nascimento, from Polytechnic Institute of Bragança. The group photo in the header has been provided by the University of Franche-Comté).

Twenty five students from eight universities in seven European countries will complete this week at the University of La Laguna the in person part of a BIP course on Smart Grids promoted by the STARS alliance.

Specifically, the course is one of the results of the Thematic Interest Group on Energy Transition coordinated by the ULL. This teaching proposal had a course load of 6 ECTS credits and was structured in four modules: Sustainable low-carbon technologies in the electricity system; Digitalisation (and sensorisation) of electricity grids; Modelling and computation of power systems; and Operation and control of (micro) smart grids.

In the first session of the course, held today Monday 12 June in a classroom of the School of Engineering and Technology, these European students were welcomed by the Vice-Rector for Internationalisation and Cooperation, Inmaculada Pérez; the Director of the Secretariat for Mobility and Cooperation with Europe, José Sigut; one of the professors of the course, Santiago Torres; and the coordinators of this BIP: Benjamín González, from the University of La Laguna; and Ângela Ferreira, from the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (Portugal).

During the welcoming ceremony, the academic authorities thanked the students for their effort to come to Tenerife, a distant destination for many of the participating people. Professor Benjamín González also valued the commitment of these students to this project because, as he pointed out, the energy transition is one of the most immediate challenges facing society, and the young people who are taking this training today will be the experts who will have to solve it in the future.

During the week that these students remain at the University of La Laguna, they will participate in various group problem-solving activities, presentations by guest speakers, and also visit different university facilities, such as the BiblioLab, and external ones, such as the Technologic Institute of Renewable energies (ITER).

Apart form ULL, three other intuitions belonging to the STARS EU alliance have also participated in the organisation of this BIP, such as the Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Holland), the Crakow University of Technology (Poland) and the Bremen University of Applied Sciences (Germany). They have also been joined as co-organisers by the Slovak University of Zilina.

Although this BIP course is promoted by STARS EU, its call was open to institutions outside the alliance. Thus, students from two Polish institutions (Cracow University of Technology and Konin University of Applied Sciences), one Czech (University of Hradec Králové), one Hungarian (University of Nyíregyháza), one Finnish (Novia University of Applied Sciences), and the co-organisers Bragança Polytechnic Institute, University of Zilina and University of La Laguna attended the meeting at the University of La Laguna.