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 snowfall blanketed Trollhattän in the days leading up to the STARS EU launch event, which hosted the Swedish city’s academic institution, University West, as if it were a blank canvas for the ideas that would eventually flow during the two-day STARS EU launch event. From 4-6 December, around 100 people from the nine partner universities worked together in person to launch the activities of the eight work packages into which the partnership activity in the European Commission-funded project has been divided.

Although there has been a lot of work before that date, 1 November was officially the start date for STARS EU as a newly recognised European University, and this launch event served as a general framework for establishing the first steps in the different areas of the project.

Of course, the intensive team-building sessions were complemented by a social programme that allowed for networking and also strengthening the links among the members of this alliance. And it seems that the objective was fully achieved, because at the closing session of the event, the most repeated words were “trust”, “good vibes”… and also “a lot of work”.

Welcome session

The Vice Chancellor of University West, Mats Jägstam, was the first speaker. He welcomed the guests from the other universities in the alliance and considered STARS EU a great possibility to be innovative and to compare and learn from other regions. He also considered it a “tool” to create good internationalisation at local level, and encouraged the attendees to take advantage of the good agenda of this conference and discuss “what to do and also what not to do”.

Anders Carlberg, Regional Development Strategist of the Västa Götaland region, gave a brief introduction of the importance of regional academic institutions, such as University West, for local development. He focused on two main aspects: the first was the regional smart specialisation strategies, highlighting areas such as sustainable industries, health and life sciences, food, bio-based materials and renewable energies, future mobility, hospitality and tourism and creative industries. The second priority he recalled was the development of competences, skills and lifelong learning.The Ingenium experience

In the third speech of the morning, Mikael Ejdebäck, Deputy Vice-Rector for Internationalisation at the University of Skövde, explained the challenges faced and the work carried out during the first year of the Ingenium European University, led by the University of Oviedo (Spain) and of which his institution is a member. It was approved after its third attempt and officially launched in January 2023, with the participation of ten universities, eleven languages and 170,000 students.

Ejdebäck explained that, after the inaugural event of their alliance last January, they started working on the creation of the IT infrastructure, such as the website and the data repository. A schedule of two daily meetings of ten days each has been established, and the teams responsible for each work package started working on uploading the first mandatory deliverables.

During his presentation, he addressed some of the challenges that have arisen during this first year of activities: differences in internal organisation and recruitment procedures; the debate on whether it is better to hire new staff or appoint existing staff; deciding on students for local representatives; and gaining local visibility and good communication. Other challenges ahead include managing academic differences, sustainable mobility, joint degrees and finding ways to fund the partnership activities after the first year of activities.

Antonela Giorgio, Project Adviser of the Education, Audio-visual, Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission connected from Brussels to explain her role to help the implementation of the alliance. He found really interesting to hear the previous speaker because he enabled her to hear not only the administrative problems, but the more practical ones. She emphasized the importance of having a good communication between the alliances with her agency and with other alliances as well.

STARS’ current situation

Finally, Rima Dijkstra, coordinator of STARS EU, gave a brief presentation of the whole four-year process that has led to the recognition, in July 2023, of the alliance as a European University in the open call of the European Commission. “Today we start a new chapter in our organisation. I am proud of the previous work because it has been the reason for our achievement”. The alliance was initially called Engaged and, after three attempts, on 1 November 2023 it started its journey as an official entity. At that point, STARS EU has became not only the alliance that it already was, but also a European project, which involves carrying out various tasks and meeting certain deadlines over the next four years.

Dijkstra reminded some of the future challenges faced by STARS EU: the development of a campus, both digital (which was addressed two weeks ago during the Staff Week at Bremen University of Applied Sciences) and physical, which “will take a lot of agreements, but it’s the future”; long time sustainability of the alliance; to present projects in calls such Erasmus o Interreg; and to develop cooperation structures, among others.

Work packages

After the words of welcome and protocol, there followed two long teamwork sessions in the different work packages of the project, held during the afternoon of Tuesday 5 and the morning of Wednesday 6 December in different rooms of the West University. The leaders of each package coordinated these sessions, which have served to detect what should be the first actions to be undertaken in each of them and, in some cases, to establish timetables for their fulfillment.

While it is true that most of the alliance’s activities are carried out online, these face-to-face meetings allow issues to be discussed more directly and progress to be made in establishing objectives. As such, the alliance envisages live meetings where possible, the next of which will be the alliance’s annual conference, which this time will be held on 21-22 March 2024 at the University of Franche-Comté at Besançon (France).

The STARS EU alliance was named European University last July. It has been a long process to get there, but the real work starts now, with four years of projects ahead of us.

Officially, our activity started on 1 November and we will meet between 4 and 6 December for our inaugural event, hosted by the University West in Trollhättan (Sweden).

Over the course of three days, representatives of the project’s eight work packages, TIG leaders and the Steering Committee will meet in working sessions to outline their various tasks, and there will also be opportunities for networking in more informal sessions that will facilitate new ideas and also strengthen the links between those of us who are part of this project.

For further infomation regarding organizational issues, you can visit the event’s website.

STARS EU celebrated on March 30 and 31 at University of La Laguna its third annual Conference. During the opening ceremony, Rima Dijkstra (Hanze University of Applied Sciences), coordinator of the alliance, explained all the work carried out in 2022 to strengthen the network and the objectives faced by this initiative, which aims to offer a new future oriented to students, betting on innovation, flexibility and the diversity of its components.

The nine allied universities have 77 faculties spread throughout Europe. Their strength lies in the fact that they are not located in capital cities, are highly oriented towards regional growth and are complementary to each other. This alliance must face challenges such as demographic change in an increasingly aging society, and also making advances in entrepreneurial attitude, digital skills, technological changes and sustainability.

An interregional connection between universities is intended, seeking solutions to regional problems, but also exercising European leadership, highlighted Dijkstra, who explained some of the cooperation structures on which it is based. The topics of interest have to do with digital transformation, creative arts, health, circular economy, living spaces, energy transition, entrepreneurship and innovation and creativity. All these areas must be interconnected, said the coordinator, who also explained how the working groups and the network’s governance system work.

Dijkstra explained the STARS EU future plan for four years, highlighting the possibility of continuing to work in a network with seminars, workshops and conferences, continuing with the design of shared degrees, both undergraduate and postgraduate, promoting the exchange of students between the different campuses, and continue with the curricular work to create micro-credentials that are valid in the different universities, as well as internships and interregional cooperation work.

The most important thing highlighted by the coordinator was to continue the sustainable collaboration network model between universities. Bremen, the Czech Republic and Bezançon will be the next appointments of this network in the remainder of the year and until March 2024.

During this session, the Vice-Rector for Internationalization of the University of Granada, Dorothy Kelly presented in videoconference the experience of another alliance called Arqus, which has recently obtained funding from the  call for European Universities. She was a firm defender of the networking of higher education centers to promote a more flexible curriculum, achieve a more interdisciplinary approach to university studies and carry out more internationalized research on the European continent.

Welcome ceremony

Previous to Dijkstra and Kelly words, there was a more protocolary welcome ceremony, with representation of the nine universities involved in STARS EU. Dick Pouwels, president of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), recalled ironically that his country had been invaded at different times in history by Spain, France and Germany, and now all these countries are part of the alliance, which exemplifies the collaborative spirit behind STARS EU.

The president of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (Portugal), Orlando Rodrigues, explained that his university is, at this moment, undergoing a process of transformation within which the STARS EU alliance will be of great help for its development.

The President of Financial Affairs, Human Resources and Infrastructures of the Bremen University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Daniel Engelbrecht, highlighted the fact that the partner universities are relatively close to each other (or one flight away) and was very optimistic about the possibility of “building something very big together”.

The vice-rector for Studies and Social Affairs at the Silesian University in Opava (Czech Republic), Michaela Weiss, stressed that it was positive to see one another in person rather than through screens, because close contact improves communication and this is crucial in any process. She also claimed for “bringing the university to the streets”, to eliminate the rigidity that academia sometimes possesses.

Jan Theliander, vice-rector of the University West (Sweden), showed his joy at being able to participate in a project as ambitious as the alliance and showed his confidence that they would be able to develop it successfully. In his opinion, work should focus on four values: diversity, inclusion, generosity and freedom.

Katarzyna Matras-Postołek attended the meeting on behalf of the Crakow University of Technology, still under the shock caused by the sudden death of Andrzej Bialkiewicz, rector of the institution who was supposed to be at the event, and to whom the audience in the Auditorium dedicated a minute of silence. Despite the difficult times, she expressed her joy at being part of the consortium.

One of the latest additions to the alliance has been the Albanian Aleksandër Moisiu University of Dürres, whose rector, Kseanela Sotirofski, highlighted the great opportunity of being part of STARS EU. “We are a small country but a great university”, she pointed out before expressing her predisposition to offer her best collaboration, as well as her interest in learning from the experience of the other institutions.

The association of the University of Franche-Comté (France) is also recent. Its vice-rector for Internationalization, Samir Jemel, expressed his interest in focusing on objectives such as improving student training; involve local agents; and make your center better known, something that will undoubtedly be helped by the fact that it will be your university that will host, on March 21 and 22, 2024, the next conference of the alliance.

After the interventions of the representatives of the guest associated universities, the island director of Innovation of the Cabildo de Tenerife, María Aránzazu Artal Díez, summarized the great potential of the island to host research activities.

The last ceremonial speech at the opening ceremony was made by the coordinator of STARS EU at the University of La Laguna, the vice-rector for Research and Transfer Ernesto Pereda, who made a more informal presentation in which he wanted to express the aspirations of the alliance: “alome you can advance faster, but together we go further”

Thursday programme continued on afternoon, with a series of simultaneous workgroups which took place in a dozen of rooms at the Guajara Campus, regarding the Thematic Interest Groups of the alliance, the administration and government entities within STARS EU, and the student board, among other subjects.

Second day

During the morning of Friday 31 of March, there was a summarization of the work done during the Tenerife conference. All TIGs were very satisfied with the meeting held these two days, which has served to talk extensively, find out the status of the projects of each team and plan the next steps.

Around twenty students from the different universities were very involved in the meeting and have assumed the role of ambassadors of this European network. As it is still a very young initiative that has not yet generated specific products such as shared degrees or micro-credentials, the youngsters opted to spread the spirit of this collaborative network of universities, with great impact in their regions and but all with a broad European vision.

The rector of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences affirmed in the closing session that internationalization has great potential in universities and opted for the future of this networking, despite the great cultural diversity and contexts between them. . For his part, Ernesto Pereda, the local host, together with Lidia Cabrea, pointed out that the network works globally on major challenges facing societies, providing expert knowledge and solutions. “Our ability to create things is not only by the sum of the parts, but by the combination and interaction that the members of this network make,” he said. Finally, the coordinator of the alliance, Rima Dijkstra, asked all members to feel proud to belong to this alliance.

Pictures of the meeting

There are several folders in which you can download the pictures taken during the conference:

Pics by University of La Laguna

• Opening ceremony, first half
• Opening ceremony, second half
• Workgroup sessions
• Closing ceremony

Pics by Polytechnic Institute of Bragança

• Flickr gallery

The STARS EU team of Hanze University of Applied Sciences held an informative session on Thursday the 9^th of March 2023 for Hanze staff. More information about STARS EU developments was shared during the interactive session. Colleagues and two partners from University of La Laguna, Spain and Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Portugal shared their experiences and regional challenges. The meeting was well attended and initial reactions afterwards were very positive.

After the welcome address by Paul Ganzeboom, Dean of Internationalisation, Dick Pouwels, Chairman of the Executive Board, explained more about the importance of sustainable international collaboration. Rima Dijkstra, STARS EU programme manager, explained the different cooperation structures and made an open appeal to all attendees to join STARS EU. Three Hanze colleagues shared their experiences: Diederich Bakker, professor in International Business, Madelon van Oostrom, senior researcher and Albert Haan, project manager, all expressed what working together in STARS EU has brought them. Also two partners in the alliance presented their universities and explained their regional challenges. These challenges were recognisable and in some ways similar to the challenges faced in the Northern Netherlands.

Joining STARS EU

There are several ways to join STARS EU. From an educational perspective, collaboration can take place through the Curriculum Lab. Here, development of new Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP) is one of the main focus areas.  From all the international partners, two or three students are involved in the Student Board of STARS EU. For researchers, there are opportunities to collaborate through Challenge Lab and initiate and/or participate in joined projects. Thematic Interest Groups (TIGs) are the developing force in all above-mentioned initiatives. The TIGs are formed around seven themes: Arts & Creative Industries, Digital Transformation, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Energy Transition, Healthy Ageing, Circular Economy and Living Spaces. Finally, partners collaborate intensively in the Regional Transition Accelerator which acts as an agent to enhance development of partner regions and connect them.

 

Follow-up meeting

STARS EU meetings take place regularly within Hanze UAS. The next interactive session is scheduled on Monday the 15th of May from 12:00 to 13:00 hrs. For more information about this session or engage with the organisation about a possible connection to STARS EU, please send an e-mail to starseu@org.hanze.nl.

 

STARS EU

To prepare future generations for increasingly automated, digitised and changeable labour markets, both educational and research models need to change. These changes are jointly addressed by the STARS EU partners. They look for synergies and pool their complementary knowledge, experience and innovative strength to give a positive boost to regional economies. For more information, visit the STARS EU website: www.starseu.org.

The name STARS EU stands for the STrategic Alliance for Regional Transition. Nine higher education institutions are part of this European University: Hanze University of Applied Sciences (the Netherlands), University West (Sweden), Bremen University of Applied Sciences (Germany), University of La Laguna (Spain), Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (Portugal), Silesian University in Opava (Czech Republic), Cracow University of Technology (Poland), University of Franche-Comté (France) and Aleksandër Moisiu University of Durrës (Albania).

The University of La Laguna (Tenerife, Spain) will host on March 30 and 31 a new face-to-face meeting where members of the nine European partner universities of the Stars EU project will meet to discuss the next steps of this project.

Those interested in attending in person have until February 27 to register. On the other hand, those who prefer to attend the event online will have a wider limit, until March 15. The registration form and program are available on the event website.

It will be two days with an intense program to make the most of the meeting’s possibilities. After the protocol welcome by the rector of the host university, the first day will be dedicated to simultaneous meetings of the different Thematic Interest Groups and Cooperation Structures.

The second day will include open discussions on strengthening STARS EU, including both researchers and students participations, and will finish with a trip to El Teide National Park.