More than 60 students from the nine universities of the STARS EU Alliance will present their proposals for imagining and designing the European campus of the future on Tuesday, 7 July, at 10:15 a.m. (CEST), as part of the project Ou(te)r Campus – European Campus, A Living Lab. The presentation, which will take place at Hochschule Bremen – City University of Applied Sciences (HSB), Germany, will also be streamed online via Zoom.

The students, organised into international and interdisciplinary teams, have spent the past few months developing ideas on how European higher education institutions can become spaces for exchange, collaboration, mobility and connections between physical and digital environments.

A multidimensional European campus

The project, developed over the course of a year as a living lab at HSB’s School of Architecture, explores how a European campus can be conceived, designed and tested from a perspective that is not only digital, but also physical, social and spatial.

Participants will present five projects focusing on topics such as European research and exchange structures, shared resources, new exhibition and outreach formats, spaces for social interaction, and digital applications aimed at promoting physical activity, interaction and networking on campus.

The European campus as a living lab

As part of the initiative, HSB is also hosting an exhibition dedicated to the work developed by the students. The exhibition, inaugurated on 30 June, can be visited free of charge until 8 July, Monday to Friday, from 12 noon to 5:00 p.m.

Ou(te)r Campus – European Campus, A Living Lab has been developed as a Master’s module at HSB’s School of Architecture and is based on the Interspace teaching and research format, which was adapted this year within the framework of STARS EU to explore the concept of the European campus as a living lab.

From a pilot experience to a Living Lab

One of the central elements of the project was the Ou[te]r Campus Blended Intensive Programme (BIP), organised by STARS EU and involving students from all nine partner universities. During the first days of May and throughout the semester, participants worked hand in hand in international and interdisciplinary teams with the support of academic staff from all alliance member institutions.

What began as a pilot experience in 2025 has evolved into a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) and subsequently into a European Living Lab, demonstrating STARS EU’s ability to foster innovative models of cooperation in higher education. Experimental initiatives have become consolidated spaces for learning, research and international collaboration aimed at shaping the European campus of the future.

Practical information

Final presentation

Ou(te)r Campus – European Campus, A Living Lab
Tuesday, 7 July 2026, 10:15 a.m.
Room S12, Hochschule Bremen – City University of Applied Sciences (HSB), Bremen
Zoom link: Join the experience
Meeting ID: 690 1661 0071
Passcode: 430061

Exhibition

1–8 July 2026 (opening: 30 June, 5:00 p.m.), from 12 noon to 5:00 p.m.
AB Galerie – Transferlabor, Hochschule Bremen – City University of Applied Sciences, Bremen.

The meeting brought together 40 participants who worked over three days within the framework of the Staff Week organised by Hochschule Bremen

A total of 40 people from the nine STARS EU member universities recently took part in the Staff Week Connecting (Virtual) Mobility Across the Alliance, organised by Hochschule Bremen – City University of Applied Sciences (Germany). The event focused on improving student mobility and strengthening international cooperation. While the main emphasis was placed on online mobility and the use of digital tools to support internationalisation processes, a significant part of the work was also devoted to rethinking and enhancing physical mobility.

The meeting provided an in-depth analysis of the entire mobility cycle, identifying common challenges and exploring innovative and effective solutions through collaborative formats such as thematic panels, brainstorming sessions, and participatory activities. All of this aimed to make mobility more accessible, better coordinated, and more centred on the needs of STARS EU students.

The first day focused on intercultural reflection and a comprehensive analysis of the Student Mobility Journey. After an initial session on how cultural differences influence institutional collaboration, participants worked in thematic panels in a World Café format, addressing all stages of physical mobility—from inter-institutional cooperation to promotion, selection, stays abroad, and academic recognition. The exchange allowed participants to compare experiences, identify areas for improvement, and share existing best practices within the alliance.

Physical mobility versus digital mobility

The second day focused on programme implementation and the connection between physical and digital mobility, with particular attention to Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs). Procedures were analysed, and ways to simplify coordination between institutions were explored through brainstorming activities, which generated ideas on how to improve planning, participant recruitment, and the student experience.

The session also included the presentation of digital tools such as the AGORA platform, as well as discussions on the role of virtual mobility as a complement to physical mobility. At the same time, internal and external communication strategies were addressed, highlighting the need to combine clear information with more inspiring and student-oriented approaches.

Working methods

The third day was dedicated to designing concrete solutions through collaborative methodologies. Using structured brainstorming supported by LEGO® Serious Play®, participants first visualised an ideal model of student mobility and then identified barriers in both physical and digital mobility. Based on this work, proposals were developed to improve coordination between institutions, optimise administrative processes, and enhance the quality of the student mobility experience.

Formal sessions were complemented by informal networking opportunities, which helped strengthen relationships and foster exchange between the member universities represented at the meeting.

Around 60 students, doctoral candidates and lecturers from nine European universities recently took part in the Ou[te]r Campus BIP project, the STARS EU initiative aimed at developing a collaborative, interdisciplinary and transnational European campus model. During the event, hosted by the Bremen University of Applied Sciences, six concepts were developed focusing on new forms of interaction between physical spaces and the digital opportunities offered by STARS EU.

The aim of this workshop, which became a blended intensive programme, was to build on the momentum generated by the collaborative “Interspace” project — also held at HSB in 2025 — in order to further develop these ideas and translate them into long-term structures with a “solid institutional foundation”. This represents a clear step towards a “co-creation campus that transcends disciplinary and geographical boundaries”, according to Janina Ebner, member of the Co-creation Campus at STARS EU.

Alongside her, Professor Maria Clarke, also involved in the initiative, highlighted that the workshop helped strengthen the project for the future. “Bringing together more than 60 interdisciplinary participants — students, doctoral candidates and members of academic staff — from the nine partner institutions was no easy task.” “During the workshop, there was a clear willingness to collaborate, build networks and work together to address the complex question ‘What is a European campus?’ and to find answers to it.”

The focus has been placed on strengthening STARS EU, and therefore the groups created continue to work on the six concepts developed, which explore proposals for physical spaces and digital possibilities. The outcomes of the Ou[te]r Campus teaching and knowledge-transfer project will be exhibited from 1 to 9 July 2026 in an exhibition at the Transferlabor (formerly AB Galerie) at Hochschule Bremen.

Interspace 2025

Ou[te]r Campus BIP stems from the collaborative project carried out in 2025 under the name “Interspace”, which explored ways of creating shared and connected campus spaces within STARS EU. The initiative brought together an international group of students from the HSB School of Architecture and the Integrated Design programme at the University of the Arts Bremen (HfK), who developed the first ideas. Among them was the STARS EU intercultural pavilion, conceived as a meeting place, which is currently on display at the Higher School of Engineering of the University of La Laguna.

The universities participating in this second phase are: Aleksander Moisiu University (Albania); Krakow University of Technology (Poland); Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Groningen, the Netherlands); Hochschule Bremen (Germany); Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (Portugal); Silesian University in Opava (Czech Republic); University of La Laguna (Tenerife, Spain); Université Marie et Louis Pasteur (France); and University West (Trollhättan, Sweden).

*The Ou[te]r Campus BIP programme is funded by STARS EU and Erasmus+ grants.

Hochschule Bremen (HSB) – City University of Applied Sciences is just one of eight universities of applied sciences (HAW) in Germany that is being funded by the EU to create a European University with partners, the STARS EU alliance. In mid June, the project team at HSB invited all university members to a dialogue intorducing the highlights of the project.

As it was explained during the meeting, a lot of initiatives has already been put in motion in recent months and years: New digital and analogue teaching formats are being practised and tested by the nine partner universities. Teachers and students are benefiting from this. New courses and degrees are in preparation – for example: the development of a double degree in the Master’s course in Construction and Environment (Infrastructure) together with the Portuguese partner university Polytechnic Institute of Bragança – funded by the DAAD programme HAW.International “Internationalising Practice in Civil Engineering” (I_PaCE).

Start-up funding for project ideas
In research, scientists have the opportunity to apply for start-up funding for project ideas with STARS EU partners. At the regular STARS EU conferences and working meetings, ideas can be developed and taken forward – for example on the topics of energy transition, circular economy, start-ups and innovation or health and how the nine universities can learn from each other. Bremen and the region therefore are benefitting from STARS EU.

At the information event in the foyer of the International Graduate School on Langemarchstraße at the Neustadtswall campus, STARS EU project coordinator Stefanie Eul (on the picture at speakers’ desk) and Vice-Rector for Studies, Teaching and Internationalisation Prof. Dr. Annika Maschwitz (on the photo with microphone) explained the project structures behind STARS EU and how you can get involved. It is pleasing to note that more than 50 HSB employees from all status groups are already involved in STARS EU. More are very welcome.

The Steering Committee of the STARS EU alliance met at Bremen University of Applied Sciences (HSB) for a working meeting in May 2024. In intensive discussions, the committee dealt with the following aspects of the project work, among others:

• how the governance and cooperation structures of the STARS EU Alliance can be optimised – including the work of the Steering Committee and communication with and between the various working groups
• Options for a possible legal status of the Alliance and the academic offer of STARS EU
• Preparation of the STARS EU internationalisation strategy ‘STARS EU Goes Global’ and definition of criteria for the selection of strategic partner universities in third countries.

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).

The Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, the Silesian University in Opava and the Bremen University of Applied Sciences are partners, together with the National Institute of Administration and the FEFAL Foundation, of the INNlocal project, whose kick-off event took place last December 2023 at the Communication, Administration and Tourism School in Mirandela of the Portuguese institution of higher learning.

The aim of this project is to create practical solutions that adapt to the needs of society, with a view to new local public policies capable of facing increasingly current challenges such as environmental sustainability, diversity and inclusion and citizenship and participation.

The official kick-off was attended by representatives from all partners, and it was focused on discussing the mission of this project, which appears within the scope of the European consortium STARS EU.

Last week, Bremen University of Applied Sciences (HSB) held a Staff Week with participation of members of all STARS EU partners. The German institution is also running three Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP) independently for the first time. These activities are important building blocks on the way to becoming a European university.

The Staff Week focused on digital working methods at the participating STARS EU universities. Close to 50 experts on e-learning, digital campus and Erasmus Without Paper, as well as teaching staff and researchers from the Thematic Interest Group (TIG) “Digital Transformation“ came together to discuss this complex topic. The aim is to gradually establish a joint digital campus.

The launch of the three Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP) is an important test for the further development of the internationalisation of HSB‘s curricula. Several STARS EU partner universities are involved in these programmes.

The three projects at a glance:

• “Startup Blended Intensive Programme”, School of International Business with Stephan Form together with the University of La Laguna (Spain), Silesian University in Opava (Czech Republic), Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (Portugal), University West (Sweden) and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences at Groningen (Netherlands)
• “Sustainable Urban Building Intervention”, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering with Maria Clarke (Architecture) and Thomas Rauscher (Civil Engineering), together with the Polytechnic Institute Bragança (Portugal) and Cracow University of Technology (Poland).
• “Embedded Systems for Mobile Robots”, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, under the responsibility of Martin Hering-Bertram and supported by Sören Peik, together with the Polytechnic Institute Bragança (Portugal) and the Hanze University of Applied Scioences (Netherlands).

In all projects, the students initially start  in online groups and work together on preparatory tasks. In the projects from the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering and the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, a total of 15 students from each of the partner universities will come to Bremen for a week later in the semester to work on the practical part of their module and prepare the final presentation.

The practical part of the project of the School of International Business will take place at Groningen with the participation of a total of 25 students from the partner universities involved in these BIP.

The projects are worth six credits. Lecturers from all participating universities are involved with their own contributions and in supervising the group work.

 

The sixth Thematic Interest Group (TIG) seminar within STARS EU Alliance series of seminars was held on June 20. This TIG as the newest of the seven TIG within STARS EU, was presented by TIG leader Thomas Raucher from Bremen University of Applied Science.

Even if newly started, the TIG has already begun working on a joint Blended Intensive Program (BIP) for the autumn of 2023 including partners from Bremen, Braganca and Cracow. And several issues on development including support needed and possibilities on integration with other TIG’s was discussed at the seminar.”

With this, there is now only one last edition of these seminars, which will take place on 12 September, on Digital Transformation.

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.