Nearly 40 STARS EU students presented five innovative proposals in Bremen a few days ago to reimagine the European campus of the future as part of the “Ou(te)r Campus – European Campus, A Living Lab” project, developed at Hochschule Bremen- City University of Applied Science (HSB), Germany.

The projects explored different aspects of European university life, ranging from digital tools to facilitate student integration and networking to hybrid exchange platforms and physical meeting spaces. All five proposals were developed as a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) organised by HSB’s School of Architecture, with the participation of students from the nine universities that make up the STARS EU Alliance.

INTEGRATE.EU

The winning project, INTEGRATE.EU, is a digital platform designed to connect students from different universities and European countries. The application combines personalised profiles, an interactive map, campus activity information and networking tools. Its aim is to facilitate community building, promote cultural exchange and strengthen students’ sense of belonging to a shared European university.

The four remaining proposals included Growing Tree, which combines a digital platform with a permanent physical space to encourage interaction among students; STARS EU Week, a travelling exhibition designed to showcase the alliance’s universities; and STARS Wallet and Campus Connect, which focus on strengthening the European university community through different approaches, including resource sharing and the creation of collaborative spaces.

According to Professor Maria Clarke, the project’s coordinator, a European campus “is not created through digital connectivity alone, but also through encounters, collaboration and the exchange of perspectives.” In this sense, Ou(te)r Campus demonstrates how international education can become a living laboratory for designing new models of European higher education.

Projects to continue their development

The five proposals will continue to be developed within STARS EU to assess their feasibility and potential implementation across the alliance’s universities. STARS EU is funded by the Erasmus+ Programme and brings together nine higher education institutions from across Europe.

Participating universities

Students from all nine universities that make up the STARS EU alliance took part in the project: Aleksandër Moisiu University of Durrës (Albania), Bragança Polytechnic University (Portugal), Hanze University of Applied Sciences (the Netherlands), University of La Laguna (Spain), Université Marie et Louis Pasteur (France), Hochschule Bremen (Germany), Silesian University in Opava (Czech Republic), University West (Sweden) and Cracow University of Technology (Poland).

Academic staff and jury

The project was coordinated by Professor Maria Clarke and Janina Ebner of Hochschule Bremen, with teaching support from Aintzane del Río Pereda, Johanna Hannemann and Carolina Bergedieck.

The five student proposals were assessed by an international jury comprising Rima Dijkstra (Hanze University of Applied Sciences), Cintia Hernández Sánchez (University of La Laguna), Olta Nexhipi (Aleksandër Moisiu University of Durrës), and Thomas Rauscher and Katrin Winkler (Hochschule Bremen).

Below, the images show the students of the STARSCAPE project (left) in front of the mobile wooden box they built themselves and the RE-LAY project (right), that combines a modular swap station on campus with a digital platform, thereby promoting sustainability, community and exchange amongst students.

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.

Hochschule Bremen – University of Applied Sciences. (HBS) , partner of STARS EU Alliance, is collaborating with eight European universities to create a European university. An international group of students from HSB and HfK Bremen developed ideas for this goal in the joint project ‘Interspace’, including an intercultural pavilion, a mobile research laboratory, and a transnational festival.

In eight groups, 35 students presented their ideas through models, drawings, installations, and artistic approaches. Three projects were awarded prizes by a six-member jury from HSB and partner universities in Spain and Poland. One further project received special mention. The event, Interspace O(ut)er Campus, took place on 8 July 2025 at Hochschule Bremen.

First Prize: ‘UNI.KIT – Out of the box’

An intercultural pavilion made of regional wood, featuring a standardised design, digital info screens, and modular elements sent to each STARS EU campus. It serves as a space for exchange and events. The group of winners is composed by Derya Kuziak, Marlene Laurösch, Jalina Oetjen and Amon Osterkamp.

Second Prize: ‘CLA!M THE CAMPUS – Just do it’

Reactivation of underused campus spaces using mobile furniture designed by students. Bremen campus areas were temporarily equipped with tables, chairs, and ping-pong tables. The furniture is lightweight and easy to transport. The award went to: Pia Burghardt, Nora Constantin, Hannes Mehrtens, Lennart Mönnekes, Johanna Nolte, Alessa Padberg, Julia Redmann and Fiona Sanneh.

Third Prize: ‘CAMPUS AURA – The sense of campus’

Interactive screen on each campus showing colour elements reflecting the community’s emotional state: light for positive, dark for negative. Based on regular surveys, it visualises the often-invisible campus atmosphere. The third winners: Jonas Bultmann, Hannah Christoffers, Jana zum Felde and Federico Pazzaglia.

Special Mention: ‘STARS of Europe FESTIVAL’

Annual cultural festival rotating among the alliance universities, featuring live and digital events on themes such as sustainability or inclusion. It will culminate in Brussels in its tenth year.
Group: Alina Tschernova, Justine Kremming, Martina Rubbini and Raquel de Carvalho Frade.

INVISIBLE INBETWEEN – STARS EU CONNECTION.HUB

 Colourful, multifunctional cubes used as seats, tables, or play surfaces, accompanied by a transparent LED wall sharing real-time visuals between campuses.
Group: Vivienne Gerlach, Semanur Gezer, Rim Ramadan and Janine Sibbing.

‘RETHINK CAMPUS – shaped by students, shared by all’

 Teaching and learning programme turning the campus into a real-world lab. Students work collaboratively across disciplines in a five-year process. A physical hub called “Baubude” serves as an open studio for future projects. The winner gropu was composed by Sherin Issa, Celine Penniggers, Finja Ruschmeyer, Katerin Jaramillo Motoche and Guillermo Ruiz Benítez de Lugo Pérez.

STARS EU Multitool

Interdisciplinary seminar and app to connect regional topics across Europe. Each semester, a locally relevant theme is explored collectively by the nine universities.
Group: Sherin Issa, Celine Penniggers, Finja Ruschmeyer, Katerin Jaramillo Motoche, Guillermo Ruiz Benítez de Lugo Pérez, Julia Tecklenborg, Gabriel Wirthwein and Ruby Zakrzewska.

 Mobile research laboratory ‘Real.Space.Lab’

A modular, lightweight, and mobile lab adaptable to various environments. Designed for knowledge exchange between universities and local actors, it enables experimental, site-specific learning.
Group: Tim Josephi, Pauline Stey, Luca Weers, Finn Herzog and Emil Ackmann.

Outlook: Further development as a European teaching format

Professor Ulrike Mansfeld, from the School of Architecture, states that the project will continue in 2026 at the European level. The experience will serve as a basis for long-term, institutionally embedded development of a co-creation campus that meets student needs across disciplines and borders.

Thanks to all the people who were involved in the project in the summer semester and contributed to the organisation with great commitment. To the team at HSB and HfK Bremen, with professors Ulrike Mansfeld (HSB; Maria Clarke (HSB); Claudia Kromrei (HSB); Katrin Winkler (HSB); Janina Ebner (HfK Bremen / HSB STARS EU); Detlef Rahe (HfK Bremen) and Falk von Zobeltitz (HfK Bremen).

And thanks to the jury, composed of: Ercole Erculei (HSB / STARS EU); Rima Dijkstra (STARS EU, Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen); Kinga Racon-Leja (Cracow University of Technology, Poland / STARS EU); Cintia Hernández Sánchez (Universidad de La Laguna, Spain / STARS EU); Fabian Perdigón Haller (Universidad de La Laguna, Spain / Studyboard STARS EU); Matthis Gericke (HSB) and Celine Schmidt (HfK Bremen).

Tomorrow, Tuesday 8 July 2025, at 12:00 p.m. (CET), the final presentation of the “Interspace – O(ut)er Campus” project will take place at the AB Gallery of the School of Architecture at Hochschule Bremen – University of Applied Sciences.

The event will be held in English, and online participation will also be possible via Zoom:
Zoom link: https://hs-bremen.zoom.us/j/62050073397
Access code: 844030

The “Interspace” project is a well-established teaching format, further developed this year within the framework of the European University Alliance STARS EU. Conceived as a real-world laboratory, the project addresses key questions regarding exchange and collaboration in Europe, exploring educational spaces and practices with a future-oriented perspective.

Since April (2025), students from the School of Architecture at HSB Bremen and the Integrated Design programme at the University of the Arts Bremen (HfK) have been working together on fundamental questions such as: What is a campus? and How can it become a European space for co-creation, participation, and transformation?

Numerous interdisciplinary projects have emerged as a result – ranging from conceptual and spatial designs to experimental and artistic interventions. Some focus on the specific context of the Bremen campus, while others explore broader European perspectives on shared teaching, learning, and making.

The aim is not to conclude the project but to initiate a long-term transformation process within the STARS EU Living Labs framework. In its next phase, “Interspace – O(ut)er Campus” will evolve into a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP), with its first edition taking place in 2026. Students from all STARS EU partner universities will participate in order to further develop and expand the ideas generated in this module.

The project provides valuable contributions to transdisciplinary collaboration, student engagement, and international co-creation as key elements for the future of STARS EU.