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 will keep its call for innovative academic offers permanently open. The call is addressed to teaching staff at member universities who are interested in contributing to the development of a shared European curriculum within the alliance. Selected proposals may be incorporated into the joint academic offer planned for 2026.

The call is open to both new courses specifically designed for this initiative and existing courses from current curricula that can be shared — with or without adaptations — among partner universities. One key requirement is that courses are taught in English or can be easily translated.

Proposals may target bachelor’s or master’s programmes at different levels and may be submitted in online, hybrid or blended formats. These include methodologies such as Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), guest lectures delivered by invited faculty, Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs), as well as other innovative formats that combine online and face-to-face learning.

STARS EU particularly values proposals that promote interdisciplinarity, international collaboration, strategic and systems thinking, global awareness, sustainability, and interaction with regional and interregional stakeholders.

Participation and selection

Interested staff should contact their home university or the STARS EU coordinator at their institution and complete the online form with the basic information about their course proposal, available on the STARS EU website. Once all submissions have been received, the alliance universities will assess the proposals and select the courses that will form part of the first joint academic offer in 2026.

Selected proposals will become part of a large-scale European initiative aimed at strengthening the internationalisation of higher education and will gain access to a network of universities across nine European countries. In addition, they will receive didactic and methodological support from the STARS EU Curriculum Lab during implementation, as well as potential financial support or additional resources from their home institutions.