KA2: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices
EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES
Pilot call for proposals: EAC-A03-2018 Deadline: 28 February 2019 (12.00 noon Brussels time)
Erasmus+ Programme
APPLICATION:
DETAILED PROJECT DESCRIPTION
(To be attached to the e-Form)
EN Version 2018
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 1 of 157 PART I. Relevance of the proposal (max.25 points)
Please attach the mission statement of your alliance to the e-Form. The mission statement should: - be endorsed by the relevant decision-making bodies in each of the partner institutions - explain what your European University alliance will look like in 2025 - explain the unique and differentiated vision of your alliance, building on the section "What are European Universities" from the 2019 Erasmus+ Programme Guide1
I.1 Relevance of the proposal: Please describe what your European University alliance will look like in 3 years and explain how it will progress towards the long-term vision described in your mission statement (max.1000 words)
The proposal will promote practical development of the universities into a distinctive, daring and driven European University alliance: EUTOPIA, that transforms 21st-century education, challenge-based research and place-shaping relevance. EUTOPIA will employ a long-term vision (whose horizon is 2050), a mid-term project and ambition (2025), and a short-term piloting plan (three years) to realize its ambitions.
a. Long-term vision
The vision is of a fully federated inter-university campus alliance that is:
Geared towards the challenges of the future - challenge-driven to prepare students, staff and lifelong learners as custodians and enablers of future-oriented solutions
Student-centred and student-empowering - providing transformative and open learning opportunities, and extended horizons of expectation and ability, across Europe and throughout the world
Attentive to the plurality, potentiality and international pre-eminence of Europe’s regions - building on place-making strengths, connecting contexts to enhance European capability and creativity, and supporting the international pre-eminence of European talent
Committed to the principles of openness and inclusion - fostering knowledge co-creation, building open resources and platforms, endorsing open science agendas, sponsoring access, mobility and inclusivity mechanisms, and liberating intellectual and social potential.
These are encapsulated in EUTOPIA’s collective affirmation:
EUTOPIA is a challenge-led, student-centred, place-based, inclusive alliance of entrepreneurial, change-focused universities. We are a core group of like-minded universities for whom change is not simply the output from our alliance, but the driving force that brings us together.
b. Mid-term project and ambition
EUTOPIA will establish by 2025 the foundations of this federated university. This project focuses on five core areas, in order to:
1. prepare students, staff and learners to be empowered European citizens in today’s disruptive world
1 http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/resources/programme-guide European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 2 of 157 2. adjust the university organisation and practices to lead the challenges of the 21st Century
3. increase and intensify the Europeanisation of programmes on offer
4. catalyse place-making by the universities in partnership with their regions, engaging with all agencies to embed and empower the transformative effect of universities
5. serve as an example for other universities, across Europe and in the wider international arena, in order to share and develop the focus on building transformative, challenge-driven and contemporary universities.
EUTOPIA has affirmed this project thus:
The joint mission of EUTOPIA is to build a distinctive, daring and driven alliance of transformative and engaged institutions. EUTOPIA will produce challenge-driven research and teaching, prepare empowered European graduates, champion regional and international involvement, and support diversity, inclusivity and widening citizenship.
A key vector is the binding principle of openness. EUTOPIA will embrace the Open Science agenda, create distinctive and relevant European learning through open knowledge co-creation, build open resource platforms that enable collaboration, and support inclusivity mechanisms that release localised intellectual and social potential. The project and ambition will:
Stimulate the European Open Science agenda, relating it to teaching, research and social missions, and radiating to become leaders and advocates in this agenda’s continuation
Develop the Open Educational Resources and Knowledge agenda, wherein students co-create courses, distinctive curricula are constructed collaboratively, mobility is a mainstream learning experience, and the limiting practices of traditional approaches are challenged
Build an Open Campus agenda, to strengthen links between and across universities and regions, promote a comprehensive cosmopolitan ethos, and champion and empower students as agents of the open campus.
This mission will enable inter-institutional learning that will create by 2025 realising conditions for the vision of EUTOPIA. This will include creation of a EUTOPIA learning community, a EUTOPIA knowledge community with actions geared to towards diverse and inclusive participation, and a EUTOPIA outreach and support community connecting with European universities and the world. The result will be a European University model for 21st-century education, research and place-shaping, that strengthens European values and identity, and increases EHEA global competitiveness. c. Short-term piloting plan and activities
The piloting plan will initiate the project and ambition that are guided by the vision. The anchored project therefore carries the acronym ‘EUTOPIA 2050’: European Universities Transforming to an Open Inclusive Academy for 2050.
EUTOPIA’s expression of the vision sets terms for the piloting plan: ‘Through our intended multilateral collaborations, and working as anchor institutions, we shall create transformative and open learning opportunities that extend the horizon of expectations for tomorrow’s graduates and researchers, both in Europe and throughout the world.’ EUTOPIA also established the mid-term commitment to create ‘multi-versities’ that extend multi-disciplinarity, multi-lingualism and multi-stakeholder involvement, producing research and learning that shapes the world and gives Europe a distinctive, daring and driven voice.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 3 of 157 EUTOPIA will therefore work simultaneously on three fronts: through the alliance, though individual institutions, through the alliance’s work with stakeholders. It will apply the ‘distinctive, daring and driven’ mantra to transversal educational and research programmes, and physical and digital mobility for students and staff. It will accelerate internal transformations necessary to address global challenges. It will mount challenges in leading support of European and international decision-making concerning macro shifts required for talent development and policy determination.
The EUTOPIA plan is organised into three areas: strategy development; development and implementation of tools and instruments; implementation of pilot cases. Through the work packages, these areas are developed through Policy and Practice objectives:
1. A governance structure and strategy for managing a European University alliance 2. A common Learning Community 3. A common set of Knowledge Creation Communities 4. A place-making capacity, policy and practice 5. An inclusion and balanced societies policy and practice 6. A grounded and global internationalisation 7. A sustainability and dissemination policy and practice
These objectives directly drive seven work packages, whose concrete activities and deliverables are described in Part III. By 2025, EUTOPIA will produce the following scalable results:
A jointly adopted strategy for the ongoing transformation of the universities towards a European University based upon interdependency and openness A set of instruments and tools to operationalise the project and vision of EUTOPIA An evaluation of case studies conducted through the piloting plan.
I.2. Level of ambition and innovative approach of the proposal: 1.2.1 Explain how your alliance will ensure, through new and innovative structural models, a higher level of enhanced, sustainable cooperation as compared to what is already done by the members of the alliance. Please focus in particular on cooperation across the various levels of the organisations and across different areas of activity, building on complementary strengths of the partners. (max. 500 words)
The piloting plan will establish the foundations of a fully federated inter-university campus by developing new and shared approaches to research, education and innovation, and by installing and testing a collaborative multi-level governance model necessary for long-term structural transformation.
We will develop educational formats and pedagogical approaches that endorse the vision of openness and societal engagement fundamental to EUTOPIA. EUTOPIA universities will therefore open up, share and co-write programme content; and transform the learning resource by leveraging the diversity of practice and outlook.
Trans-institutional teams of staff, students and experts will become learning communities, co-creating course material and developing learning and teaching methods to provide graduates with high-level competencies, advanced problem-solving skills and an internationalized mind-set. All stakeholders will jointly implement pilot projects at bachelor, master or PhD level. All graduates, staff and organisations involved will additionally have their international mobility and intercultural and interlinguistic proficiency transcribed and certificated.
EUTOPIA will also promote an integrated, challenge-driven, knowledge creation community. Researchers, students and external stakeholders from all partners will be able jointly to implement pilots that demonstrate the collaborative benefits, connections and distinctiveness of the EUTOPIA model of learning.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 4 of 157 The alliance will develop an overarching project governance and decision structure that will continue beyond the funding period of the project. The project implementation phase will therefore review regulations, governance structures, quality assurance and accreditation processes, to help build a sustainable and efficient long-term joint governance model. This new and overarching collective operation is described in detail in Work Package 1.
The Alliance will equally work on the further development of the common strategy, focusing in parallel on foresight activities so that the EUTOPIA strategy will remain permanently responsive to challenges and developments. The mantra will be at all times to remain ‘distinctive, daring and driven’. This will form part of the new and overarching collective dissemination and strategy model described in detail in Work Package 7.
EUTOPIA is clear that all such progress towards unicity will be pursued against a backdrop of diversity and respectful autonomy. The universities collectively teach in more than six languages, operate in multiple economic and political settings, pursue different engagement and research agendas, and are respective of cultural heritage. Rather than seek to homogenize, the Alliance draws strength from these centres of insight and influence. In this, its jointly supported, institutionally innovative, structural model of governance, which enshrines and develops a massively empowered level of cooperation and co- ownership in each of the partner institutions, is inspired by the models of governance of the European Union.
I.2.2 Please explain how the proposed model will contribute to strengthening and expanding the cooperation between the members of the alliance in the provision of education, linking it where possible to research and innovation. (max 500 words)
Strengthening cooperation in the field of education will be achieved by developing a distinctive Educational Strategy for EUTOPIA, implementing drivers to facilitate the EUTOPIA curriculum, and testing daring prototypes to help realize new EUTOPIA educational programmes.
This educational cooperation will be linked at all times in general terms to research and innovation by developing and combining our already established practices of research-inspired and research-driven teaching and learning, problem-solving and challenge-based assignments, and science outreach and professional work placements programmes.
EUTOPIA universities will open up the content of their programmes, and they will do so by capitalising on the diversity, talent and research interests of their stakeholders. Trans-institutional teams of staff, students and experts will act as learning communities: they will co-create course material and develop learning and teaching methods that provide graduates with high level competencies, problem solving skills and a global outlook.
In addition, in the International work package, co-creation at modular level will be enabled, in order to link student research interests and aims to actual curricular offerings. Thus student representatives from each institution, in consultation with their peers, will produce a template for a shared research-led undergraduate module or course on a different internationally significant subject. The student body will develop their proposal, before producing through discussion and consultation a new proposed new EUTOPIA module which will then be assessed for inclusion as a shared alliance undergraduate course for credit by all the universities’ education committees. If approved, the module will be designed and uploaded to the collaborative platform (see Work Package 2) for delivery either physically, or virtually, or through blended learning.
Finally, in the spirit of daring innovation, we propose to initiate a truly open educational content philosophy within the alliance by piloting crowdsourcing techniques on the collaborative platform. A creative commons-approach to some of shared module material will therefore be used to foster debate on the process of selection of curricula and course content, and to encourage as appropriate input and
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 5 of 157 reaction directly from our stakeholders. The process will quickly elaborate its own rules of editorial jurisdiction and ethical norms, in the manner demonstrated by such communities of discussion as Wikipedia; and will itself become the site of research on the learning process which will be in turn itself shared. A EUTOPIA course can thus be openly co-created with staff, students, and experts, as an interactive practice designed to promote innovative dynamic content. Piloted initially within one university, such courses can be made progressively available to all partners on the collaborative learning platform.
In parallel, the conditions needed for implementing this strategy in terms of operational, regulatory and budgetary context will be continually scrutinized to identify current obstacles and develop the enablers and solutions needed.
Finally, we shall initiate the process of cultivating a lifelong relationship with all stakeholders involved in this process, by offering them a lasting connectedness with this evolving learning community, whether as learners or as influencers who can add ongoing relevance and development to content.
I.2.3 Explain how your alliance will act as model of good practice (mainly in the EU but also beyond) and how it will work towards the achievement of the policy objectives of the European Education Area such as: - multilingualism; - automatic recognition of academic qualifications and learning periods abroad; - the use of the European Student Card, once fully operational; - the Bologna key commitments (quality assurance, recognition, and wherever applicable three cycle degree (max. 1000 words)
The EUTOPIA partner universities are dedicated to trans-national collaboration, learning interdependency, and a radical and leading engagement with society. The presiding ethos is that of openness. We view this approach as both transformative for the European university space, and a model of good practice in terms of the full involvement of higher learning with societal challenges and citizenship.
By the nature of the alliance enterprise, our discursive, research-based, pedagogical and place-making engagements are multilingual. We celebrate this diversity, as an ethic, a skill, and an aesthetic. In our multiplicity we speak to one mission; and through use of our multilingual nature we expose our students and staff to a wider landscape of policy, vision, expression, and analytic resource.
As a key part of our parity of esteem and our collaborative mutual support, we commit to using the pilot to bring forward through our respective education committees and strategies the automatic recognition of academic qualifications and learning periods abroad. By piloting our collaborative efforts through the composition of EUTOPIA-badged or –labelled modular offerings, we intend to equate our learning programmes and establish mutual and multiple recognition at degree level. This will require patient work in order to formulate the international translatability of accreditation; yet we recognise that the pilot work is precisely driven by this breakthrough goal. The result will not only challenge the national domination of teaching structures and learning outcomes; it will also massively expand the learning landscape and associated mobility and portability potentiality of learning for the European citizen.
By the same token, we intend fully to implement and support among our participating universities the use of the European Student Card, which will become both a student-based currency and emblem of this process of mutual equivalence, and evidence of belonging to the EUTOPIA alliance academic transformation.
Finally, as place-making entities, we regard our research, education, and administrative mechanisms as also offering a model of good practice in the promotion of the region-to-region agenda, which of themselves must necessarily surpass regulatory differences in national systems whether for knowledge acquisition, solution-sharing or innovation development.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 6 of 157 Through these mechanisms we wish to stand as a model of good practice in demonstrating how Europe crucially works with and for higher education and vice versa. Our findings will be shared with all universities in the European space, in order further to earn the right to be regarded as a model of good practice.
Our approach is therefore driven by ideals, but grounded in a progressive practice that seeks to reward distinctiveness and daring development. This affects both content and format.
1. Content
EUTOPIA is much more than a university network. It is aligned in terms of a fundamental vision regarding the value-added contribution of academia to society. We therefore believe that, in order to grasp the full benefits of its universities, Europe needs to open up higher education and foster an ambitious academic engagement with the most dynamic and transformative elements of social construction. This demands a continuous cooperation between faculty, staff, students and representatives from both public and private sectors. To achieve this, EUTOPIA’s partner universities will pursue educational formats and processes that are designedly collaborative. In our learning communities we shall address the grand challenges of our societies. We shall invite and undertake assignments from market-based companies. We shall support problem-solving in for-social-profit organisations. We shall apply dual learning techniques by soliciting and organising internships. We shall favour research-inspired learning in our curricula that involves real-life contemporary challenges.
Our European dimension for this approach will entail the implementation of these formats as learning modules or units on our EUTOPIA collaborative platform. Through the process elsewhere described in detail we shall develop a selected part of our curricula that will specifically obtain the EUTOPIA label. This process will of itself involve active, trans-national, multilingual engagement in the discursive and compositional processes by our entire learning community.
By operationalising our platform quickly and with impact, we anticipate surpassing the delaying effects of the need to begin with harmonization of national rules or long internal approval procedures for joint degrees. EUTOPIA students and staff will be able to obtain a learning passport that will allow them to travel freely in the EUTOPIA learning community, whether virtually or physically. In addition, as we have noted elsewhere, we shall also offer an international certificate that explicates and validates credits related to learning units that are available on the collaborative platform. This will extend to language- learning opportunities. Finally, students, staff and extra academic stakeholders will be given the lifelong benefit of belonging to the EUTOPIA network for professional, learning and ongoing engagement purposes.
2. Format
The format chosen by EUTOPIA is by nature compatible with the Bologna key commitments. Each of our partner universities is dedicated to quality assurance: all departments and institutes control the quality of their educational output following the European Standards and Guidelines. Subsequently each learning unit offered on the EUTOPIA collaborative platform emanates from a qualified educational programme and will adhere to the highest standards in addition to being guided by the mantra of aspiring to be ‘distinctive, daring and driven’. Aligning with best practice in the European trade in services, the EUTOPIA partners will acknowledge, respect and interact positively with each other’s quality control systems, notwithstanding local methodological expression.
In this manner, we will work following and upholding the principles of the Erasmus exchange programmes. Our students will obtain a degree in their home universities, but also earn a supplementary certificate that identifies them as EUTOPIA graduates. As opposed to traditional Erasmus programmes, however, our partners will also co-create learning units in our cross-institutional alliance, and in concert with the active input of students and non-academic organizations emanating from 6 language areas, as well as professional staff. We intend that this mechanism will be applied progressively in a sequence of
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 7 of 157 educational cycles (Bachelors/Masters/PhD) in order to reach a significantly higher proportion of students and staff than is achievable through the conventional Erasmus mobility facilities.
I.3. European added value I.3.1 Explain how the proposal will bring added value through its trans-nationality, in particular how students of the participating institutions will be involved and will benefit from the proposed cooperation? (max. 250 words)
Trans-nationality is at the heart of EUTOPIA’s ethos and aims. It provides necessary conditions for adequate education and training in globalising contexts for our European graduates. It brings nationally and regionally developed skills, heritage preservation, cultural insights and linguistic-intercultural mobility and adaptability into the heart of learning, rather than relegate these to the margins as accessory benefits. It transforms, at modular or course-based level, assumptions about the integrity, value and approved reception of standardised learning. It brings international ability, scalable focus and high collaborative worth into the research space. It encourages greater interaction with regional and frontier-crossing stakeholders.
Trans-nationality goes to the heart of the EUTOPIA construction process. All participating universities have composed this project, from the level of rector to that of the undergraduate student bodies. Regional agencies have been involved in early stages of the discursive formation of EUTOPIA’s identity and its social and economic aims.
Trans-nationality affords the students of participating universities with massively widened mobility opportunities in relation to their learning, in comparison to previous facilitation; and similarly gives the access to much wider blended learning resources.
The expansive dynamics of trans-nationality have inspired a work package focused on the opportunity given to all participating universities to share intelligence in their workings with non-European partners. This further expands the horizon of opportunity for all EUTOPIA students and staff, affording multi- directional engagements that may bring in multi-national agencies and supporters.
Trans-nationality is more than added value; it is at the centre of the European University intelligence.
I.3.2 Describe how the proposal will contribute to regional development, for example through the involvement of the alliance members in the development and implementation of Smart Specialisation Strategies, where relevant. (max. 250 words)
In order to meet the needs of society, and to address the global challenges, universities can no longer merely be bastions of research and teaching excellence, existing in isolation. Rather, they need to foster both a spirit of international collaboration, and place based strategic leadership. We propose to connect universities, national and local government, enterprise and society. Because of their global-reach nature, the EUTOPIA universities can be the driving force of a new global agenda to be addressed with and within their places with the relevant stakeholders in a European perspective.
Taking advantage of the fluid policy environment, and maximising opportunities arising from the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games, and the UK City of Culture, EUTOPIA partners will take the lead and bring in their places into this venture, connecting them and facilitating exchanges of ideas and people. The EUTOPIA partners are already engaged with regional policy in their own places and with the knowledge and research agenda, through the Smart Specialisation Strategies, so they are in the right place to act as anchors.
This will, in turn create the combination of generic leadership skills, and place and sector based, specific skills to successfully carry out their broader missions of contributing to societal welfare. These will
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 8 of 157 transcend the institutions’ walls to generate synergies with society in order to contribute to social welfare and create social value. This will be achieved by working with stakeholders, understanding the importance of collaboration to influence public policy, culture and enterprise, driving transformational inclusive growth.
PART II. Geographical balance (max.15 points)
II.1. Explain the rationale behind the composition of the alliance, and in particular what motivates the choices of: a) the number of partners, b) the different geographical areas covered. (please refer to the list of European geographical regions2) (max.500 words)
EUTOPIA believes that its partnership, involving six universities, from distinct national, regional, institutional, political, economic and social contexts, offers the perfect piloting context and visionary scaleability, as a manageable yet transformative project. A more modest number would remain within the comfort zone of memoranda; a larger number would introduce mere crowd control and adequation due to numbers and circumstances that could only mitigate against being sufficiently distinctive, daring and driven.
Our numbers designedly address the key geographical imperative of a truly European process. Our partners deliberately represent all four geographical sub-regions as defined by Eurovoc. This is in reality more than a linguistic categorization, and clearly represents for us all both the distinctive sub-regions of Europe and the dynamic negotiations and developments that intend towards integration and synchronisation of standards and opportunity. For us the obligation on the part of the alliance membership to reflect this economic and cultural geography is a sine qua non of adherence to the principles and spirit of the European University call, and may not be bypassed. Moreover, as a strong gesture of European integration, and as evidence of our collective commitment to European integration and expansion, EUTOPIA is also led by our partner in Ljubljana, itself the capital of an EU13 member state. One of our partners is a UK university: notwithstanding Brexit, Warwick is a proud and committed member of this endeavour. Gothenburg is located in a member state that joined in 1995 but is not part of the Eurozone; Universitat Pompeu Fabra is located in the EU Member State of Spain, but equally in a region that strives towards independence. In sum, we affirm that the project and vision of EUTOPIA are determined by a European ethos, European-wide practice, and support for the truly European forms of distinctive leadership that have never been defined solely by current levels of member-state enthusiasm. Our geographical disposition therefore gives us the widest access to all citizens, the broadest invitation to engagement and entrepreneurialism, the truest reflection of European identities and affiliations in all their complexity, and the occasion for the strongest affirmation of our dedication to European collaborative progress.
Our membership also usefully allows us to reflect representatively on key economic and systemic circumstances pertaining to the different universities in the European area. Thus European universities may be variously financed by communities, national funding, regional agencies, and combinations of public and private resource; while their degree-awarding powers and standards may conform strictly and passively to national accreditation, or be more individually manifested and internally monitored via charter status.
Finally, our membership entails additional connectivity through our combined international, non- European, educational and research relationships and networks. By leveraging these further links, we
2 http://eurovoc.europa.eu/drupal/?q=request&mturi=http://eurovoc.europa.eu/100277&language=en&view=mt&ifacelan g=en European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 9 of 157 intend to be able to drive European attractiveness and openness to leading trends faster and more resourcefully.
II.2 Explain more specifically how the geographical composition of the alliance is relevant to the achievement of your European university alliance's long-term vision and of the European Education Area (max. 500 words).
EUTOPIA views its geographical identity in multiple ways: via the regional territories, Europe itself, internationally, and singularly.
Regionally, we shall influence questions of: liveable place-making; cities; mobility; local democracy; local economy; industrial engagement; entrepreneurship; local inclusiveness; school to university; cultural engagement; local sustainability.
At European level, we shall focus on: societies for a sustainable, inclusive Europe; futures for European democracies; west-east/north-south equilibrium; connected mega-cities; industries; mobility and migration.
At International level, we shall work on: global equilibrium; internationalisation; new Asian mega-hubs; middle east attraction; Africa development; emergence of South America; international education mobility.
Singularly, we shall not conform to a template: Ljubljana as a university represents its whole country and is a major player in the region of the Western Balkans; Warwick is a major player in the region of the West-Midlands and has a campus between Coventry and Birmingham, cities in the periphery of London; Université Cergy-Pontoise is located both in the centre and the modern periphery of Paris; VUB is located in Belgium’s capital that in itself operates as a region; Universitat Pompeu Fabra is located in Barcelona, a region with strong autonomy within Spain; and Gothenburg represents both Sweden, and a distinct geographical and economic area that embraces west Sweden and neighbouring countries.
Taken together, our geographical representation enables us with sufficient breadth but also focus to address dynamically the urgent need for a step-change in the qualitative, performative, innovative and competitive dimensions of the European higher education offering, and the practical and driven means by which distinctive and daring pedagogies can make knowledge triangulation a catalytic reality. We are consciously interested in remaining close to the spheres of European influence represented by Brussels and Paris, but we wish equally to represent the perspectives of a Gothenburg or a Ljubljana or a Barcelona or the Midlands of England, all places with their own centres of politics and economics; and with the ability to offer usefully complicating analyses of European trends and difficulties that cannot be understood accurately only from a very few western capitals.
As stated above, we are fully aware of the need to represent the internal politics of integration in the European area, and intend that our membership can therefore help us to become an exemplary model for the development of the European University and all its aims, which clearly entail social, economic and developmental goals as well as purely educational ones.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 10 of 157 PART III. Quality of the proposal and implementation (max.20 points)
III.1. Work programme and roadmap III.1.1 List the different activities the alliance intends to carry out. To this end, complete the following work packages (WP) overview and description (NB: in your Work plan WP1 'Management of the project' and the last WP 'Sustainability and dissemination' indicated below are compulsory; the other WPs shall be determined by the alliance on the basis of their strategy and proposed activities). WP number WP title Start (month/year ) - end dates Duration (month/year) (number of months) WP1 Management of the project 01/12/2019 – 30/11/2022 36 months
WP2 EUTOPIA Learning Community 01/12/2019 – 30/11/2022 36 months
WP3 Integrating and Opening Research, 01/12/2019 – 30/11/2022 36 months Innovation and Knowledge Creation in EUTOPIA WP4 EUTOPIA Place-Making 01/12/2019 – 30/11/2022 36 months
WP5 Promoting Inclusion and Equal societies 01/12/2019 – 30/11/2022 36 months
WP6 Open to the World 01/12/2019 – 30/11/2022 36 months
WP7 Sustainability and Dissemination 01/12/2019 – 30/11/2022 36 months
NB: The activities can start between the 01/09 and 01/12/2019 provided that the grant agreement is signed by both parties, and the project duration will be of 36 months.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 11 of 157 III.1.2 For each of the listed Work Packages, fill in the following description of activities, expected results and explanation of expenditures:
WP 1 – Description of Activities WP 1
Title Management of the project
In order to achieve the project objectives outlined in the strategy we have established an alliance of six like-minded universities who, together with associate and international strategic partners and collaborators, will analyse and apply challenge- based and student-centred education to address global challenges and to understand how knowledge is created and transferred: EUTOPIA 2050. Based on our multi-disciplinary strengths and built on our engaged social and regional perspectives we will establish a fully accessible, open and inclusive structure, which will support both new approaches to research, education and innovation, and an adaptive collaborative multi-level governance model.
Long-term structural actions and short-term preparatory actions which are described more in detail in the work package descriptions will facilitate the realisation of the long-term vision of the EUTOPIA alliance, which is to establish an open, multicultural, federated operation of connected campuses that facilitates both free movement for all its members, whether staff or students, and vigorous participation for all the citizens of its associated communities.
The following general principles will guide the management of the project:
1.Inclusiveness and robustness: the project management approach needs to ensure that the distinct perspectives and working modalities of the consortium partners are accounted for. Communication and participation are essential to Description ensure the close collaboration of EUTOPIA 2050 partners. At the same time, of the project management must also ensure functionality under pressure and in planned conflict situations. activities 2.Responsiveness and flexibility: EUTOPIA 2050 project management is designed to be responsive to dynamically developing innovations, including the possibility of fast and flexible responses. 3.Anticipatory approach to risk management: Given the dynamic character of the EUTOPIA 2050 project, project management will need to entail an anticipatory approach to risk management. The basic principle is to ensure that risks are identified and monitored early, allowing for decisions about preventative measures. 4.Efficient management: Efficiency is a key principle for EUTOPIA 2050 project management. Efficient coordination means that project management must ensure that all partners understand common strategic objectives and have clarity regarding tasks, deliverables and milestones. Efficient implementation is guaranteed through effective project control and appropriate quality assurance, ensuring that project results are available on time and within budget, and meet a high-quality standard. 5.Inclusion and diversity: Equality of opportunity is a core value fundamental to EUTOPIA 2050 and embedded across all Work Packages. Activities will be managed according to this principle and all events will be accessible for people of different cultures, genders and with all abilities.
Strategic and operational decision-making Decision-making in EUTOPIA 2050 will take place at two levels: strategic and operational. Strategic decisions relate directly to the project management structure,
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 12 of 157 important budgetary or content-related decisions, or important external relations of the project; they determine the overall approach the project will take, including its interactions at the policy-alliance interfaces. These decisions can only be taken by the Strategic Board, with advice from the External Advisory Board, either during physical meetings or, if needed, through a web-based communication and voting procedure. Decisions relating to the operational management of EUTOPIA 2050 (that do not affect the overall project management structure, direction or its overall external relations) will be taken at the most appropriate level.
Objectives
The objectives of the WP are:
To establish and ensure robust, efficient and transparent decision-making, strategic planning and governance structures and processes, and to ensure that the EUTOPIA vision and mission are fulfilled; To develop and embed effective overall leadership, management processes and procedures and co-ordination across all Work Packages and Commissions for the successful delivery of project outputs and outcomes; To facilitate effective management communication flows and overall relationship management between EUTOPIA institutions and other partners and key stakeholders, including the European Commission, to foster the principles of openness and inclusion, co-ordinating communications with the work of Work Package 7: Sustainability and Dissemination; To establish effective co-ordination and management of all contractual, financial and legal obligations and related issues including risk management, quality assurance, IPR, equality, diversity and inclusion; To ensure all appropriate learning, operational and strategic management, planning and governance experiences are fed in to the development of the long- term strategy for sustainability of the EUTOPIA Alliance, integrating with the work of Work Package 7: Sustainability and Dissemination.
In order to achieve these objectives, the Work Package has four Sub Work Packages:
SWP1.1 Project governance, strategic planning and decision-making SWP1.2 Project management SWP1.3 Overall co-ordination and project meetings SWP1.4 Legal, financial and administrative aspects
SWP1.1 Project governance, strategic planning and decision-making
This incorporates all actions necessary to oversee the diverse activities, progress and achievements of all Work Packages within the project:
- Establishing the governance structures, strategic planning and decision-making processes and procedures, ensuring appropriate representation and engagement from all EUTOPIA Alliance partners; - Making the leadership and management appointments to ensure the establishment of the supporting teams including the Secretary-General, Project Management, Quality Assurance and Work Package teams. - Ensuring overall financial progress of EUTOPIA 2050, identifying and allocating appropriate resources to ensure that the Work Packages are aligned with each other. - Project strategy development and implementation, underpinned by rigorous monitoring and contingency planning, management of risk, conflict, IPR and ethics,
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 13 of 157 The governance structure will provide an adaptive, collaborative, multi-level governance model that will reflect EUTOPIA’s core principles of equality, diversity and inclusion, and will see students represented directly throughout. It will provide robust reporting and scrutiny, supporting strong strategic planning, establishing open and transparent decision-making processes. It will comprise:
Strategic Board (SB)
The Strategic Board will take overall responsibility for the performance of the project, approving any changes to the implementation plans, resource allocations and budgets, on recommendation of the Executive Board, in keeping with and upholding the project vision, mission and strategic planning goals. It will also approve major strategic decisions and policies impacting the project and the broader Alliance, receiving insights and gathering intelligence on external developments and policy issues both at the national and international level.
The SB will serve as an external advocate (mainly through the Secretary-General) and, where necessary, and with the approval of External Advisory Board, oversee any substantial changes and adjustments to the original Work Packages to ensure project objectives and KPIs are achieved. The SB will define the role and responsibilities and appoint the Secretary-General. The Executive Board (EB) will assist by keeping the Strategic Board informed and by bringing reports, analysis, recommendations and any risks, issues or conflicts unresolved to the Board, taking advice from the External Advisory Board as appropriate. Lessons learned and considerations that may shape the future strategic management and governance of the Alliance considered by the SB will be fed in to WP7: Sustainability and Dissemination.
The Board will consist of 6 Rectors, 1 student representative and the Secretary- General. The SB will in each year elect from among the Rectors a Chair (rotating Chair). The Secretary-General will provide the Secretariat support for the SB, assisted by the Project Manager. The Board will meet twice each year, once which may be virtual and once to coincide with the date for the Annual General Conference. The SB Chair will also each year address the Annual General Conference.
Executive Board (EB)
The Executive Board (EB) will be the main operational board, and be responsible for the overall management of the project, the achievement of the objectives and delivery of the outputs and outcomes, in line with contractual, financial, legal and
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 14 of 157 compliance obligations and requirements. It will ensure that there is effective leadership, management and co-ordination of all activities.
The EB will be chaired by the Secretary-General and comprise Work Package Leaders, student representatives, and other appropriate senior representatives from the Alliance Partners, such as Vice-Rectors or Finance Directors. The Project Manager will provide the Secretariat support for the EB. In each year, the EB will meet quarterly; up to 3 meetings may be virtual. All EB members will attend the Annual General Meeting.
The EB will receive and consider quarterly reports and analyses from all Work Packages (including from appropriate sub-work packages, and appropriate outputs and outcomes from the Commissions and the Student Forum) to ensure the project is progressing to time and budget, milestones and deliverable targets. It will also receive the Risk Register to ensure appropriate management and mitigation of risks has been undertaken. Detailed progress reports from the EB will be provided twice- yearly to the SB and annually to the EAB. In addition, any issues arising or items of ethics or conflicts that have not been resolved in the Work Packages, Commissions, Student Forum, Quality Board or at the EB will be referred to the SB for resolution (taking advice as appropriate from the External Advisory Board).
Lessons learned and considerations that may shape the future operational management of the Alliance considered by the EB will be fed in to WP7: Sustainability and Dissemination.
External Advisory Board (EAB)
The External Advisory Board (EAB) will act as a consultation and validation body to the Executive Board (EB). The EAB, which will have approximately fifteen members, will provide independent and objective advice and guidance on the overall operation and progress of the project. The members of the EAB will be provided with progress reports from the EB. A key role of the EAB is to ensure that the diversity of regional and social contexts is respected and further fostered while ensuring that the Alliance is realising its vision.
Members of the EAB will be proposed by the EUTOPIA institutions and will comprise experts with national and international prominence, from a range of backgrounds including business, academia, innovation, local government, social and cultural organisations, policy development, ethics and governance. The candidate members of the Board will be assessed against specific criteria before selection and approach, in particular by their expertise, position, country of origin and gender.
The EAB will meet at the start of the project and annually thereafter, to coincide with the Annual General Conference, to which all EAB members will be invited.
Quality Board (QB)
As detailed in WP7: Sustainability and Dissemination, a Quality Board (QB) will oversee quality across the Alliance and keep a systematic check on the progress and quality of the outputs of EUTOPIA 2050 activities. The QB will devise a EUTOPIA Quality Plan as a guide for the partners’ delivery of activities throughout the project. This Plan will define the QA aims, objectives and principles, the quality assurance methodology, cycle (annual), indicators, procedures and tools, responsibilities at the level of consortium, and monitoring mechanisms for progress and deliverables. The Quality Plan will be supplemented with an implementation plan and guidelines. Communications between members of the QB will be through online meetings for European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 15 of 157 most day-to-day business, but with annual physical meetings timed to coincide with the Annual General Conference.
The QB will report to the Executive Board (EB) through the Quality Assurance Co- ordinator. Thus the EB will have overall responsibility for ensuring EUTOPIA 2050 progresses against its objectives, and will deal with any issues or changes needed as they arise. In the first instance, any urgent issues will escalated to the Secretary- General as Chair of the EB and, if necessary, the Executive Board will schedule an extraordinary virtual meeting to ensure the issue is dealt with in a timely manner. The Strategy Board will direct the ongoing development of EUTOPIA Strategy towards its goal of delivering the EUTOPIA European University. Any changes to that Strategy necessitated by changing internal or external circumstances, if and when agreed with the European Commission, will cascaded down through the EB to the Work Packages to ensure they all deliver to current priorities.
EUTOPIA’s long-term governance structure, developed with WP7, may have new or additional decision-making bodies. For example, an Academic Senate is envisaged to ensure broader academic representation from all EUTOPIA partners, and to regulate and control teaching, accreditation, EUTOPIA courses of study, the conditions qualifying for admission to programmes, and the conferring of qualifications, commensurate with the governance structures of a genuine European University. We recognise that during the pilot, the EUTOPIA institutions operate within existing national degree awarding frameworks within their own countries. EUTOPIA 2050 will produce a framework and a strategy to develop mutual credit recognition and associated mechanisms (see WP2) and will provide recommendations for the transition to a fully integrated, single-authority qualification awarding body.
SWP1.2 Project management
This involves actions necessary to co-ordinate activities of all Work Packages within the project, in addition to ensuring successful delivery of all project deliverables and managing on-going relationships with main stakeholders in the project, such as the EC and Associate and other partners. The main tasks associated with project management will be:
Co-ordinating the overall activities of EUTOPIA 2050, linking the efforts of the Work Package teams together supporting on-going collaboration
Maintaining management, leadership and participation of all stakeholders (including conflict resolution).
Ensuring close co-operation with the Quality Board, through the Quality Assurance Co-ordinator, and adherence to the Quality Plan, and supporting the delivery of the dashboard of indicators.
Ensuring the establishment and adherence to a Data Management Plan defining the general guidelines and responsibilities for all partners across all the activities performed in the different Work Packages for the organisation, storage, preservation and sharing of all data collected during the project life-cycle.
Roles and responsibilities
Secretary-General (SG)
The main responsibilities of the Secretary-General (SG) are to provide secretariat support to the Strategic Board (SB) and to the organisation of the Annual General European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 16 of 157 Conference, to chair all meetings of the Executive Board (EB) and to act as the intermediary between the EUTOPIA institutions, associate and external partners and the European Commission. The SG will have oversight of and overall responsibility for project management and secretariat support for the Alliance, support the Rectors in ensuring the smooth functioning of the Strategic Board, Executive Board meetings and the Annual General Conference. Appointed by the Strategy Board, the SG will ensure that meetings are effectively organised and minuted, maintaining effective records and administration. The SG, assisted by the Project Manager, is also responsible for financial and contractual obligations defined by the European Commission and the relationships between the EUTOPIA members and the wider partners and stakeholders. As the official interface between the EUTOPIA Alliance and the European Commission for day-to-day issues, the SG will monitor project activities and maintain an up-to date view of progress and will advise and report to the SB and EB.
Project Manager (PM) and Project Management Team (PMT)
The Project Manager (PM) will be employed in the central Project Management Team (PMT) and will assist the EB and SG in administrative and co-ordinating activities such as communications with partners, organising meetings and collections of data for internal and external reports.
The main responsibility of the PM is to co-ordinate and manage the execution of the project in relation to the costs, timeline and deliverables of the project. Responsibilities include: regular activity/management reports, annual cost statements, payments, budget allocations, third party funding, and audit certificates. The PM will also prepare clear guidelines on these issues at the start of the project and will make updates when necessary.
The PM will be employed by the University of Ljubljana (UL) following an open recruitment process. He/she will be assisted and supported in financial, contractual and administrative issues by the Project Management Team (PMT), a team of 5 senior staff reporting to the Secretary- General (SG). The University of Ljubljana has extensive experience in managing ERASMUS+ and EU Framework Programme, currently participating in 98 ERASMUS+ project (19 coordinating) and more than 90 H2020 projects.
The PMT will liaise closely with the Quality Assurance team to ensure that any changes or delays to planned activities are followed through to budget plans. They will ensure support for adherence to the Quality Plan, and supporting the delivery of the dashboard of indicators. They will also establish and ensure adherence to a Data Management Plan defining the general guidelines and responsibilities for all partners across all the activities performed in the different Work Packages for the organisation, storage, preservation and sharing of all data collected during the project life-cycle.
In the project set-up phase, the PMT will devise and issue guidelines and template for reports to all the EUTOPIA partners for reporting through to the EB and SB, in addition to the European Commission, particularly to ensure all costs are budgeted efficiently from the outset.
Work Package Leads and Sub-Work Package Leads
Work Package (WP) Leads will be responsible for ensuring that the Work Package meets its targets in the form of budget, milestones and deliverables (outputs and European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 17 of 157 outcomes); that all appropriate reports, analyses, dashboards are accurately compiled and submitted on the templates and to the procedures and instructions of the Project Management Team, for collation and scrutiny by the EB, SB and EAB as appropriate. All WP Leads are members of the Executive Board and will attend the Annual General Conference.
The management and delivery of Sub Work Packages and individual tasks may be assigned to others in the work package at an appropriate level, but the responsibility for the co-ordination and overall performance of the work package remains with the Work Package Lead.
WP leads are responsible for all decisions relating to the internal co-ordination of the WPs. The EB is finally responsible for all decisions relating to the operative project management.
SWP1.3 Overall co-ordination and project meetings
Activities in this Sub Work Package include:
Organising Alliance meetings for the SB, EB, EAB, Annual General Conference, the Commissions and the Student Forum, including preparing of agenda, reports and analyses, papers, and minutes Preparing periodic management reports. Preparation of standard management deliverables according to EC guidelines for reporting. Assuring the achievement of the objectives on time and within budget. Liaison with the Quality Assurance team to support the delivery of the dashboard of indicators Managing engagement activities with the European Commission’s Network of Alliances.
These will be achieved through:
Project Management Team (PMT) A key responsibility of the PMT will be to monitor travel and subsistence costs. Recognising the importance of stimulating mobility and collaboration between partners, physical meetings or working are often necessary. Physical meetings, more so than virtual collaboration, build trust and mutual understanding between collaborators and allow for deeper investigation and learning. This mutual understanding is a vital element of the EUTOPIA European University we are building, so virtual meetings cannot completely replace physical ones. Therefore, physical travel is necessary for the successful delivery of the project, but should be undertaken as efficiently as possible. Once activities are underway, costs will be monitored closely by the PMT to ensure that any travel undertaken is vital for the successful delivery of the project, and that the most efficient mode of travel is used. All other costs will be monitored in a similar manner.
Annual General Conference (AGC) An Annual General Conference (AGC) will be held to which all Board members, Work Package and Commission Leaders, participants and students and other representatives from Alliance members will be invited to attend. In addition, it will be open to invited representatives from stakeholder organisations, including the European Commission, and other key influencers. It will provide a key networking and showcasing opportunity for debate and dissemination for all EUTOPIA Alliance
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 18 of 157 institutions, the Associate Partners and wider stakeholder groups on progress made, management innovations and sharing of best practice.
Commissions To provide bridges across and between the Work Packages, share good practice, learn from each other and support inter-University and multi-disciplinary working, working with Associate partners and wider stakeholders, a number of special Commissions will be established:
Learning Commission – to draw together the learning from across all the work packages, influencing mobility, diversity, new education provision and developing innovative student experiences, preparing them as graduates and European citizens of tomorrow, to manage the emerging talent and link to new career development opportunities. Research and Innovation Commission - to connect all EUTOPIA partners universities’ Research Support and Technology Transfer functions, with researchers and students, to learn from each other and to connect to the different regional innovation systems and actors, to link in students, researchers, ideas and start-ups, that can benefit from expanded networks to make quantum innovation leaps that translate ideas to market-readiness. External Engagement Commission – to ensure effective connections and engagement with Associate Partners and other stakeholders.
Commissions and Associate Partners Co-ordinator The Commissions and Associate Partners Co-ordinator will ensure effective and transparent communication with all parties involved in the project (consortium partners, EC, and EAB), supporting the organisation of the Commissions and the Student Forum, in order to foster the principles of openness and inclusion. He/she will also ensure that all external stakeholders are regularly updated through appropriate relationship management, in particular maintaining a dialogue with the EC throughout the project, ensuring alignment with EC expectations will manage expectations and activities related to associate partner activities. This co-ordinator will provide input to the associate partners with regards to project findings and potentially applicable outcomes, as well as provide the consortium partners with feedback on their work from the associate partners.
Student Forum A Board of student representatives from all of EUTOPIA’s members has already been initiated and has advised on the development of the EUTOPIA programme outlined in the Founding Vision, Mission Statement and Strategy. Whilst students will continue to have an integral role in the governance and decision-making structures described above, a Student Forum will be formed to ensure there is a place for all students to come together across all the work packages to develop a common narrative, a student voice, for the Alliance.
Conflict and risk management The EUTOPIA 2050 project will follow a bottom-up approach to conflict management. First, conflicts will be discussed and regulated at the task and WP level. If a conflict cannot be solved at this level, the WP leader must inform EB, and the issue will be put on the agenda of EB every 3-4 month meetings. The respective conflict parties (partners) will be invited to attend the part of the meeting where the conflict is discussed, with further procedures being subject to the provisions of the Partnership Agreement.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 19 of 157 We will develop an ‘early warning’ system related to risk management. The basic rationale is to monitor risks from the project outset onwards during the regular meetings of the EB, and in more depth during the project review and reporting process. To facilitate the monitoring of risks, a risk register will be prepared on risks and risk mitigation strategies already identified in the proposal stage prior to the kick-off meeting. During the kickoff meeting, the early warning system will be set up through a) revising the list of risks and related mitigation strategies, b) prioritizing them with regards to their importance, and c) associating them with specific monitoring procedures. The system will be institutionalized in the Partnership Agreement. Emphasis will be given to timely responses to risks, including possible reallocation of resources. Additional emphasis will be put on processes to identify new and unforeseen risks. The system will subsequently be implemented by the PMO and will report to the EB. In exceptional circumstances, the Strategic Board will be consulted regarding any change of partners. This process would involve engagement with the European Commission following the usual channels.
SWP1.4 Legal, financial and administrative requirements
This Sub-Work Package will be responsible for:
Supervising the contractual agreements, including the Grant Agreement, the Partnership Agreement, quality assurance, risk management and data management plans. Preparing documentation to achieve transparent and fast distribution of the EC financial contribution. Ensuring effective policies and procedures are in places and adhered to for intellectual property rights, equal opportunities, risk management, ethics and conflict resolution
The PM supported by the PMT and reporting through the Secretary-General and the Executive Board, will ensure legal, financial and administrative requirements and obligations as set out in the terms of the agreements with the European Commission are fully complied with.
Management Tools
Project Management Plan
EUTOPIA 2050’s project management will be regulated through the Grant Agreement and the Partnership Agreement and implemented through the Project Management Plan. The PMP will include the following components:
1) Organizational project management structure 2) Management principles and rules to be applied 3) Precise description of activities (WPs and Tasks) 4) Resources allocated 5) List of Milestones and Deliverables 6) List of meetings and expected attendance.
The PMP will be revisited twice during the project and revised accordingly.
The digital collaborative platform
The collaborative platform (see WP2) is an internet-based secured collaborative workspace where all participants can share and exchange information. For the purposes of this Work Package, it will ensure a smooth communication and European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 20 of 157 collaboration within the consortium and provide a set of procedures and collaborative tools. The collaborative tools will include an internal information- sharing platform that will allow the consortium to share documents, to securely store the official documents, to ensure permanent access to information by partners, but also to arrange meetings and the follow-up of actions. Automatic reminders will be generated whenever events may occur within the document platform. This platform is intended to foster collaboration between all participants at all levels: WPs, EB, PMO, etc.
Lead University of Ljubljana Organisation Université Cergy-Pontoise (Co-lead) University of Gothenburg Participating Organisations Universitat Pompeu Fabra and their University of Warwick contribution Vrije Universiteit Brussel
WP1 - Results (outputs and outcomes)
Expected Description O1.1 – Internal project management guidelines (TI) results Due dates 1 M (outputs) Language(s) English Dissemination (means, ☐ for 'Public' dissemination targets, etc.) ☒ for 'Restricted' dissemination Expected Description O1.2 – Finalised project management plan, including risk register and results issues log (TI) (outputs) Due dates 3 M Language(s) English Dissemination (means, ☐ for 'Public' dissemination targets, etc.) European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 21 of 157 ☒ for 'Restricted' dissemination Description O1.3 – Finalised risk management and contingency plan (TI) Due dates 6 M Language(s) English Dissemination (means, ☐ for 'Public' dissemination targets, etc.) ☒ for 'Restricted' dissemination Description O1.4 – Interim (technical) report (TI) Due dates 18 M Language(s) English Dissemination (means, ☐ for 'Public' dissemination targets, etc.) ☒ for 'Restricted' dissemination Description O1.5 – Final report (TI) Due dates 36 M Language(s) English Dissemination (means, ☐ for 'Public' dissemination targets, etc.) ☒ for 'Restricted' dissemination Description O1.6 – Plan for use and dissemination (TI) Due dates 28 M Language(s) English Dissemination (means, ☐ for 'Public' dissemination targets, etc.) ☒ for 'Restricted' dissemination Description O1.7 – Suggested governance framework for long-term sustainability (see WP7) (SD) Due dates 30 M Language(s) English Dissemination (means, ☐ for 'Public' dissemination targets, etc.) ☒ for 'Restricted' dissemination
WP 1– Expenditures
Planned budget Explain and justify how the different types of expenditures will be used for project activities expenditures under this WP (e.g. staff costs, mobility costs if any, equipment costs if any, sub-contracting costs if any, etc.) (please see the 'Funding rules' Staff costs are included for the coordination and implementation of activities in WP1, of the European including for the posts of Project Manager, Secretary General, Commissions and Universities' in Associate Partners Co-ordinator, and Quality Assurance Co-ordinator. Costs are also the E+ included for local administrators to provide support with the day-to-day running of Programme the project, and to support the activities of the Secretary General. Finally, a senior Guide) WP lead will have oversight of and responsibility for all activities in the WP. Equipment costs are included to provide IT equipment for the Project Manager and Secretary General. facilitation of workshops and assistance with module template preparation (6.1.1), conducting scoping work (6.1.2), organising events and workshops (6.1.1, 6.2.1, 6.2.2, 6.2.3) and running competitions (6.1.3).
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 22 of 157 A specific mobility budget is allocated for 5 project meetings, some running in parallel (kick-off meeting, meetings of the SB and EB, EAB meetings, Quality Assurance meetings, Commissions meetings). Each meeting will be organised by a different partner institution. An additional mobility budget is included for the Secretary General and Project Manager posts, who will need to visit EUTOPIA institutions and external stakeholders to deliver their roles.
Other costs include audit costs and some small costs for the production of materials .
WP 2 Title EUTOPIA Learning Community
Vision From embedded campuses to learning communities
The partners in the EUTOPIA network are innovative universities that, geared toward the challenges of the future, assume fully their pivotal role in enhancing the attractiveness and potential of their local, regional and European environments. Students and staff live and work on vibrant campuses that are embedded within distinct local communities and regional identities, while maintaining a global outlook. This results in numerous contacts and cooperation between our academia and the business world, cultural organisations and public sector. Because of their impact on society, the EUTOPIA universities are “place making” agents for their cities, regions and territories.
This context is however at odds with the current higher education systems in the European countries where teaching is still largely organised from a disciplinary perspective in faculties that are competing for scarce resources within the university or the Higher Education system. Innovative ventures in educational approach are strongly affected by various rules imposed by the academic authorities themselves and by the government authorities and accreditation agencies in the respective European countries.
The vision advocated by EUTOPIA seeks to address the deep paradox between the vision of openness of our partner universities and the limitations imposed by the present conditions for higher education in Europe. We insist that our learning community will be student-centred and student empowering.
As the EU has no competence for higher education, the “European University” pilot project is an important tool to surpass the regulatory differences in the European educational framework. It is therefore a unique opportunity to enhance the attractiveness of European Higher Education and to prove the full plurality, potentiality and international pre-eminence of European innovation and influence in learning and education.
In this Work Package, we introduce the educational formats and the pedagogical approach that enable the ideals of openness, inclusion and societal engagement which the EUTOPIA universities aspire to achieve. We define educational formats as the modus operandi that can be used for enabling the EUTOPIA education vision. These range from changing the content and length of traditional ex cathedra teaching in a classroom to co-creating learning material with multiple stakeholders on a virtual platform, and all variations in between. We use the term format to refer to learning objectives and modes of delivery. The formats constitute learning activities organised
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 23 of 157 as units (for credit and operational purposes) delivered on a shared EUTOPIA collaborative platform. EUTOPIA favours and expands collaborative education from a challenge-based learning approach.
This will have a double impact on operations: EUTOPIA universities will open up the content of their programmes, and they will do so by capitalising on the diversity of their stakeholders. Trans-institutional teams of staff, students and experts act as learning communities: they co-create course material and develop learning and teaching methods that provide graduates with high level competencies, problem- solving skills and a global outlook. In this way students will be at the heart of our material and empowered to create its ramifications.
The concept of the learning community is based on that of a common learning journey and carries connotations of cohesion and belongingness. Communities however are not homogeneous and static entities. On the contrary, they are open and diverse, and defined by participation and membership. We conceptualise EUTOPIA learning communities as involving people who come together around mutual engagement in an endeavour. The EUTOPIA approach to learning communities seeks to empower staff, students and non-academic stakeholders to drive innovation in teaching, learning, research and policy.
A distinguishing factor of the activities we propose is that they bring together multiple stakeholders from local, national and international networks. In EUTOPIA staff and students realise their (academic) ambitions and at the same time shape their environment in an empowering way. The EUTOPIA learning experience is not limited to the accumulation of degrees or formal periods of study. We aim to create a lifelong relationship with all stakeholders involved and offer them a lasting connectedness with an evolving learning community. EUTOPIA provides educational learning paths that are the starting point for sustainable professional and personal international networks, leading to further empowerment. WP2 will significantly engage with the Learning Commission outlined in WP1.
Innovative pedagogies Work with non- academic partners
Co-creating the EUTOPIA learning community
International Crossdisciplinarity experience/mobility
Objectives
EUTOPIA will address the deep paradox between the vision of openness of our partner universities and the limitations imposed by the present conditions for higher education in Europe. It will develop the educational formats that reflect the openness, inclusivity and engagement towards society of the partner universities.
EUTOPIA will use the European University pilot as a tool to surpass the regulatory differences in the European educational framework by allowing their staff and students to travel in the EUTOPIA learning community both physically and virtually.
Within the context of an open educational model, this Work Package will: Develop EUTOPIA’s education strategy and implementation plan European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 24 of 157 Facilitate EUTOPIA’s curriculum Implement pilots for realising EUTOPIA’s educational programmes
Management
Vrije Universiteit Brussel will have overall responsibility for the management and delivery of the activities within the Work Package. The Work Package will work in accordance with the management principles and guidelines outlined in Work Package 1. Progress against overall project aims will be monitored at the meetings of the Executive Board. Between Executive Board meetings, Vrije Universiteit Brussel will monitor progress within the Work Package.
Activities
Strategy and modus operandi
The EUTOPIA learning model draws on challenge-based approaches to learning and encourages crossdisciplinarity, openness and mobility. Our educational model will be demonstrated in the development of a EUTOPIAn learning community.
By connecting our respective networks we create a robust European framework for students, staff and non-academic organisations that emerge from six distinct societal and language areas.
EUTOPIAns are involved in a common learning journey, and will address problems in order to find and implement meaningful solutions. The EUTOPIAn learning community emerges through interconnected actions:
The EUTOPIA collaborative platform, The EUTOPIA certificate, The EUTOPIA passport - EUTOPIA mobility scheme.
The EUTOPIA universities will jointly implement educational formats spread over all levels of the educational cycle (bachelor, master or PhD level). This will allow us to implement multi-level connectivity from the start. A selected part of our curricula, starting with areas directly addressing global challenges (e.g., Sustainability, Health and Wellbeing) will be identified. These chellenge-driven EUTOPIA learning units will be delivered on and through the EUTOPIA collaborative platform. This is conceptualised as a portal for implementing innovation at speed and with maximum impact. We will not spend time on preliminary harmonisation of national rules nor on lengthy approval procedures for joint degrees.
All EUTOPIA graduates can earn a certificate acknowledging their skills and abilities in international mobility and their proficiency in foreign languages and cultures. This will be developed in Work Package 6.
As a pilot implementation of the eventual goal of rolling out a European Student Card, all EUTOPIA students and staff will receive a EUTOPIA passport that allows them to travel in the EUTOPIA learning community both virtually and physically. EUTOPIA will challenge static categorisations such as on/off line, global/local, in/extra-curricular, and will capitalise on digital and non-digital learning spaces. The use of everyday technology for learning, and blended learning environments, will constitute the norm of the EUTOPIA learning praxis. We shall expand on our published work on ‘portal pedagogy’ and will create blended spaces where technology is not a ‘supplement’ but ‘infrastructure’.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 25 of 157 EUTOPIA blended learning involves both the design of content which is in line with our objectives, and modes of delivery that enable students to benefit from the support of the EUTOPIA learning communities: face-to-face learning with staff and peers; engagement with non-academic local partners and agencies (such as CNAM or Region Västra Götaland); leveraging of the learning potentiality of the smart specialisation strategies of each region; exchange with international counterparts in six European locations and beyond.
EUTOPIAn blended learning spaces will be designed so that the material space allows the learning encounter we seek to achieve. Issues of learning design constitute one of the main reasons for failures in videoconferencing teaching and learning. Screens and cameras will be placed such that all participants can interact in an experience as close as possible to the face-to-face situation. Timetabling of real-time sessions will be designed so that participants operate at the interface of time zones. Interacting on and through a portal brings physical space/material challenges that push us out of our comfort zone. This is part of the attributes EUTOPIAns will develop in managing teamwork, problem solving and creativity in all modes.
In order to strengthen the European dimension of the EUTOPIA learning units that will be offered on the EUTOPIA platform, we shall introduce a short-term mobility activity to connect our students, staff, non-academic stakeholders. Participants will work in cross-network teams for intensive time periods (2 weeks), using a combination of virtual communication and short periods of face-to-face cooperation. We expect to introduce this in the preliminary stage of the network as a pilot for EUTOPIA’s mobility scheme, and to prepare with such short-term mobility activity the roll-out of a first series of joint learning activities. These activities are another instance of our student- centred and student empowering philosophy.
By establishing EUTOPIAn learning communities we shall encourage the application of theory to practice well beyond the life cycle of a project or degree. These communities will take different forms and meanings in different learning contexts. They will operate at the level of a unit and at the same time at the level of university structure and involving whole cohorts. In all cases they will involve students working in groups around common themes or problems. EUTOPIAn graduates will get the lifelong benefit of belonging to the EUTOPIA network for their professional and learning needs.
The EUTOPIAn learning community is the starting point and test basis for all projects and educational formats that we shall develop within our alliance during the three- year pilot. All cases and frameworks developed in this learning community will promote openness and inclusivity at four levels:
1° Erasing the boundaries of academic curricula In current curricula the partner universities of EUTOPIA have proven their ability for crossing boundaries. In their educational formats they create interfaces between staff and students and they connect with non-academic stakeholders at local level and beyond. EUTOPIA will foster this approach and identify the mechanisms that enable us to implement openness on a European level cross-institutionally.
As part of EUTOPIA, the partners will organise cross-disciplinary projects on the EUTOPIA collaborative learning platform. EUTOPIA will identify areas where common curriculum content is in place and will seek to provide pathways for students across institutions to benefit from studying in a multinational learning context. This platform connects the available educational resources across disciplines and institutions. Importantly, innovation in EUTOPIA is not restricted to new programmes. In cooperation with the Work Packages on the International and Knowledge we shall
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 26 of 157 review existing work formats and curriculum components suitable for the collaborative platform.
All projects and learning paths will build on the current teaching and research ethos of the EUTOPIA partners. They will respond to the diversity of our students (see 3°) and the needs of non-academic stakeholders (see 4°). EUTOPIA will generate an important value-added dimension at curriculum level; but also allow identification of practical challenges related to mutual acceptance of former learning results, the registration of new credits, the process of admission and the recognition of degrees.
Concerns about the harmonisation of differences in fees and other registration practicalities will be avoided as, during the three-year pilot period of EUTOPIA students will work in an Erasmus-like context gaining access to EUTOPIA credits within the window of mobility allowed in the curriculum of their home university. In addition to the degree from their home university, and as a pilot of the eventual goal of having comprehensive automatic recognition of diplomas, with its accompanying framework and credit system criteria and machinery, they will also gain an international certificate validating all their activity within and through the EUTOPIA framework.
2° Co-creation of learning material The EUTOPIA partners will support the ‘Open Science’ agenda of the European Commission and translate this into an “Open Learning Experience”. The partner universities will therefore use facilitated crowdsourcing techniques for the creation of new course material, thereby combining quality control with responsiveness towards students and society.
EUTOPIA activities will be open to the network’s local environments and invite participation from volunteers (individuals or organisations) who have an interest in participating or may want to use academic work for a purpose. Participating in challenges of a global and future-oriented nature that will be co-designed by both academic and non-academic bodies, our local communities, learning and community centres, schools, third organisations, and NGOs will be invited to play an active role in the co-creation of new knowledge, so as thereby eventually to change the very modus operandi of the European higher education. Calls for participation will be disseminated in local networks and activities will be delivered on and through the EUTOPIA platform. Wikipedia-inspired approaches will allow efficient use of input from teaching staff, students and experts, with clear safeguards actively developed for quality and academic autonomy.
Students, EUTOPIAn citizens, should transition from being passive absorbers to being active and empowered participants in the teaching and learning process, resulting in a creative-commons approach where students and staff co-create. Projects and solutions co-created under EUTOPIA learning units will feed back into the curriculum and the ongoing learning praxis. This will help build a vibrant and sustainable ecosystem.
EUTOPIA will capitalise on its experience with digital learning. This will include both widely used learning tools such as technology for incorporating student feedback during classes into the course material, new content co-design, and delivery through the EUTOPIA portal, thereby improving study methods as well as the EUTOPIA pedagogical approach for challenge-based education.
The EUTOPIA approach, where educational content is opened up on a dynamic platform similar to Wikiversity, will result in educational material that is widely available and can be built upon by EUTOPIA partners and other universities, creating a level of efficiency currently unparalleled in higher education.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 27 of 157 3° Engaging with diversity EUTOPIA offers its programmes to a wide range of learners. Moving beyond a narrow understanding of diversity, EUTOPIA seeks to provide a safe and inspiring space for all students to engage and meet their potential. EUTOPIA will encourage students from communities and backgrounds underrepresented in Higher Education, will work with regional stakeholders (schools, colleges) to increase enrolment, and will enhance initiatives to support the success of all students (see the Work Package on Inclusion). Our approach, based on learning communities, and exploiting the diversity of the regional and national strengths represented in the alliance, will centre on the student learning experience through increased peer support and mentoring, and seek to empower all students in this attentive manner. We shall further work in partnership with key agencies such as Banco Santander or CERN to develop this commitment.
Traditional educational formats are conceived for full-time students, trained in their first language and entering the university right after leaving the secondary school cycle. EUTOPIA however wants universities to open up access to their programmes and adapt the curriculum to the needs of the so called “non-modal” student in a lifelong learning approach. This much more inclusive operation accommodates students who combine work and study, integrates and supports students not mastering the language of the host university, and encourages and nurtures non- degree seekers aiming to update or complement their previous education.
The EUTOPIA universities will learn from each other’s experience, and turn the diversity of the student population into a driving and empowering force for innovative and flexible pedagogical approaches and course content.
4° Incorporating stakeholders The pilot programmes of EUTOPIA will address the complexity of the challenges facing our societies both now and in the foreseeable future. Representatives of the business world, cultural organisations and the public sector will be natural sources of inspiration in our educational model.
Opening up our curriculum development to non-academic stakeholders is also the best way to enhance entrepreneurial skills and employability for our graduates. We shall work in partnership with agencies focused on these tasks, such as CNAM and the Ministry of Public Administration of Slovenia, and with the smart specialisation strategies of each region. Problem-solving assignments, student-centred research activities, short-term/virtual/blended mobility and student-empowering placements, including at international levels, will therefore be embedded in the curricula.
EUTOPIA universities will support students to work in groups across institutions, enabling them to become fully responsible global citizens. The educational formats will allow for a better understanding of society through challenge-based teaching, internships in the private and public sector, participation of students and staff in problem-solving assignments, student research activities and related forms of interactive teaching and learning.
2.1: Developing EUTOPIA’s education strategy and implementation plan
This sub-Work Package will coordinate all education activities in the EUTOPIA pilot project. Therefore it will follow up on the output generated by the sub-Work Packages within Work Package 2 but also integrate the education-related output from other Work Packages.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 28 of 157 In order to implement a joint strategic educational approach, based on the vision of the alliance, the following actions will be undertaken: Semestrial joint meeting of delegations of the boards responsible for education, to follow up on the projects. Preparation of strategic notes on the development of all sub activities in this Work Package. Development of the joint education strategy and implementation plan, aligned to the EUTOPIA vision of openness and inclusion, and taking into account the operational, regulatory and budgetary conditions for this strategy.
2.2: Facilitating EUTOPIA’s curriculum
In order to prepare the implementation of joint EUTOPIA educational programmes, a clear view of current obstacles, enablers and solutions will be needed. A comparative analysis will therefore review institutional, local and international rules/legislation, including systems for quality control and accreditation. The concluding report will be complemented by the research on sustainable business models in Work Package 7 and by the comparative work on international practices done through Work Package 6 (where this Work Package will collaborate in partnership with agencies such as the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education, and Universities UK International) in order to give a complete overview of the educational landscape.
Notwithstanding current obstacles emanating from differences in the legislatory framework, in the pilot phase the implementation of EUTOPIA’s curriculum will be facilitated by working along the principles of the Erasmus+ exchange programme.
2.3: Implementing pilots for realising EUTOPIA’s educational programmes
The EUTOPIA partners will organise cross-disciplinary content on a collaborative learning platform. An important objective of this platform is to create transparency and a portal for all stakeholders (staff, students, external) involved in the partner universities. On the platform all curriculum development within the EUTOPIA project will be kept up to date. Educational content will come from three main sources: screening of the existing curriculum components in the six partner universities fulfilling the criteria of openness and inclusivity, and aligning with the thematic areas mentioned in the vision. In cooperation with the International Work Package we shall review existing work formats and programmes for connecting on the platform co-creation from EUTOPIA’s learning community formats resulting from developments in Work Packages 3, 4, 5 and 6.
We shall maximise impact by making these educational formats available to all on the collaborative platform. These will be available to all programmes that have adopted a EUTOPIA window of mobility (virtual or blended formats). The skills gained through these curriculum components will be recognised by the international certificate developed in Work Package 6.
To ensure delivery of these results, support for the involved staff is essential. Drawing on expertise in enabling and empowering cross-institutional learning, we shall support learning circles and innovative design across institutions.
Existing curriculum components
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 29 of 157 In their present curricula the EUTOPIA partners have developed education formats that prove their expertise in connecting staff, students and non-academic stakeholders. A preliminary sharing of current practices has already demonstrated opportunities offered by our collective curriculum. These will be spread over all levels of the educational cycle and will include the following.
Challenge-based learning: this refers to a set of working methodologies which enable students to connect and integrate knowledge in a crossdisciplinary way. This set of methodologies will be adopted as a transversal activity in several disciplines to solve real world social and industrial issues. Such an approach guarantees a clear impact on society through specific programmes launched by public institutions or private funders.
Research-inspired learning: students will be offered a range of opportunities through specific modules and workshops. Alongside a dissertation, an original piece of work under the supervision of a member of academic staff is carried out. Workshops and conferences using video- conferencing technology will provide student researchers with an opportunity to present and discuss their own research with staff and students from several universities across the world. Non-academic stakeholders can be invited to attend these presentations.
Problem-solving assignments: to train the international and communication skills of our students, transdisciplinary and transinstitutional groups of students will be created to propose collaborative solutions to a problem proposed by a stakeholder such as a company, organisation, or research unit. After a kick-off meeting with all people involved, the students will carry out their assignment while staying in their home university, exchanging data and using online tools. They will be co-tutored by the academic and the professional staff providing the subject.
Raising Science Outreach: Doctoral Schools will provide training to increase the visibility and image of the PhD, both inside and outside the academic world. This will include training for entrepreneurial skills involving inter alia learning how to turn research into a business proposal where applicable. Concretely this will be done by organising, coordinating and acknowledging workshops, seminars, master classes, regular courses, etc.
Work experience: professional work placements will be used as learning formats that translate skills that students will have acquired throughout their degree into a real context. EUTOPIA will consider it a co- responsibility between universities and companies/institutions to offer internships in which students work on small-scale projects in the real world with an experimental and riskless component.
Results from co-creation
Building on the experience resulting from the educational formats described in the previous paragraphs, we want to open up our educational content in the way Wikipedia opened up the encyclopaedia industry. EUTOPIA will therefore promote crowdsourcing techniques on our collaborative platform. A creative-commons approach fosters debate on curricula and course content and incorporates
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 30 of 157 stakeholders transparently. Lessons learned in the Wikipedia-community will serve as a guide to streamlining this process.
A EUTOPIA course can be co-created with staff, students, and experts, in an interactive way which ensures dynamic content. In a first stage the mechanism will be piloted within one university; in the next stage courses will be made available on the collaborative learning platform.
Results from other Work Packages Through close coordination with the initiatives developed by the Work Packages on Knowledge, the International, Inclusion and Place Making, new learning components will also be added to the collaborative learning platform.
Lead Vrije Universiteit Brussel (coordination and WP2.1) Organisation Participating Partner Universities Organisations and their University of Ljubljana (WP2.2) contribution University of Gothenburg (WP2.2) Université Cergy-Pontoise (WP2.3 Platform) University of Warwick (WP2.3 Educational Formats) Universitat Pompeu Fabra (WP2.3 Educational Formats) Associate Partners - Banco Santander (dedicated funds for challenge-based programmes) - CERN (research-inspired learning through IdeaSquare) - Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM, National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, Paris, Lifelong learning) - CRI (French-based Centre for Research and Interdisciplinarity) - Ministry of Public Administration of Slovenia (proxy to governmental decision making) - Region Västra Götaland (Swedish agency working with 49 municipalities, business and academia on vocational training and continuing education) - Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (activating international links)
- Universities UK International (activating international links)
Expected results Description 2.1: Developing EUTOPIA’s education strategy and implementation (outputs) plan
A report detailing the joint education strategy and implementation plan for the EUTOPIA Learning Community, approved by the boards responsible for education within EUTOPIA. (SD) A policy brief to the European Union and relevant governments identifying and describing the conditions needed for implementing this strategy in terms of operational, regulatory and budgetary context. (TI)
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 31 of 157 Reincorporation of findings, recommendations and feedback into the next phase of planning and delivery for the long-term EUTOPIA vision. (SD) Due dates Month 23: Joint Education strategy (at least 10 months before the end of the project to provide enough time to get approved by the institutional boards responsible for education) Month 32: Policy brief (to be ready for the final conference) Language(s) For dissemination purposes, these will be available in English.
Dissemination ☒ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☐ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination A public version of the joint education strategy will be made available on the EUTOPIA website. The policy brief will be disseminated more widely, utilising the methods discussed in WP7, the associate partners involved in dissemination along with EUTOPIA’s existing network of contacts. The target audience for this brief will be European Union and relevant national governments
Expected results Description 2.2: Facilitating EUTOPIA’s curriculum (outputs) A report detailing the obstacles, enablers and solutions for a truly European University. The report will allow a reincorporation of findings, recommendations and feedback into the next phase of planning and delivery for the long- term EUTOPIA vision. (SD) Due dates Month 6 (this will be reported at the first Education Meeting in SWP2.1) Language(s) For dissemination purposes, this will be available in English.
Dissemination ☒ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, etc.) ☐ for 'Restricted' dissemination A public version of the report will be made available on the EUTOPIA website. Copies will be sent out to key stakeholders at the European and national levels.
Expected results Description 2.3: Implementing pilots for realising EUTOPIA’s educational (outputs) programmes
2.3.1 Development of a collaborative learning platform. (PC)
The platform has a repository function but is much more than that. It is a portal enabling the EUTOPIA learning community to come together. It also plays an important role in informing students and all EUTOPIANs on the nature of the educational formats chosen in the EUTOPIA first phase. It has to be linked to the windows for mobility in the present curricula in all partner universities. Courses and seminars on the platform will be opened up to the students of all partners. The modus operandi used for mobility (virtual, physical mobility and blended) will be indicated. The platform interconnects all stakeholders (staff / students and extra academical from the 6 partners) and is a major tool for transparency of all those involved in the development of the pilot.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 32 of 157 2.3.2 Development of learning units (PC/TI)
Each EUTOPIA university will gradually integrate learning units on the collaborative platform arriving at a minimum of 5 formats per partner by the end of the pilot project. The combined effort of the six universities will result in 30 learning units.
Based on an average capacity of 25 students per learning unit per university this results in an outreach towards 4500 students experiencing international mobility.
The 30 members of teaching staff initiating these learning units will have been trained to engage in new pedagogical approaches adapted to expand their best practices on the EUTOPIA platform and to inspire their colleagues from the five other EUTOPIA partners universities. Training will be evaluated. Thereby creating 30 learning communities in each of the six partner universities, thus involving 6*30=180 teaching staff.
Assuming that 50% of the learning units on the collaborative platform reach out to a minimum of one external stakeholder per university, the 30 learning communities operating in 6 universities will engage a minimum of 90 stakeholders.
Due dates Month 9: 6 learning units designed to be available on the platform. Month 21: 12 additional learning designed to be available on the platform (total of 18 learning units.) Month 33: 12 additional learning units available on the platform (total of 30 learning units.) Language(s) English
Dissemination (means, targets, ☐ for 'Public' dissemination ☒ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination In the first instance, the learning units will only be available to those with access to the collaborative platform.
Planned Explain and justify how the different types of expenditures will be used for project activities budget under this WP (e.g. staff costs, mobility costs if any, equipment costs if any, sub-contracting costs if any, etc.) expenditures (please see the 'Funding rules' of the European Universities' in the E+ Programme Guide) SWP 2.1: Developing EUTOPIA’s education strategy and implementation plan For the management of the activities in this Work Package, a part-time (0.5FTE) coordinator will be employed at VUB, for the duration of the project. This person will be at senior level or similar, with experience in leading a board responsible for education at a university. This person will prepare the strategic notes, the EUTOPIA education approach and the policy brief, which will be discussed by the boards responsible for education.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 33 of 157 Additionally, a part-time (0.5FTE) project officer will be employed at VUB, for the duration of the project. This person will have an administrative profile, with experience in educational policy on faculty or institutional level. This person will be responsible for the practical organisation of the activities in this Work Package and support the coordinator in the preparation of the different documents.
As it is essential for the educational boards of the EUTOPIA universities to meet each other and jointly create EUTOPIA’s educational strategy, the delegations of the educational boards of EUTOPIA will meet each semester. These delegations will consist of four people, including two student representatives. They will also discuss the development of the implementation of the activities of this Work Package , do the evaluation of said activities and prepare the policy brief identifying and describing the conditions of the EUTOPIA educational strategy. The costs of these five meetings are related to travel and subsistence of the delegations of the boards responsible for education, the coordinator and the project manager, as well as to related catering and venue details. Each EUTOPIA university will host one meeting. In the last semester of the project the delegations will meet at the final conference in Ljubljana.
SWP 2.2: Facilitating EUTOPIA’s curriculum In order to prepare the implementation of the educational programmes, a clear view on the current obstacles, enablers and solutions is needed. Therefore two full-time (1FTE) junior researchers will be employed to do the mapping and write the report in the first six months of the project. Both people will need to have an interest in European educational systems and related legislation. One researcher (University of Ljubljana) will focus on the quality assurance systems and the other researcher (University of Gothenburg) will focus on regulatory frameworks.
These people need to visit each institution in order to get acquainted with the local context, related to their focus. The costs of these research visits are due to travel and subsistence.
Both researchers need to communicate on a regular basis on their progress and will meet together to prepare the joint report with the contingency factors needed for a truly European University. This also implies costs for travel and subsistence.
SWP 2.3: Implementing pilots for realising EUTOPIA’s educational programmes Collaborative platform
To define, implement and maintain the collaborative platform, a part-time (0.5FTE) platform enabler with knowledge in educational formats will be employed at the Université Cergy-Pontoise, for the duration of the project. In the first year this person will travel to each institution to research the existing educational software in the EUTOPIA institutions; and after the implementation of the platform this person will again travel to each institution to train the local ICT staff and educational staff in the EUTOPIA universities on how to use the platform. This person will also be in contact with the user groups at each institution.
Educational formats To coordinate the different educational formats in this sub-Work Package and ensure cohesion, a part-time (0.5FTE) educational expert in academic curriculum will be employed at the University of Warwick, for the duration of the project. This person will keep an overview of the content on the collaborative platform and also participate in the meetings of the educational boards.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 34 of 157 To do the mapping of the existing curriculum components that meet the criteria described above, a part-time (0.5FTE) researcher will be employed at UPF, for one year. For this assignment this person will visit each institution to meet the educational experts of the six partners. These meetings have costs of travel and subsistence.
Additionally, this Work Package aims at supporting teaching staff in using the collaborative platform and thus contributing to the EUTOPIA Learning Community. Therefore, they will be assisted to cope with the additional work load emanating from opening up their curriculum component to the EUTOPIA partners. Part-time (0.2FTE) teaching assisting staff will be allocated for each of the teaching staff during the pilot project. The amount needed for this support will increase gradually over the three years following the implementation of the 30 learning units on the collaborative platform. The teaching staff will also receive training on how to enable cross-institutional learning through learning circles. These training events will entail costs of travel and subsistence.
WP3 – Description of Activities
WP 3 Title Integrating and opening research, innovation and knowledge creation in EUTOPIA
Description of the Vision planned activities The EUTOPIA learning model explained in Work Package 2 draws on a challenge-based approach to learning, and encourages crossdisciplinarity, openness and mobility. Our educational model will be demonstrated in and through the development of a EUTOPIAn learning community. But as research-driven universities we also connect the educational project to the organisation of our research and innovation activities, in Work Package 3. Two strands of objectives and activities will grow integration of the EUTOPIA research communities, and connection of EUTOPIA research activities to local and regional contexts. Integration will involve training and mobility actions, and joint development of research connected to societal challenges. Connection of research activities will involve stimulation of awareness and capacity-building activities concerning both the Open Science agenda and regional innovation.
The major scientific and societal challenges of our time demand new models of innovation and knowledge creation, that emphasise the need for academic research to open up :
To Society – research communities should cooperate with societal stakeholders, in order to act as mentors/coaches, knowledge transferers and supporters of impact that drives societal change for better, healthier, safer and fairer communities. To Business – research communities should engage with companies and organisations to transfer knowledge, technology and practice to those who are best placed to deliver into the marketplace. This will deliver economic growth, job security and sustainable development in the longer term. To Students – research communities should educate and empower the next generation of European Union leaders through direct involvement with development and delivery of research-led education and training. Students should learn from the best academics in both physical and virtual classrooms. To Stakeholders – Multi-cultural and geographically located groups of researchers, students, industry, NGO’s, policymakers and wider stakeholders within the EUTOPIA ecosystem should work together openly and synergistically
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 35 of 157 WP 3 to demonstrate that our approach is the way in which relevant and impactful research should be delivered.
Promoting innovation and societal impact thus requires the development of integrated knowledge-creation communities gathering researchers and stakeholders from outside academia. Introducing a challenge-driven approach to the definition of research agendas also requires moving away from traditional disciplinary research programmes to embrace a broader, cross-disciplinary approach and the stimulation of interdisciplinary collaboration. Lastly, as the creation of knowledge is becoming increasingly internationalised, new models of research collaboration need to be invented to reach beyond the realm of single institutions, while at the same time being conducive to serendipity and open interactions in a way that typical single disciplinary networks do not allow.
One of the key objectives of EUTOPIA is to promote an integrated, challenge-driven, knowledge-creation community across its institutions, reaching within and outside Europe.
Objectives
Internationalisation has become a core strategic pillar for many universities in the world. Whilst there are several excellent, but limited, collaborations involving various mobility schemes and agreements between higher education institutions (Erasmus, Marie Curie, The Guild, Aurora for example), there are currently no substantive, in-depth and truly integrated actions delivering the above aims through deeply connecting complementary universities across Europe. In order to make a quantum leap there is a need to build a community that promotes and supports young rising academics and infuses them with European values and the EUTOPIAn vision of a challenge-driven, student-centred and diverse academy committed to the principles of openness and inclusion. As this approach succeeds and grows, it will reach beyond European borders into the rest of the world.
Integration will enable the promotion of excellence in research and innovation to a level that cannot be reached by any single institution. Integrating EUTOPIA’s communities into a common network of research collaboration will allow them to sustainably expand and diversify their collective range of expertise, foster academic leadership and exploit both personal and institutional complementarities in a cooperative, rather than competitive, way. We believe, in contrast to ad hoc partnerships, that this approach is conducive to delivering innovative “blue sky” research, exploiting serendipity and achieving impact. By integrating their research communities, EUTOPIA will allow each partner to achieve a substantial leap in quality and performance of research and innovation and enhance their international attractiveness for talented students and researchers.
EUTOPIA will drive the Open Science agenda as a core pillar recognising that knowledge needs not only to be free but also accessible for everyone. The future of Open Science is about ongoing collaborations with external stakeholders and citizens to make sure that what we know, they can also know. EUTOPIA will deliver greater connection between diverse local, regional and international stakeholders with an unprecedented openness of knowledge creation and sharing between academia, local businesses, regional actors and civil society actors addressing real societal challenges and delivering impact. WP3 will significantly engage with the Research and Innovation Commission outlined in WP1.
The 4 specific objectives of this WP are:
- SWP3.1 - The development of a challenge-based approach to research European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 36 of 157 WP 3 - SWP3.2 - The integration of our research communities - SWP3.3 - The promotion of innovation - SWP3.4 - The advancement of Open Science
Activities
SWP3.1 The development of a challenge-based approach to research The development of the EUTOPIA challenge-based approach to research rests on 3 main actions: 1. Establishing the EUTOPIAn Research Space 2. Building the EUTOPIAn Research Networks 3. Defining new EUTOPIAn Research Actions SWP3.1.1- Establishing the EUTOPIA Research Space EUTOPIA will develop a shared challenge-driven research agenda across key United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030 priority spaces where we believe can make a difference. It will connect and enable complementary research communities (academic- and student-based) within the alliance to engage the many wider stakeholders (including NGOs, Governments and industry) within our knowledge ecosystems. It will then map out how our collective capabilities can be put to best use to deliver societal change through research and innovation.
We will hold an annual facilitated meeting where we will bring together 36 stakeholders from a diverse range of disciplines and backgrounds to ‘workshop’ how specific challenges could be collectively addressed alongside emerging funding opportunities. We will select both attendees and focus challenge areas through a prior community-wide expression of interest that will allow us to both gauge support, connect with the EUTOPIA curricula and ensure diversity for the physical events.
SWP3.1.2- Building the EUTOPIA Research Networks Immediate success will rely on a proactive effort to build networks and communities of dedicated EUTOPIAn researchers immediately capable of collectively addressing the key priority areas identified in SWP 3.1.1. In order to achieve this, we will facilitate six- monthly themed workshops (Max 24 people each) where EUTOPIA researchers will connect with each other, students, regional and national actors from our collective eco-systems to define and develop focused research initiatives that can utilise and combine national, EU and international funding opportunities at that time.
Aligned to (and supporting) SWP3.2.2 we will invite 4 different ‘hidden talents’ researchers and potential research leaders within our communities to attend each meeting so that they will drive EUTOPIA in the longer term.
We will also connect EUTOPIAn network researchers with teaching best practice (WP2) to ensure that outstanding and inspirational researchers share their experiences and passion with EUTOPIA students who will become leading European Citizens and researchers in their own right.
SWP3.1.3- Defining new EUTOPIAn Research Actions EUTOPIA recognises that it is important to continually build our interdisciplinary and international research teams to aggressively tackle new challenges as they emerge over the course of the programme and afterwards. We also recognise that a number of external factors may prevent collaborations from bidding into suitable national and international funding mechanisms. These could include (but are not limited to) incompatible call timings, lack of proof of concept data, appreciable risk or capability
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 37 of 157 WP 3 gaps. In order to overcome these limitations, EUTOPIA will organise two specific ‘new- challenge’ sandpits for future projects that are not directly fundable by conventional EU routes. Attendees (20 academic and non-academic stakeholders, including from Associate Partners such as AIMPLAS) will be invited through an Expression of Interest where they can also propose challenge areas. After the sandpit and successful identification of project/consortia, the EUTOPIA partners will directly provide seed funding to enable exciting emerging groups to gain rapid research traction and thus demonstrate the value of the EUTOPIA approach to delivering innovation outside of traditional research constraints. SWP3.2 Integrating the research communities The integration of the EUTOPIA research community rests on 3 main actions: 1. The EUTOPIA Young Leaders Academy 2. The EUTOPIA Research Mobility program 3. The EUTOPIA Post-doctoral and doctoral training program SWP3.2.1- The EUTOPIA Young Leaders Academy The EUTOPIA Young Leaders Academy (YLA) will gather 12 promising Fellows from all partners of the alliance. YLA Fellows will be selected in the early stages of their research career (PhD+4 to PhD+10) and they will be supported by the YLA program to achieve significant research leadership (Specific training on research leadership; Dedicated support for research activities; teaching reduction; utilisation competences). YLA Fellows will constitute an integrated community of promising independent research leaders at the scale of EUTOPIA. Besides taking part in joint training programs, YLA Fellows will participate in dedicated transdisciplinary scientific events. We expect to hold two-yearly scientific events. The first one will be restricted to YLA Fellows. The second one will be open to the entire research community of the EUTOPIA alliance, upon invitation by YLA Fellows, who will serve as EUTOPIA alliance ambassadors. Lastly, Fellows will also be offered carte blanche mobility within EUTOPIA.
Fellows are expected to be primary contributors to the challenge-based and student- shaped approach of EUTOPIA. In particular, YLA Fellows will be expected to contribute one research-led, challenge-based training module open to undergraduate and graduate students.
SWP3.2.2- The EUTOPIA Research Mobility programme The research mobility programme will support short research visits of EUTOPIA researchers across partner universities in order to foster collaboration and integration, as well as to allow infrastructure sharing. Research visits will be project-led.
Where such an infrastructure opportunity exists, the local implementation of the mobility programme will be based in the Institute of Advanced Study of each institution. In other cases, the mobility scheme will be managed by the international office of the partner. Participants to the mobility scheme will be offered logistic support and will be introduced to the relevant research community of the host institution. This may include, in particular, participation in scientific communication at the hosting institution to increase exposure.
Visitors from overseas universities to one of the partner institutions will also be eligible to the research mobility programme, in order to foster global engagement of the EUTOPIA research community.
SWP3.2.3- The EUTOPIA Post-doctoral and doctoral training program EUTOPIA recognises the primary importance of training a new generation of creative, challenge-driven and innovative early-stage researchers, committed to the principles of European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 38 of 157 WP 3 Open Science and research cooperation that lie at the heart of our alliance. As a major step towards promoting excellence and openness in doctoral training, we will develop a common doctoral training programme transversal to all members of the alliance. The program will be operated as a joint EUTOPIA initiative and publicised as such, through a dedicated application portal. In the provision of training and the supervision of students, the programme will exploit complementary competences of the alliance, and enable sharing of knowledge and networking activities. It will rest on a shared selection process. In this pilot project, the selection procedure will seek to maximise synergies with the promotion of a challenge-driven research agenda. 18 selected doctoral students will conduct their PhD in partnership between at least two members of the alliance. Under a co-tutelle agreement, the students enrolled in this project will be offered co-supervision and will commit to mobility within the alliance. Students enrolled in this programme will be offered mutualised training in transferable skills aimed at enhancing their career perspectives in both the academic and non-academic sectors. Programme-wide scientific events will also be organised to promote a shared scientific culture and sense of common belonging.
SWP3.3 - The promotion of innovation
EUTOPIA’s Promotion of Innovation will be delivered through two activities:
1. Startup and Innovation Competition and Mobility Programme 2. Innovation Support Network and Mentoring SWP3.3.1- Startup and Innovation Competition and Mobility Programme All EUTOPIA institutions are strongly involved with their regional innovation eco- system. While this helps promote research impact, individual innovation efforts remain largely disconnected. Innovations that grow in one market are often cut off from relevant networks and funding opportunities, needed for their expansion. We will bolster innovation and research impact among EUTOPIA by developing a dedicated short-term mobility program for innovators (start-ups, academics, students and staff) and by having the technology transfer and innovation offices of our institutions act as bridges to the different regional innovation systems actors. As a result, we will allow promising start-ups and innovators to reach new regional markets and ultimately contribute, through the integration of our innovation clusters, to the competitiveness of the EU.
The Start-up and Innovation Competition will select start-ups and innovation projects currently hosted by our institutions. Selected projects will receive support in order to visit and learn from relevant innovation support actors within the EUTOPIA alliance, including existing innovation networks such as EIT Knowledge Innovation Communities.
SWP3.3.2 - EUTOPIA Innovation Support Network and Mentoring Programme Innovation and technology-transfer offices of the EUTOPIA institutions each offer significant resources for supporting translational research, impact-driven research and innovation, through for example, project coaching, funding, and intellectual property management. Innovation support could, however, be greatly enhanced by pooling resources and expertise across the EUTOPIA alliance. This would in particular generate significant economies of scale by allowing the innovating projects of any member of the alliance to reach out to a much broader context. Towards that end, EUTOPIA members will establish an Innovation Support Network, which will promote knowledge sharing, exchange of best practice, and the pooling of online resource by supporting study visits to facilitate staff exchange.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 39 of 157 WP 3 We will expand specific effort to support doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers in the translation of research for economic, societal or cultural benefit, the development of new collaborations with industrial, public, or third sector organisations, and career transitions from academia to employment in the above sectors. This will be achieved by combining available training resources aimed at developing student entrepreneurship with dedicated administrative support and adequate academic and non-academic mentoring.
SWP3.4 - The advancement of Open Science
The development of the EUTOPIA Open Science approach is built upon 3 main actions: 1. Establishing the EUTOPIA Open Science Office. 2. Building EUTOPIA’s Capacity 3. Preparing for a EUTOPIA Research Knowledge Bazaar SWP3.4.1- Establishing the EUTOPIA Science Office EUTOPIA will establish a common Open Science Office. The office will define and promote the Open Science agenda across EUTOPIA, not only emphasising open access but extending our commitment to open data, citizen science and research communication to citizens and stakeholders at our institutions and externally.
The office will gather Open Science experts from the different members of EUTOPIA. It will allow for capacity building and exchange of good practice and will constitute a network of specialists allowing the interaction of academic members and European citizens to deliver the Open Science agenda.
The office will be entrusted with three main missions: Conducting an awareness campaign to promote the Open Science objectives, across the alliance; Supporting researcher, staff and student initiatives in the area of Open Science; Monitoring and enforcing Open Science compliance of all research projects conducted under the aegis of the EUTOPIA 2050 project.
SWP3.4.2- Building EUTOPIA’s Capacity towards Open Science
Having scientific papers accessible through open journals is only a first step towards a truly open knowledge society. Enabling the broader population to access and value science requires a significant investment beyond open access. Cutting-edge research also needs to be accessible and adapted to educational course material, online content and to engage external stakeholders. EUTOPIA will support and build capacity for Plan S, Open Data, Science Clouds, Altmetrics, Open and accessible publications, knowledge modules that can be used by European citizens and to pave the way for Citizen Science.
Advancing the Open Science agenda within EUTOPIA requires capacity-building through the sharing of expertise and good practice and the training of our staff and students. A virtual platform will be developed to facilitate this process. It will allow communication and collaboration between EUTOPIA experts and the creation of shared online training modules for staff, students, researchers and citizens in order to develop the Open Science skills.
A secondary line of work will examine and collect best practice on Open Data and Open Educational Resources in European universities. EUTOPIA will then develop a coherent set of policy models for Open Data and Open Educational Resources. These models will be sufficiently flexible so that each university can adapt them to their own particular and local needs. European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 40 of 157 WP 3
SWP3.4.3- The EUTOPIA Research Knowledge Bazaar
All new knowledge generated within EUTOPIA has potential impact and benefit for the wider society and could contribute towards important solutions of societal challenges. EUTOPIA will work with external stakeholders in order to make knowledge and innovation transfer simple and effective through open and participative events. EUTOPIA will encourage innovation through public collaboration between the arts, science and technology with the creation of a community of practice in citizen science. Our aim is also to collaborate with independent online content producers (outside of academia) to transform academic knowledge into accessible knowledge for all audiences. We will do this by defining and searching for additional funds in order to create a knowledge bazaar. Management
The University of Gothenburg will have overall responsibility for the management and delivery of the activities within the Work Package. The Work Package will work in accordance with the management principles and guidelines outlined in WP1. Progress against overall project aims will be monitored at the meetings of the Executive Board. Between Executive Board meetings, the University of Gothenburg will monitor progress within the Work Package as required.
Lead University of Gothenburg Organisation Participating University of Gothenburg will coordinate the overall activities of the Work Package and Organisations lead the sub-Work Package 1. and their Université Cergy-Pontoise will co-lead the overall activities of the Work Package and contribution lead sub-Work Package 2. University of Ljubljana (UL) will lead sub-Work Package 3. Universitat Pompeu Fabra will lead sub-Work Package 4. All universities, including Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the University of Warwick will take part in all the Work Package activities. Associate partners AIMPLAS Center for Research and Interdisciplinary (CRI) Sahlgrenska Science Park Technology Park of Ljubljana
Expected Description SWP3.1 The development of a challenge-based approach to research results Description of the action, expected results and calendar are provided (outputs) below for each action. SWP3.1.1- Establishing the EUTOPIA Research Space
Outcomes More connected and engaged communities Challenges to the EUTOPIA curricula.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 41 of 157 Outputs Annual facilitated meeting (TI) An updated SWOT analysis of the collective capabilities and interests within EUTOPIA that could be focused on European/Global challenges (TI) A roadmap of how EUTOPIA communities could be strengthened and deployed against specific research challenges/funding opportunities. (SD)
Due dates Annual meetings – Month 12, Month 24, Month 36 SWOT Analysis – Month 6 Roadmap – month 12 Description SWP3.1.2- Building the EUTOPIA Research Networks
Outcomes: A reinforced global research potential Key engagement of next generation EUTOPIA leaders and potential researchers. Outputs: 6 EUTOPIA Network workshops - tracking engagements of staff in workshops through activity reports, analyses and impact indicators (TI) Record of common research applications and awards and publications (TI) Due dates Workshops – Months 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36 Record of research applications and publications – Months 24 and 36 Description SWP3.1.3- Defining new EUTOPIAn Research Actions
Outcomes: More connected and engaged communities. Outputs: Sandpit events (TI) Newly identified research challenges Newly established research teams developing collaborative projects and joint publications Rapid Start High Risk, High Return Projects.
Due dates Sandpits - Month 9, Month 21 Research challenges - Month 10, Month 22 Research teams - Month 10, Month 22 Rapid start project kick off – Month 12, Month 24 Language(s) English
Dissemination (means, X for 'Public' dissemination targets, etc.) X for 'Restricted' dissemination Academic outputs will be made available through mechanisms including publication and production of briefing notes aimed at a public audience and publicised via EUTOPIA and institutional channels.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 42 of 157 Some outputs (SWOT analyses, records of research applications and awards) will be restricted to internal EUTOPIA use.
Expected Description SWP3.2 Integrating the research communities results Description of the action, expected results and calendar are provided (outputs) below for each action. SWP3.2.1- The EUTOPIA Young Leaders Academy (YLA) Outcomes: An emerging community of researchers that share and promote European values and the EUTOPIA vision of an interconnected academic environment Academic leaders highly integrated within challenge driven education Academic role models of challenge- and impact-driven researchers that can inspire and mentor those who come to follow.
Outputs:
YLA Fellows (PC) YLA Workshops (TI/PC) YLA visits (TI/PC) YLA participant activity report (TI) A catalogue of Research-led training modules. (PC)
Due dates YLA Fellows – Month 6 YLA workshops – Month 12, Month 18, Month 24, Month 30 YLA visits – Month 36 YLA activity report – Month 24, Month 36 Modules – Month 36 Description SWP3.2.2- The EUTOPIA Research Mobility program Outcomes: A reinforced global research outreach.
Outputs: A report on the emergent pan-EUTOPIA network of research collaborations to inform the development the research aspects of the long-term EUTOPIA strategy (TI) Researcher visit reports (TI) Newly established research teams developing collaborative projects and joint publications (TI) Log of visitors and engagement from outside of EUTOPIA. (TI)
Due dates Network report – Month 36 Visit reports – Month 12, Month 24, Month 36 Visitor log – Month 12, Month 24, Month 36 Description SWP3.2.3- The EUTOPIA Post-doctoral and doctoral training programme Outcomes: An integrated cohort of early-career researchers trained at the EUTOPIA level
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 43 of 157 Research collaborations resulting from the training programme. Outputs: Implementation report to share experiences of the set-up of the scheme (TI) Map of research collaborations, including repots of new collaborative projects and joint publications, reviews and citation indices (TI/SD) Due dates Implementation report - Month 6 Map of collaborations - Month 36 Language(s) English
Dissemination (means, targets, etc.) X for 'Public' dissemination X for 'Restricted' dissemination
Academic outputs will be made available through mechanisms including publication and production of briefing notes aimed at a public audience and publicised via EUTOPIA and institutional channels.
Some outputs (visitor logs, implementation reports) will be restricted to internal EUTOPIA use.
Expected Description SWP3.3 The Promotion of Innovation results (outputs) Description of the action, expected results and calendar are provided below for each action. SWP3.3.1- Start-up and Innovation Competition and Mobility Programme
Outcomes: Expanded regional reach for start-ups. Outputs: Start-up competitions (PC) Winners eligible for start-up / innovation mobility A report on mobility visits to identify good practice and capture details of learning. (TI) Due dates Report – Month 12, Month 24, Month 36 Start-up competitions – Month 6, Month 18, Month 24 Description SWP3.3.2 - EUTOPIA Innovation Support Network and Mentoring Programme Outcomes: A better understanding of regional differences Increased innovation support capacity Collaborations with established mentorship networks in the different regions. Outputs: Study visits (TI)
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 44 of 157 A best practice report on inter-university innovation support for challenge driven research to be shared with EUTOPIA partners and beyond. This report will help to identify and make suggestions for overcoming barriers for collaborations. (TI) Due dates Visits – Month 36 Report – Month 36 Dissemination X for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, etc.) The best practice report will aim to reach a wide audience of external HEI stakeholders. We will utilise our Associate Partners involved in dissemination (e.g. the Guild) and the EUTOPIA website and social media channels. Similarly, winners of the start-up competition will be published through our public-facing dissemination streams.
Expected Description SWP 3.4 The advancement of Open Science results Description of the action, expected results and calendar are provided (outputs) below for each action. SWP3.4.1- Establishing the EUTOPIA Science Office Outcomes: Creation of a team of Open Science Officers from EUTOPIA institutions Knowledge of how to perform, deliver and disseminate Open Science.
Outputs Develop models and processes for running an effective Open Science Office (PC/SD) Closely monitor and support EU developments on alternative approaches, metrics, and experiences related to the aspects of visibility and dissemination of Open Science research outputs so that best practice is shared (TI) A report on the strategy for implementing an Open Science Office for consideration by the Strategic Board and Executive Board. (TI)
Due dates Models and processes – Month 12 Best practice report – Month 24 Strategy for implementing an Open Science Office – Month 36. Description SWP3.4.2- Building EUTOPIA’s Capacity Outputs: Report sharing best practices on Open Data and Open Educational Resources (TI) Policy report on joint policies and strategies for EUTOPIA institutions on developing and integrating the Open Science agenda (TI) Develop training guides for staff, students and researchers for online research communication and packaging together with WP7. (PC) Due dates Report on best practices – Month 6 Report on joint policies and strategies – Month 18 Training guides – Month 18.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 45 of 157 Description SWP3.4.3- The EUTOPIA Research Knowledge Bazaar Outcomes: Identified and shared understanding of key components for a Research Knowledge Bazaar Established cooperation with independent online content producers (via virtual means) Outputs: Funding bid for a Research Knowledge Bazaar (TI) Due dates Month 36 Language(s) English Dissemination X for 'Public' dissemination (means, Best practice report and public versions of strategy documents will targets, etc.) aim to reach a wide audience of external HEI stakeholders. We will utilise our associate partners involved in dissemination (e.g. the Guild) and the EUTOPIA website and social media channels
WP3 – Expenditures
Planned Explain and justify how the different types of expenditures will be used for project budget activities under this WP (e.g. staff costs, mobility costs if any, equipment costs if any, expenditures sub-contracting costs if any, etc.) (please see the 'Funding Staff costs are included for coordination and implementation of activities in WP3, rules' of the including facilitation and organisation of workshops, meetings and sandpits (3.1), setting European up the Young Leaders Academy, Research Mobility Programme and post-doctoral and Universities' doctoral training programme (3.2) and to run the innovation supporting activities (3.3). in the E+ Programme A significant mobility budget includes travel and subsistence costs for researchers to Guide) attend network meetings, workshops and sandpits (3.1). Fellows of the Young Leaders Academy will receive an annual mobility budget of €5k over two years, and be funded to attend the scientific events (3.2). The mobility programme (3.2) has funds for 24 Fellows to spend two weeks visiting partner institutions, and doctoral and post-doctoral Fellows will receive €5k mobility funding. Mobility funds are also included to cover the short- term (4-day) study visits and staff exchanges visits (3.3) and to develop the EUTOPIA Open Science Office (3.4)
Other costs are included for mobility costs for staff and researchers from outside of EUTOPIA who have been invited to participate in core project activities (3.1, 3.2) for developing the Open Science modules (3.4) and as prizes for the start-up competitions (3.3)
In addition to the EU contribution to EUTOPIA's budget, the partners have jointly agreed to provide an additional contribution of a minimum of €300k to the activities of WP3.
This additional contribution will be allocated as follows : - SWP3.1 : €105k for funding the research expenses of the challenge-driven projects selected under the internal bid - SWP3.2 : €80k for additional funding of the Young Leaders Academy to allow for the enrolment of an additional turnout of 12 Fellows - SWP3.3 : €115k for the funding of researcher and innovator mobility.
WP4 – Description of Activities
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 46 of 157 WP 4 Title EUTOPIA Place-Making
Description Vision of the planned Universities have been, in their origins, a space for the creation of knowledge to later become activities a meeting place for knowledge creators. Originally, universities were places where knowledge was created. Nowadays, however, the role of the University goes well beyond that. The University is now a space for the creation of knowledge, of sharing knowledge, but it also aspires to be a space for transformation of society. It’s time now to look ahead into the future. Universities have reached a turning point, marked by a global paradigm shift that poses new challenges and calls on us to redefine our traditional missions and encourage commitment to society, our communities and culture. This Work Package therefore sets out how we will help, through collaboration between universities and their partners, address global challenges from a local level. In order to meet the needs of society, (expressed for example in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals) and to address global challenges, universities can no longer merely be bastions of research and teaching excellence, existing in isolation. Rather, they need to foster both international collaboration and place-based collaboration. This will, in turn create the combination of generic leadership skills, and the place-and sector-based specific skills needed to successfully carry out their broader mission of contributing to societal welfare. Those universities thinking ahead into the future and willing to transform themselves into 21st century universities are doing so by promoting innovation and social transformation. They must transcend the institution’s walls to generate synergies with society in order to contribute to social welfare and create value while promoting, at the same time, their commitment to culture as an instrument for deciphering the contemporary world while actively engaging with it. To do so, it is crucial that universities are truly engaged with their cities and regions, and move from the traditional “Quadruple Helix” approach to relationships, to one of co-creation of knowledge with stakeholders developing new methodologies of collaboration. It is our objective therefore to co-create the environment, the platforms, the tools as well as the methodology which will strengthen those links in order to be truly transforming institutions, transferring knowledge to improve the quality of life and wellbeing (environmental, social and individual) of our territories. This implies that as part of the initial discovery phase of the pilot, a learning-by-doing process with an emphasis on entrepreneurial discovery focussed on both related and unrelated variety, is the right approach to take. The EUTOPIA alliance will enforce not only transversality, but also unrelated variety, bringing together students, researchers, businesses, professionals and society to shape the future social and economic agenda. The EUTOPIA alliance, therefore, is taking the responsibility for the global urban challenges as well as the challenges faced by the different stakeholders surrounding us. We see our institutions and the whole alliance as opening up (higher) education, interfacing with and enhancing economy and society, and valuing culture. All of the Universities in this alliance are already well embedded in their own places, with long standing connections and contributions to place-making. What we therefore offer is a trans- European extension to this, facilitating collaboration between our partners.
It goes without saying that the participating universities and territories will share good practice to capitalise on experience of economic promotion, industry reconversion or urban development. For example, the Olympics were transformative for Barcelona, and there is now a 30-year long institutional memory of how this has been achieved. The @22 district - where Universitat Pompeu Fabra's Communication Campus is located - is the direct heir of the 1992 Olympics changes, still on-going. The West Midlands of the UK will host the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and Coventry is the UK City of Culture in 2021, while Paris will host the Olympics
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 47 of 157 WP 4 in 2024. The opportunities therefore for inter-partner collaboration on place-making, with engagement with young people at the centre of this are evident. Through such interactions, working to maximise the economic, societal and cultural benefits of this, through experience of others, offers a new paradigm of place-making for universities. This kind of co-operation will be facilitated by building bridges between regional and city development agents, and nurtured with applied research and analysis carried out by universities.
It is by creating new spaces to test models for exchange and for dialogue across sectors, institutions and regions that EUTOPIA aims to pursue its objectives in relation to place-making.
Objectives 1. To foster inclusivity, to address challenges related to, and stemming from the stubborn levels of inequality that now beset all developed economies. We need to develop models of co-creation and co-production, engaging hard-to-reach groups, and those who economic development often passes by. To do this, we will develop collaborative partnerships where universities act as anchors to help the regions connect to each other. EUTOPIA universities have a long-standing tradition of working in partnerships across borders, with mobility as a means of discovery and expanding knowledge. EU regional policy promotes regional collaboration as a method for working towards integration and social cohesion. However, we seek to develop this further. Under the European Universities initiative, EUTOPIA partners would take the lead in engaging their places, connecting them and facilitating exchanges and encouraging new initiatives to emerge. This agenda is committed to economic growth and innovation that is inclusive in its approach and nature, “connecting cranes to communities”.
2. Promoting creative partnerships to prioritise challenges. As the challenges faced by a place can no longer be seen or solved in isolation, we propose to connect universities, national and local government, enterprise and society. This will generate a meaningful network of inter-connected partnerships, to deliver a transformation in the understanding of societal problems, and maximise the impact of combining mobility, knowledge creation, education and engagement. Because of their global reach, the EUTOPIA universities will be the driving force of a new global agenda to be addressed with and within their places and with the relevant stakeholders under a European perspective. The activities EUTOPIA proposes to test and to develop have been conceived under these lenses. ACTIVITIES In order to achieve our objectives, the EUTOPIA alliance is proposing a set of activities to explore how the co-creation of knowledge, environments, platforms, tools and methodologies can help us to be truly transforming institutions. The activities proposed by the alliance are grouped around 5 messages: ENGAGE, OBSERVE, ASK, CREATE and GIVE. Activities are described according to this framework and the order does not reflect the sequence of events (see Planning).
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 48 of 157 WP 4
4.1 ENGAGE Sub-Work Package 4.1.1. Creation and nurturing of a shared and long-term place-based pool of partners to provide a global platform of co-operation. These partners need to embrace the EUTOPIA values and mission. By participating in EUTOPIA they gain new connections with other stakeholders as potential collaborators as well as exposure to European projects and markets. Each of the EUTOPIA partners will create its own pool of partners. They will be featured under a special website section, including a public profile and contact form. Indeed, partners will be acknowledged with a EUTOPIA label, which entails its commitment to the values of the consortium, above all openness and inclusion. Associate Partners, such as Région Île de France, Barcelona City Council and Business Region Göteburg, have been carefully chosen to integrate this core pool and in some cases they represent a network of private and public stakeholders, thus enhancing the reach in the territory and the breadth of sectors and fields. This core pool will be enlarged by engaging new partners in the different activities of alliance when considered appropriate for the added value they bring in and their potential contribution to sustainability of EUTOPIA. For instance, particular stakeholder organisations can provide collaborative PhD and research opportunities and join this pool. Associate Partners will a contact liaison at the Project Management Office that will work closely with the WP4 Co-ordinator. Associate Partners have been incorporated into the management and governance structure to make sure they actively participate in the implementation and decision-making, thus setting the foundations for a real engagement. Co-ordinating institution: University of Warwick Sub-Work Package 4.1.2. Creation of a “BEUTOPIAN” award recognising best global challenge solving team.
The EUTOPIA alliance will jointly launch a set of place-based challenges with a global scope to be solved by students, supported by a co-creation environment. The finalist will come from the weEUTOPIAns competition of ideas (see 4.4.2), while topics will be identified in the Challenge Programme (see 4.3). An ad hoc awarding committee will be set up bringing together
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 49 of 157 WP 4 both universities and stakeholders to assess the work done and presented by finalist teams themselves. In this way, the alliance will recognise the best approach to the launched challenges and work closely with the stakeholders to study and plan for implementation of pilot solutions. Co-ordinating institution: University of Warwick 4.2 OBSERVE Sub-Work Package 4.2.1. Place Discovery.
All EUTOPIA partners will develop a network on the crossroads between education, research, society and art under the weDISCOVER label. This activity is conceived in, and builds on, close collaboration with companies, government institutions, cultural centres and other social and international entities. From a student perspective, the aim is to promote a scientific approach to identify topics of social concern and enquiry in our immediate environment. This is the reason why the weDISCOVER place discovery proposes an on-site and hands-on series of visits and interviews at local level. This process of discovery is designed to breach the universities’ walls and allow knowledge acquisition beyond them. It is by facilitating a deeper understanding of institutions, enterprises and civil society, and the links between them, that students involved will gain new insights as well as interdisciplinary approaches to their quotidian reality. Students will get awareness of local-global challenges in Europe and be inspired to think of practical and applied solutions based on existing or original knowledge and research. This way, the discovery process may also be linked to both Undergraduate and Postgraduate projects. In a project perspective, weDISCOVER will feed in topics for identifying challenges in 4.3.
In practice, under the guidance of academic and professional mentors, a group made up of a maximum of 18 students coming from all EUTOPIA universities will spend a week in a host city/region of the alliance. Partners will provide mentors, both in their own place, and in other locations. The diverse composition of the group will enrich the experience as well as the connections and comparison with students’ home places. When connected to a course, both mentors and participating students can transfer their experience to and engage with a wider student population.
This activity builds up on Vrije Universiteit Brussel’s initiative of WeKONNEKT Brussels, consisting of stet on-site visits programme opening up the city in all its different dimensions and perspectives to students. WeDISCOVER will cross parallel local activities to broaden the perspective of a diverse and yet united Europe, facing very similar challenges. Co-ordinating institution: Vrije Universiteit Brussel Sub-Work Package 4.2.2. Each EUTOPIA partner will select a student as a Career Ambassador that will share with the rest of the ambassadors all career opportunities in the alliance countries. The Career Ambassador will work closely with the University Career Services at his/her home university and will be connected with other Career Ambassadors at the partner universities. After an initial training workshop, they will be expected to meet virtually during the year and face-to-face once a year. By exchanging information, their task will be to organise specific information sessions and share resources for multiplier effects across the alliance and partners, to enhance both career opportunities, and employability more generally. The concept is based on the successful model of the European Personnel Selection Office Career Ambassadors programme. Co-ordinating institution: University of Ljubljana 4.3 ASK
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 50 of 157 WP 4 Sub-Work Package 4.3. To define a Challenge Programme open to EUTOPIA universities’ students to solve.
Such a programme will address place-based issues, be it in an urban or other contexts represented in the alliance. Each EUTOPIA university, in collaboration with its partners, will prioritise a collection of challenges to be shared with the rest of the members in order to agree on and devise a final Challenge Programme for the weEUTOPIAns competition of ideas (4.4.2) and the “BEUTOPIAN award”(4.1.2).
Common challenges with a global scope will be proposed by the universities in consultation with the EUTOPIA pool of partners, feeding into the Place Discovery activities (4.2.1) with the participation of students and with new ideas emerging in the co-creation space (4.4.1). Indeed, local contact points in each EUTOPIA partner will be in regular dialogue with Associate Partners and other local stakeholders, acting as intelligence (particularly for the “hard to reach” groups). Co-ordinating institution: Universitat Pompeu Fabra 4.4 CREATE
Sub-Work Package 4.4.1. Co-creation space and Knowledge hubs. As outlined in WP2, all EUTOPIA partners will establish virtual platforms for partners, faculty, students, professionals, business and social enterprise, to create knowledge or interest communities. Each university will host place-based knowledge placements to co-create solutions to the identified challenges. This new knowledge community goes beyond the local but grows from deep roots in each territory. Topics will reflect European (or global) challenges, which arise from sub-Work Packages 4.2.1 and 4.3, or are produced from the related and unrelated variety opportunities and sharing of that knowledge across places. This will therefore offer a model to create opportunities beyond the pilot for joint projects, start-ups, spin-offs, new ideas for both formal degrees and lifelong learning.
As for real physical spaces, two pilots are foreseen. Partner institutions are already positioned and working in specific topics which are both strategic to their home regions and based on academic strengths, in many cases linked to the Smart Specialisation Strategies. This is the case, for example, of in the Universitat Pompeu Fabra and the Cultural Industries and Media World cluster in Barcelona based in the 22@ district. The University plays an articulating role by creating the conditions, providing the space and enabling the platforms for different stakeholders to connect and work together.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 51 of 157 WP 4
A pilot is planned to develop and open up to the alliance the UPF’s current co-creative working space and similar spaces at the Université Cergy-Pontoise, so that possibilities and constraints can be identified to launch other physical spaces. The partners will explore the potential for collaborative PhDs as part of their work.
Co-ordinating institutions for pilots: Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Université Cergy-Pontoise
Sub-Work Package 4.4.2. weEUTOPIAns.
A competition of ideas to define the shared challenges and identify the collaborating teams which will develop the solutions. Student-based exchange collaboration will be executed in a Fablab or Hacklab. Each partner will set up their own teams that will participate in the EUTOPIA competition.
At each partner university, the creation of interdisciplinary teams will be conducted under the supervision of faculty mentors. Each partner will present to their pool of partners all the teams, and the EUTOPIA pool of partners will jointly decide which teams have come up with the most comprehensive approach and the best solution to the challenge.
In order to encourage unrelated variety, the EUTOPIA alliance will promote a one-week Hackathon involving the 6 multidisciplinary teams. Short-term mobility allowing for face-to- face interaction is foreseen as a crucial element of challenge solving and knowledge sharing. Participation in global challenges will be recognised as extracurricular activities and eventually embedded into the curriculum, either linked to internships or degree final project. Co-ordinating institution: University of Gothenburg
Communication and dissemination Activities that take place in this Work Package are aligned with WP7 Dissemination and Sustainability and are designed to contribute to further engagement in a virtuous circle. See Dissemination details for each activity below.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 52 of 157 WP 4
Leadership development Leadership development is central to the additionality of the alliance. Growing future leaders through the student experience is one element, but we see additionality as not merely being a function of mobility, but of collaboration, both between universities and partners, but also between partners. The alliance universities are clear conduits for mobility and collaboration, but the partners, offering combinations of Public-Private Partnerships, and with different perspectives of place-based policy and governance, offer further insight. Thus, through these collaborations we will develop new models of place-based leadership, based on shared experiences, and immersion in a common set of problems and goals. Management The Universitat Pompeu Fabra will have overall responsibility for the management and delivery of the activities within the Work Package. The Work Package will work in accordance with the management principles and guidelines outlined in WP1. Progress against overall project aims will be monitored at the meetings of the Executive Board. Between Executive Board meetings, the Universitat Pompeu Fabra will monitor progress within the Work Package as required. WP4 will significantly engage with the External Engagement Commission as outlined in WP1, and will also contribute to the work of the Learning Commission and the Research and Innovation Commission.
Lead Universitat Pompeu Fabra Organisation Participating University of Warwick: co-ordinating place-based pool of partners [4.1.1], creating Organisations beEUTOPIAn awards (4.1.2) and local contact point and their contribution Vrije Universiteit Brussel: co-ordinating weDISCOVER programme [4.2.1] and local contact point University of Ljubljana: co-ordinating Career Ambassadors network [4.2.2] and local contact point Universitat Pompeu Fabra : co-ordinating the Challenge programme [4.3]; co-ordinating Space and Knowledge Hub [4.4.1] (with two pilots: a) UPF b) Université Cergy-Pontoise) Université Cergy-Pontoise: co-ordinating Communication and Dissemination [4.5], pilot Co- creation Space and Knowledge Hub [4.4.1.b) Fablab] and local contact point University of Gothenburg: co-ordinating weEUTOPIAns challenge competition [4.4.2] and local contact point Associated Partners 22@Network BCN Barcelona City Council Business Region Göteburg Conseil Agglomération de Cergy-Pontoise Euopean Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) Fira de Barcelona Flanders Investment and Trade (FIT) Région Île de France West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA)
WP4 - Results (outputs and outcomes)
Expected results Description Sub-Work Package 4.1.1: Creation and nurturing of a shared and (outputs) long-term place-based pool of partners to provide a global platform of cooperation. (TI) European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 53 of 157 Outcomes: Universities and Associate Partners actively collaborating and better informed about challenges and opportunities. Process innovation through collaboration Increased mobility across the alliance, supporting the initiatives of WP2 and WP3. Outputs: 6 place-based partner meetings, one in each territory, each with an identified lead These leads to form a “virtual board”, to identify the best teams (round 1 and round 2). Due dates Virtual board meeting round 1 – Month 19 Virtual board meeting round 2 – Month 34. Language(s) English and own languages ☒ Dissemination for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☐ for 'Restricted' dissemination etc.) Website, Press releases in general and specialised media, Social media channels.
Expected results Description Sub-Work Package 4.1.2: Recognising best global challenge solving (outputs) team with a “BeUTOPIAn award”. (PC) Outcomes: Increased mobility across the alliance Student exposure to stakeholders Related and unrelated variety that this is transformational, inclusive and sustainable.
Outputs: 3 finalist teams (6 students each) competing for progress into a concept phase 1 awarded team (6 students) able to conceptualize and push forward a project into an implementation phase Briefings highlighting EUTOPIA students and stakeholders as thinkers and doers from each team Policy briefings on inclusive growth from each participating team.
Due dates Three finalist teams identified – Month 28 Award – Month 35 Briefings – ongoing, Month 36. Language(s) English and own languages ☒ for 'Public' dissemination Dissemination ☐ (means, targets, for 'Restricted' dissemination etc.) Website, Press releases in general and specialised media, Social media channels. Participation of winners and finalists in conferences for multiplying effects. Local TV broadcast of competition to be explored.
Expected results Description Sub-Work Package 4.2.1. Place Discovery under the weDISCOVER (outputs) label. (SD) Outputs:
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 54 of 157 Site-visit projects involving local Associate Partners, to discover the depth of the challenge in their home region. (6 teams of 6 students from each alliance partner). The WP will track progress through period reports. Pilot groups of students from all EUTOPIA universities will spend a week in another alliance partner location Site-visits programme development modelled on weKONEKT Brussels Identifying the related and unrelated variety opportunities and sharing of that knowledge across places o Prioritising these into the challenge programme Identifying opportunities beyond the pilot. Communication briefings featuring EUTOPIA students and stakeholders as thinkers and doers.
Due dates Projects identified – Month 8 Visits with reports – Month 35 Briefings – ongoing, Month 36. Language(s) English (to allow for wide dissemination) and other EUTOPIA languages ☒ for 'Public' dissemination Dissemination ☐ (means, targets, for 'Restricted' dissemination etc.) Website, Press releases in general and specialised media, Social media channels at both EUTOPIA level and partner universities level. Live documentaries and observation diaries produced by students themselves.
Expected results Description Sub-Work Package 4.2.2. EUTOPIA Career ambassadors (TI) (outputs) Outcomes: Increased mobility across the alliance, with internships done in another partner’s country Exchange of good practice among University Career Services involved in the supervision.
Outputs: The development of 6 careers ambassadors Packages detailing placement and career opportunities in the different countries and regions in the consortium 5 sessions targeted at employability and employment opportunities organised at each partner university (30 sessions)
Due dates Ambassadors identified and training workshop – Month 8 Annual meeting – Month 20, Month 32 Employability sessions - ongoing, Month 36. Language(s) English (to allow for wide dissemination) and other EUTOPIA languages ☒ for 'Public' dissemination Dissemination (means, targets, ☐ for 'Restricted' dissemination etc.)
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 55 of 157 Information sessions to be advertised widely and materials to be published on EUTOPIA website and existing institutional
Expected results Description Sub-Work Package 4.3. Final Challenge Programme open to students (outputs) teams. (PC) Outcomes: Sustained collaboration between universities and partners Identifying the related and unrelated variety opportunities and sharing of that knowledge across places.
Outputs: Identifying opportunities – realised or potential Prioritising these into the challenge programme, developing a multidisciplinary framework Incorporating outputs from 4.1 into the setting of the final challenges Combining outputs with identified place-based needs and opportunities for related and unrelated variety Developing models of collaboration and innovation between universities and partners in partners Identifying opportunities beyond the pilot, further development and implementation of the smart specialisation approach. Gather feedback from Associate Partners and other stakeholders on the progress Challenge Programme
Due dates Challenge programme setting – Month 14 Identifying opportunities beyond the pilot – Month 35 Feedback reports – Month 36 Language(s) English (to allow for wide dissemination) and other EUTOPIA languages ☒ for 'Public' dissemination Dissemination (means, targets, ☐ for 'Restricted' dissemination etc.) Website and open public debates to prepare and raise awareness of the weEUTOPIAns competition
Expected results Description Sub-Work Package 4.4.1. Co-creation space and Knowledge hubs. (outputs) (TI) Outputs: A series of 12 place-based collaborations involving participating partners and stakeholders Each team to produce a final report, working with both host and home partners. This report will allow a reincorporation of findings, recommendations and feedback into the next phase of planning and delivery for the long-term EUTOPIA vision. Identifying the related and unrelated variety opportunities and sharing of knowledge across places: o Prioritising identified opportunities o Developing an evaluation framework for “what works” European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 56 of 157 o Identifying scaling opportunities beyond the pilot
Due dates Setting place-based Knowledge Hubs and co-creation space – Month 3 Reports given to Knowledge Hubs for feedback – Month 24 Final reports – Month 36. Language(s) English (to allow for wide dissemination) and other EUTOPIA languages ☒ for 'Public' dissemination Dissemination ☐ (means, targets, for 'Restricted' dissemination etc.) Website, virtual platform where both restricted and open public debates and exchanges take place.
Expected results Description Sub-Work Package 4.4.2. WeEUTOPIANs challenge competition (PC) (outputs) Outcomes: Related and unrelated variety solutions to global challenges Outputs:
6 students’ teams participating in challenge-based activities across the alliance 36 students (6 teams of 6) from all EUTOPIA universities having passed the first selection working together in the Hackathon, with increased mobility across the alliance.
Due dates Setting student-based challenges– Month 8 First draft of challenge programme – Month 17 Hackathon week – Month 24 3 teams selected for ongoing work of challenges – Month 32 Language(s) English (to allow for wide dissemination) and other EUTOPIA languages ☒ for 'Public' dissemination Dissemination ☐ (means, targets, for 'Restricted' dissemination etc.) Website, Press releases in general and specialised media, Social media channels. Local TV broadcast of competition to be explored.
WP4 – Expenditures
Planned budget Explain and justify how the different types of expenditures will be used for project expenditures activities under this WP (e.g. staff costs, mobility costs if any, equipment costs if any, (please see the sub-contracting costs if any, etc.) 'Funding rules' of the European According to the activities described above, staff costs are foreseen at different levels: Universities' in Coordination and implementation of WP4 via a dedicated Work Package Co- the E+ ordinator Programme Local liaison contact points or antennae to stay in touch with associate Guide) partners and organise activities Directors of pilot Co-creation spaces and Knowledge Hubs Academics and professionals to mentor students, participating in the design and implementation of activities; to being part of Committees for the Challenge-based activities, and knowledge transfer. European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 57 of 157 There is a specific budget for mobility costs, which includes: Short term stays (2 to 5 days) when students and tutors take part in on-site activity (4.1.2, 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.4.2). Mobility being part of a blended-approach.
To keep costs to a minimum, Work Package coordination meetings will be held virtually.
Some activities require equipment costs, particularly important for the set up of Co- creation spaces (4.4.1), but also relevant for virtual tools and platforms that allow interaction and collaborative work across space (4.3). Other costs are foreseen for the awards (4.1.2) and for printing materials (4.1.2).
WP5 – Description of Activities
WP 5 Title Promoting inclusion and equal societies
Description of the planned activities Vision
Inclusion, openness and equality are key to the value framework of the European Union, and inherent in its core identity. Work Package 5 sets out to unite the EUTOPIA universities in a joint project to promote and further these values and, by doing so, to increase the quality, performance and attractiveness of European higher education institutions. Its starting point is: the recognition that quality resides in all individuals regardless of gender, socio-economic status, race, age, religious beliefs, ethnicity, migration background, capability, sexual orientation, transgender identity or expression; the conviction that new generations of Europeans greatly benefit from education environments that are diverse, thereby facilitating and strengthening cooperation across differences in terms of cultures, gender, ethnicity, languages, sexual orientation, and capacities, and contributing to European integration goals and post Berlin-Washington consensus developmental dynamics.
The challenge-driven mission here is the equal inclusion of all, pursued via transformation of educational mechanisms and associated access realities, in a manner that supports drives to increase and normalize quality, as well as the international competitiveness and attractiveness of the European higher education landscape. Inclusive higher education from this perspective not only contributes to the individual development, wellbeing and happiness of individuals from disadvantaged groups and lesser developed regions, but also drives upwards convergence in higher education itself, thus creating a dynamic virtuous spiral. All students thereby reap the advantages of a more inclusive higher education set of policies and practices, at local, regional and international levels of improvement, becoming more empowered via this student-centred mission; while the potentiality and plurality of Europe’s educational regions are championed, embodied and enhanced, to social, economic and participatory ends as well as educational ones. Inclusive higher education institutions therefore come to function better as direct role models for broader society, and can assist more transformatively in the development of social justice and inclusivity alongside their attendance to the abiding issues of quality, progress and competitiveness. By doing so,
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 58 of 157 WP 5 European higher education institutions will become more committed promotors of equal societies, and hence stand as a leading model for European and global education, especially in developmental contexts that involve the Europe-informed complex of issues relating to diversity, economic inclusivity, upskilling, and cohesion.
EUTOPIA’s focus on Inclusion in the pilot phase is a fundamental gesture of solidarity and identity for our alliance. It is premised on the preconditionality of this question, in our view, both to more general attempts to effect positive change in the related areas of economic, social, political and moral improvement, and to the EU’s most generative goals of widening membership, citizenship, participative democracy and equality of opportunity.
Therefore, while EUTOPIA pursues inherent and adjacent goals in Work Package 2 (with its focus on inter alia widening participation, part-time students, lifelong learning, and greater student empowerment) and in Work Package 6 (with its focus on the expansive dynamics of the international and being open to the world), it here targets the core issue of the universities’ own drives to make the highest educational aspirations available to all, which must include isolation and progressive erosion of their own barriers to inclusion.
This Work Package is therefore fully intended as an energetic, exemplary and exportable contribution to the crucial and urgent nexus of issues subtending the EU’s founding ideal of unity in diversity. In designing the EUTOPIAn response to this question, we drew inspiration and direction from key EU invocations: the principled endorsement of inclusivity as a core EU aim, in chapter 3 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights; the EU President’s own 2018 vision of inclusivity as the turning of circumstances into opportunity, and mirrors into windows; the Commission’s own 2017 Reflection Paper, which points to achievements in social inclusion allied to continuing inequalities across the European space in terms of driving greater job opportunity, economic coherence, social cohesion and fairness, and active citizenship, allied in turn to abiding themes such as mobility, interdisciplinarity, lifelong learning and gender balance; the European Youth Portal’s fundamental insistence that inclusion involves more than economic resource, and is especially important for women, people of identifiable ethnic origins in relation to ghettoisation and marginalisation; the latest Eurostat data showing how almost a quarter of EU citizens are still at risk of poverty and economic exclusion, and the close correlation – detailed by ‘Living Conditions in Europe 2018’ - between this condition and general social participation; the focus on social cohesion as one of the eleven priorities for EU Cohesion Policy in 2014-2020, and where, as ‘thematic objective 9’, it sits directly alongside objective 10 on investment in education; and, finally, the findings of the Social Investment Package, adopted in 2013, which outlines reforms needed in Member States to secure more adequate and sustainable social policies through investing in people's skills and capabilities, and the key messages that should be taken into account when modernising social policies and adjusting
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 59 of 157 WP 5 them to new challenges, including via European Structural and Investment Funds.
Through focus on Inclusion, this Work Package therefore brings these aims and reforming recommendations into a single achievable project that isolates both the role of education in driving cohesion and upward convergence, and the barriers to entry into this virtuous dynamic that nonetheless subsist within and across universities themselves and their various contexts.
In this way, we shall pursue a precise pilot that generates concrete actions for educational impetus and influence in the EU areas of enlargement, cohesion and economic expansion, and delivers a timely and targeted contribution to EU considerations of the key transformative role of educational inclusivity in helping to achieve the wider social, economic and political aims now recognized as extending far beyond the failed application of the structural economics orthodoxies of the Berlin-Washington consensus.
This Work Package additionally exploits the regional advantages, conditions and insights bearing on analyses that arise from EUTOPIA’s precise membership, in order to further sharpen concrete engagement, structural modelling, and real-life benefits. Information and inspiration here were again derived from key EU directives and policy initiatives: the European Regional Development Fund’s support for regionally significant social inclusion measures, including significantly through the development of knowledge hubs; the EU’s current focus on the West Balkans region and its post- conflict transformation, and including particularly how a rigorously applied Washington consensus model inadequately addresses the social inclusivity necessary to drive both democratic growth and adherence to law.
We shall therefore initiate innovative comparative analysis that leverages research undertaken by the Slovenian Regional Platform for Benchmarking and Cooperation in Higher Education and Research, and by the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research, itself supported by the EU 2018 coordinated call in Sweden on ‘Social Economy, Inclusion, Youth Employment and Migrants’. We shall work very closely with these two Associate Partners to this end. In addition, we shall also incorporate Warwick’s institutional focus on widening participation in education, which to date has seen it apply for and be awarded national charter mark awards for its work on the opportunities (and barrriers) presented to the advancement of women, people of different ethnicity, people of non-normative sexuality and people with ability issues. From the UK context we shall further engage with the inclusivity agenda of the Sutton Trust, which both drives for widening access at the heart of university admission, and monitors how educational internationalisation must also attend to student body balance and financial inequality. From each of our partners we shall derive the insights, policy goals and output contexts connected to the distinctive inclusivity dynamics operating in and between city, regional, national, and international complexes, including those that must react to the social and political conditions of more-than-capitals such as Brussels, Ljubljana and Paris, or the multi-lingual identity politics lived in Barcelona or Brussels, or the regional gravitation felt in policy and identity terms by Warwick and Gothenburg. European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 60 of 157 WP 5
EUTOPIA membership provides the opportunity to effect a powerful sustainability strategy for this Work Package, with extensive sharing and mainstreaming capacity, via dissemination to a wide and varied stakeholder community. By virtue of our fundamental policy of openness and exploiting our findings’ interoperability and reusability, we shall become a role model in the capacity building of Inclusion drivers for European higher education and through it the European community.
Key principles underpinning EUTOPIA 2050 activities are therefore: participation and inclusion of the groups concerned in the development and implementation of tools and measures. EUTOPIA 2050 activities will actively encourage co-creation and co-production with students from disadvantaged groups in order to i) increase the quality of the tools and measures by furthering the fit with existing views and needs; ii) empower the groups concerned, develop ownership and stimulate their entrepreneurship; iii) importantly, avoid stigmatisation and essentialisation of the groups concerned; a context-specific approach to identifying disadvantaged groups and their needs, and to developing and implementing measures and tools. Notwithstanding the joint and coordinated approach, EUTOPIA 2050 will be attentive to specific needs that might well exist in different countries, local/regional cultures, and institutions, and with regard to specific groups. EUTOPIA 2050 will collaborate to create policy impact, without advocating let alone imposing standardisation. The geographical spread and diversity amongst the EUTOPIA universities are precisely appreciated and valorised as tools for the longer-term effectiveness of activities and actions in this field; a fundamental concern for social justice and the wellbeing of students, both valued in and of themselves, and as crucial prerequisites for success and student-centred and student empowering drivers in higher education.
Implementing principles of inclusion, openness, equality and diversity requires higher education institutions to move beyond traditional exchange approaches, and to implement well-coordinated practices and programmes that are explicitly and honestly designed to support two key goals: the need to foster the inclusion of all, regardless of gender, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, regional affiliation, migration background, capability, sexual orientation, transgender identity, or expression; the need to attend to the relationship between ideal inclusivity agendas on the one hand, and real student body balance and financial inequality issues on the other hand.
Additionally, current university exchange programmes have greatly contributed to the opening of the EU and increasing the number of active European citizens. Much of the movement, however, has been focused in a few of Europe’s areas, or has been mono-directional. Given the overarching principles of openness, inclusion, and cohesion of Europe’s regions, and extending Europe’s benefits to all, EUTOPIA aims to contribute in a focused way to the broadening and championing of the concepts of open and inclusive education, by adopting the case of the Western Balkans as a particularly timely and imbricated case in point for education and training, European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 61 of 157 WP 5 the development of 21st-century skills and competencies across all of Europe’s regions, and the post Berlin-Washington consensus contemplation of EU equitable growth.
To be true to the value of inclusion and openness, we commit to making all events organised by EUTOPIA in this Work Package accessible to people of different cultures, abilities, orientations, identities, and languages.
Objectives
For the achievement of inclusion and a balanced society, EUTOPIA 2050 will have the following development goals: development of an agreed common approach to identifying disadvantaged students of different types; development of an agreed strategy to identification of and concerted on exclusionary practices, challenges and obstacles; development of an agreed strategy to foster and leverage inclusion; development of agreed mechanisms for monitoring, analysing and disseminating effects of inclusion activities; development of common expertise regarding how Europe’s principles of openness and inclusion to all Europe’s regions, including the Western Balkans, might be enhanced, refined and applied, including especially in terms of the educational dimensions.
Activities
5.1: Developing a strategy for inclusion of disadvantaged student communities
This group of activities will produce increased understanding of and knowledge about the functioning of disadvantage at universities and how to overcome it by means of inclusion and equality policy.
EUTOPIA universities aim to be as open as possible, and many practices have been developed across the universities to help disadvantaged students. In order to implement principles of openness and diversity universities are required - some even by law - to develop well-coordinated practices and programmes capable of including all students, and specifically groups of students experiencing disadvantages due to key issues such as gender, age, race, ethnicity, migrant background, status, social class, sexual orientation, and/or capability. The aim of this Sub-Work Package is to monitor and track the effects of such policies and to evaluate their effectiveness. This will also provide Work Package 2, on Education, with concrete data, information and suggestions on educational formats and programmes optimally needed to facilitate inclusion of less-privileged students. In this, specific attention will be devoted to students of migrant background, as sites of both populist targeted exclusion, and disadvantaged potentiality and opportunity for social mobility and transformation.
Sub-Work Package 5.1.1. Common definition of disadvantage
We shall identify key disadvantaged student communities in each of the EUTOPIA universities. This will lead to a common yet contextualized EUTOPIA approach to identifying disadvantaged students on a Europe-wide basis.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 62 of 157 WP 5
We shall conduct a comparative analysis of (i) legal frameworks, (ii) definitions and methods applied by universities, (iii) data concerning disadvantaged groups available at the various universities, with the aim of producing principles and practices for educational formats that facilitate inclusion as well as policy measures and tools for inclusion of targeted students and staff.
Sub-Work Package 5.1.2. Mapping the effects and challenges to inclusion initiatives
We shall map university equality and inclusion promotion bodies and policies in each of the partner universities, measuring intended and unintended effects on the inclusion of disadvantaged groups of the equality and inclusion policies, and of generic university policies. In doing so we shall identify challenges and areas of best practice.
We shall conduct an organogram analysis, document analysis, data analysis, and focus groups with university actors in charge of equality and inclusion.
We shall share the results of these preliminary investigations with the aim of stimulating further analysis, policy development and adoption, and Europe- wide focused intelligence on the area.
Sub-Work Package 5.1.3. Developing strategies and educational formats for inclusion
Building on Sub-Work Package 5.1.1 and 5.1.2, we shall i) identify principles and practices for developing and implementing educational formats which facilitate inclusion, and ii) develop, implement, monitor and assess educational formats which facilitate inclusion.
Using action research, experiments and participant observation, we shall develop policy measures and tools for inclusion which target students and staff, to be delivered by research-inspired teams in co-operation with disadvantaged students. We shall implement these in pilot form, monitor their effectiveness, and share results for consequent further analysis, policy development and adoption.
Strategies for inclusion developed in Sub-Work Package 5.1 will be disseminated in a ‘Diversity Day’ to happen concurrently at each of the EUTOPIA universities. This will be a celebration of the universities’ broad diversity, used in part to enable outreach and information dissemination about the best practices identified in sub-Work Packages 5.1.1. and 5.1.2. The event will bring together faculty, students and staff, diversity offices at each of the partner universities, and supportive concerned agencies, trusts and advocacy groups.
5.2: Regional outreach and capacity building
Current university exchange programmes have greatly contributed to the opening-up of the EU and an increase in the number of active European citizens. EUTOPIA universities cover many of Europe’s regions and represents the diversity of its approaches to identity and belonging. Nonetheless, the European periphery is perceived to be effectively excluded from many of these programmes, with most of the movement focused on a few of
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 63 of 157 WP 5 Europe’s areas, or acting in a mono-directional manner. Given the overarching principles of openness, inclusion, and cohesion of Europe’s regions, with the socio-political, economic and moral aims of extending Europe’s benefits to all, EUTOPIA universities will focus in pilot fashion on the precise yet generically transformative context of capacity building and development of universities in the region of the Western Balkans. Universities of this region can be considered, with a few exceptions, as structurally disadvantaged in terms of their contextual capacity to attract international research funds, retain domestic and attract foreign students, be involved in international academic activities and to provide transformative and upwardly converging services to their communities and industries.
The aim of this sub-Work Package is therefore to enhance bi-directional knowledge production, knowledge sharing and capacity building in the region. It will open up communication and support lines between regionally affected university actors (staff, researchers and students) and the EUTOPIA universities. In addition to encouraging the two-way flow of knowledge between EUTOPIA and the Western Balkans’ universities, the sub-Work Package will encourage real collaboration projects in order to bridge cultural and political gaps, seek synergy for high-quality research and education programmes, and thereby look to assist in the pursuit of regional social and economic development goals.
Testing the effectiveness of approaches, tools and measures developed in sub-Work Package 5.1 in the Western Balkans has the additional benefits of (i) avoiding bias in favour of visions that are dominant in North and Western Europe, and (ii) showcasing potential benefits of reversing the dissemination flow of knowledge and best practices that traditionally runs from North to South and from West to East. We believe that this investment of energy and expertise is beneficial to all EUTOPIA partners, not only Western Balkans universities, and thus to EU goals concerning economic, social and moral enlargement, equalization and leadership capacity-building.
Sub-Work Package 5.2.1. Bi-directional knowledge production and knowledge sharing in the Western Balkans
We shall support mobility (physical and virtual) of staff, researchers and students from EUTOPIA to the Western Balkan universities to engage in knowledge production, knowledge sharing and capacity building activities (such as seminars, workshops, staff and student-oriented events, and pilots testing tools and measures). This mobility aims to support the participation of mobile persons in the existing academic programmes as well as in special events connected to and important for Western Balkan universities. Additionally, we shall set up at least three expert groups which will each elaborate one joint research and/or education programme focused on the issues of the Western Balkans region. These programmes will serve as role models of research and education for universities of the region, and will act as a direct incentive for the future influence of inclusivity agenda in programme projection and implementation.
Sub-Work Package 5.2.2. Capacity building of Western Balkans universities in inclusion policies.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 64 of 157 WP 5 We shall organise workshops for university leaders and specialists, where two experts from EUTOPIA and two experts from each the Western Balkan universities will make contributions. These workshops will aim at raising awareness and skills in university policy making and at driving competitive quality standards.
We shall develop an open and interactive Western Balkan universities’ academic database on inclusion policies. The database will serve as an integration point for the universities from the region, providing guidelines and toolkits, produced by this Work Package. The database will also be open to EUTOPIA universities.
Management
The University of Ljubljana will have overall responsibility for the management and delivery of the activities within the Work Package. The Work Package will work in accordance with the management principles and guidelines outlined in WP1. Progress against overall project aims will be monitored at the meetings of the Executive Board. Between Executive Board meetings, the University of Ljubljana will monitor progress within the Work Package as required. The imbrications with the aims and outcomes of associated Work Packages, especially those for Education (2), Place-Making (4) and the International / Open to the World (6) will be explicitly tracked.WP5 will engage with the three Commissions outlined in WP1.
Lead Organisation University of Ljubljana
Participating Partner Universities Organisations and their contribution Vrije Universiteit Brussel University of Warwick University of Gothenburg Université Cergy-Pontoise Universitat Pompeu Fabra Associate Partners Regional Platform for Benchmarking and Cooperation in Higher Education and Research (Slovenia-based; supporting good practice in regional economic role of higher education and research). Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research (leading actor in area, advising on gender-based inclusion strategies and practice).
WP5 - Results (outputs and outcomes) Expected results Description Sub-Work Package 5.1.1 (SD) (outputs) Outcomes Diversity is recognised, understood and valued in EUTOPIA EUTOPIA is internationally recognised as leader in social inclusion Improved understanding of how to grasp disadvantaged student communities and their issues, building from the
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 65 of 157 experiences of the geographical and cultural spread universities involved in EUTOPIA Higher awareness among groups of their agency in dealing with issues of exclusion in higher education Networking, information exchange and exchange of best practices among academic staff and students in issues of exclusion in higher education Increased participation of the groups concerned Empowered students and furthered their entrepreneurship Increased identification of disadvantaged students with their university and EUTOPIA.
Outputs Kick-off meeting for the activities in this Work Package, involving students from a disadvantaged background and inclusion officers An operational common framework for identifying disadvantaged student communities applicable in diverse European Universities A common framework for identifying best practices for inclusion applicable in diverse European Universities Dissemination events among staff and students on the EUTOPIA campuses.
Due dates Kick-off meeting – Month 6 Common framework for identifying disadvantages communities – Month 9 Best practices common framework – Month 15 Dissemination events – Ongoing, Month 36. Language(s) For dissemination purposes, these will be available in English.
Dissemination ☒ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☐ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination Public dissemination, on the EUTOPIA website and presentation of the results for stakeholders and policy makers.
Expected results Description Sub-Work Package 5.1.2 (TI) (outputs) Outcomes Increased understanding of cases of success and failure of equality bodies and policies in higher education Networking and best practice sharing among diversity officers and practitioners Increased legitimacy of the diversity offices of the EUTOPIA universities and beyond.
Outputs A report detailing and assessing the quality and effectiveness of inclusion and equality bodies and policies at the EUTOPIA universities, and highlighting areas of best practice, to support the EUTOPIA staff and the broader community (diversity officers in HEI)
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 66 of 157 The creation of a virtual or physical platform to share best practices in a sustainable way. Due dates Report available on platform – Month 24. Language(s) For dissemination purposes, these will be available in English. ☒ for 'Public' dissemination Dissemination ☐ (means, targets, for 'Restricted' dissemination etc.) Public dissemination, on the EUTOPIA website and presentation of the results for stakeholders and policy makers.
Expected results Description Sub-Work Package 5.1.3 (SD) (outputs) Outcomes Tested and validated knowledge on successful educational formats which facilitate inclusion in our higher education Increased awareness on feasibility and effects of educational formats which facilitate inclusion in higher education Increased participation of the groups concerned Empowered students and furthered entrepreneurship Increased identification of students from a disadvantaged background with their university and EUTOPIA.
Outputs Toolkit of educational formats which facilitate inclusion Roadmap for implementation of those educational formats. Take-up analysis report to be produced Development of policy measures Impact report on the implementation of pilot measures Diversity Day to disseminate the results of this sub work package to policy makers and stakeholders and launch as annual EUTOPIA event.
Due dates Toolkit – Month 24 Roadmap – Month 30 Take-up analysis report of toolkits of educational formats facilitating inclusion – Month 36 Impact report of measures – Month 36 Diversity Day - Month 36. Language(s) For dissemination purposes, these will be available in English. ☒ for 'Public' dissemination Dissemination ☐ (means, targets, for 'Restricted' dissemination etc.) Public dissemination, on the EUTOPIA website and presentation of the results for stakeholders and policy makers.
WP5 - Results (outputs and outcomes) Expected results Description Sub-Work Package 5.2.1 (TI) (outputs) Outcomes EUTOPIA ‘inter-university campus space for inclusion’ for staff, researchers and students from EUTOPIA universities and Western Balkans Inclusion of the EU periphery in the educational formats which facilitate inclusion European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 67 of 157 Joint knowledge production, knowledge sharing and capacity building between higher education institutions in the centre and the periphery of the EU Enhanced collaboration between universities in the Western Balkans Social and economic development of the Western Balkans.
Output Six mobility visits Report and reflection paper on the benefits of inversing the dissemination of knowledge and best practices that traditionally runs from North to South and from West to East in the case of university inclusion and equality policies.
Due dates Mobility visits will aim to be divided throughout the project, but all we have occurred by Month 30 Reflection paper – Month 36. Language(s) For dissemination purposes, these will be available in English.
Dissemination ☒ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☐ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination Public dissemination, on the EUTOPIA website and presentation of the results for stakeholders and policy makers.
Expected results Description SWP 5.2.2. (PC) (outputs) Outcomes Capacity build in Western Balkans university area on inclusion bodies and policies Awareness in Western Balkans universities on diversity issues. Outputs Eight workshops with approximately 40 participants in each where two experts from each EUTOPIA university and two experts from the Western Balkan universities will make a contribution at each. Feedback and participation evaluation reports will be gathered. An open and interactive Western Balkan universities’ database on inclusion policies and practices. Due dates Workshops – 4 by month 18, 8 in total by month 36 Database – month 36. Language(s) For dissemination purposes, these will be available in English. ☒ for 'Public' dissemination Dissemination ☐ (means, targets, for 'Restricted' dissemination etc.) Public dissemination, on the EUTOPIA website and presentation of the results for stakeholders and policy makers.
WP5 – Expenditures Planned budget Explain and justify how the different types of expenditures will be used for project activities expenditures under this WP (e.g. staff costs, mobility costs if any, equipment costs if any, sub-contracting costs if any, etc.) (please see the 'Funding rules' of the European Universities' in the E+ Programme Guide) European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 68 of 157 For the activities described in WP5, the following costs are foreseen:
Staff costs for coordination and implementation of WP5 activities by WP5 project manager and assistant and for WP5 manager at each EUTOPIA partner university. Staff costs are foreseen also for organisation of six Diversity Days, one at each EUTOPIA partner university and six workshops in Western Balkan. Staff costs are also foreseen for preparation and design of reports on each activity.
Mobility (travel and subsistence costs) are calculated for six meetings of WP5 managers for follow up actions in WP5 to assure completion of planned WP5 activities and assure quality. Also, subsistence and travel costs are foreseen for EU expert participation in Western Balkan workshops.
Equipment costs refer to an open and interactive Western Balkan universities’ database.
Other costs are linked to the dissemination of knowledge and information and to the transfer best practice using printed materials, video, and a website. Other costs also include subsistence cost of Western Balkans experts contributing to the European University’s activities.
WP6 – Description of Activities
WP 6 Title Open to the World
Description of the Vision planned activities The international dimension of EUTOPIA focuses on the enhancement of the alliance’s collective European capability and creativity in the context of support and leadership for the international and global pre-eminence of European innovation and influence. In harnessing the different universities’ existing networks of global concern and reach, this Work Package will generate a new circuit of collaboration, operation and influence for European higher education, at a time of rapid and major developments in the technological, geopolitical and cultural worlds of influence on European capability and competitiveness.
The internationalism of our project therefore reflects and drives:
the ethos, strategies, operations, human potential, civic responsibilities and cosmopolitan contribution of our universities’ individual and collective activities; our core academic, socio-cultural, political and economic intention to be always Open to the World.
The collective development of campus-based internationalism, and the concerted strategic construction of a non-European knowledge alliance, will both remain wedded to the key educational principle pursued by EUTOPIA of an open learning community that incorporates and encourages:
cross-disciplinary collaborative learning, and the co-creation of material, resources and outputs;
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 69 of 157 WP 6 the nurturing and exploitation of multiple perspectives, diversity of vision, and positive interdependence; the active incorporation and solicitation of multiple stakeholders for the purposes of developing ever stronger relevance to the needs and interests of the public-academic synergy; the ultimate education ideal of the generation and promotion of internationally experienced and capable citizens of tomorrow’s societies.
This international set of operations at all times will be guided and propelled by the core principles of the challenge-led, student-shaped and knowledge- driven approach of EUTOPIA to the pedagogical, research, entrepreneurial and regional-partnering agendas of this collective of modern and enterprising universities.
The ongoing set of objectives and deliverables of this Work Package will therefore be driven wherever possible by:
an active and empowered student leadership and collectivity; the missions, priorities and development goals of the European community; the current major international missions and challenges that our collective knowledge can tackle and influence.
In this way this Work Package will be completely co-ordinated with the core Education, Research and Innovation strategies of EUTOPIA, as explicated in the Management Work Package. This ensures in turn that in each of these areas of activity a core focus remains the international relevance, capability and potentiality of EUTOPIA’s individual academic and entrepreneurial functions. Therefore, the Work Package will be consciously focused and renovated by its contribution to both Europe’s internal dynamics of integration and synergy, and Europe’s externally-oriented collaborations with global partners and influencers.
This Vision will be operationalised and monitored through five generic related areas:
The International Curriculum, as the grounding of international self- development and international realisation The International Campus, as the cosmopolitan space of encounter, intercultural experience and learning, and multi-perspectival skills The International Learning Community, as the composition of faculty, staff and students representing world talent, diverse visions, intellectual breadth, and comprehensive and sustained mobility The International Research Space, as the grounding in transnational, interdisciplinary and knowledge-driven preparedness for global challenges and future missions The International Stakeholder Space, as the confluence and enhancement of enquiry-driven university, business, entrepreneurial, innovation and regional regeneration concerns
Managed together, these areas of activity will support the four major underlying ideals of international development that underpin higher education at the national and institutional level:
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 70 of 157 WP 6 the academic, concerned with new knowledge, intellectual interaction, and collaborative attainment; the socio-cultural, concerned with civics, interdependence, and intercultural understanding; the political, concerned with peace and security, influence, and global positioning; and the economic, concerned with global competition, and the preparation of graduates for employment and leadership in a global context.
Objectives
EUTOPIA’s international reach and relevance will develop simultaneously in two necessary fields of activity. Firstly, it will collectively develop its Grounded (or local) Internationalism, by focusing on:
the fundamental nurturing and collaborative development of a curriculum and an educational commitment determined to create a truly international graduate capability and aspiration in each university; the development of an ever more closely connected and self- reinforcing international community of faculty within and across universities.
Secondly, this local internationalism, based in science and spirit, will simultaneously complement a Global Internationalism. This will enact the team process of:
learning from and contributing to the existing non-European partnerships and operations of each EUTOPIA member; developing this dynamic ring of co-ordinated global activity and enquiry in order to boost the capability and reach of EUTOPIA’s academic, socio-cultural, political and economic relevance.
6.1 Grounded Internationalism: Activities and Actions
An internationalism grounded in each university creates clear academic, citizenship and employability benefits for every student. The ongoing internationalisation of the curriculum enhances the quality of education by facilitating peer learning, boosting innovation and job creation through the creation of internationally mobile students, and preparing students to become global citizens. Tomorrow’s graduates will increasingly require soft power skills and knowledge diplomacy as well as the practical and attitudinal capability to tackle global challenges. This complements and builds on the successful practice of Erasmus+, through which the European Union aims to build capacity and promote more transparent governance and university- enterprise cooperation throughout the world, as well as support the modernisation of curricula, and improve teaching and learning quality.
Grounded internationalism therefore centrally involves the nature, purpose and interrogation of the undergraduate curriculum. Sub-Work Package goals must therefore include the student-shaped development of key interventions in the alliance’s curricular coverage, and the maximisation of exposure to the full range of the alliance’s undergraduate programmes by the collective student body. This will be pursued in two basic ways. European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 71 of 157 WP 6
The alliance will enhance multilateral mobility, as student educational mobility offers key support to internationalisation, not least through encouraging curricular design that responds to the needs and priorities of an international body. Eurostat data shows that across the EU in 2016, over 1.6 million students were undertaking tertiary level studies in another country. The socio-economic dynamics and unifying goals of the EU necessitate growth of this already significant number. The alliance will have piloted the multilateral mobility of an annual cohort of 300 FTE students, as a partnership intensification of Erasmus+ mobility funded outside of this European Universities bid.
Sub-Work Package 6.1.1. Student input to internationalising the curriculum
However, in tandem with the above, and in keeping with the aims of equality and inclusivity, EUTOPIA recognises that a simple focus on a traditional mode of student mobility relies too readily on issues of affordability and life-work balance. Crucially, therefore, true university internationalisation must focus on internationalising the curriculum and internationalisation at home to ensure that all students can benefit from studying an internationally aware programme within a cosmopolitan ambiance. As part of the student-shaped approach, EUTOPIA will support an annual workshop comprising 5 student representatives from each institution. The representatives will consult with peers from within their institution prior to the workshops. In this way the whole international student body will discuss and compile a template for a shared research-led undergraduate module on a different internationally significant subject (for example Sustainability, Health and Wellbeing) chosen by the convening partner. This will incorporate and disseminate expert knowledge in the alliance and equip the student body with invaluable international perspectives. The student body will initially develop this proposal online, before meeting on one campus (on a rotational basis) to discuss, and produce a proposal with accompanying rationale. Academics with expertise in module preparation will facilitate the online discussion and the annual workshops, but students will determine the proposed content and delivery methods. The resulting module proposal will be assessed for inclusion as a shared alliance undergraduate course for credit by all the universities’ education committees. If approved, the module will be designed and uploaded to the collaborative platform (see WP2) and could be delivered physically, virtually, or through blended learning.
Sub-Work Package 6.1.2. Best practice in an internationalised curriculum
As an inter-institutional contribution to this issue, the Education committees of EUTOPIA universities will form a working group mandated to produce a EUTOPIA international education report. This report will scope the current internationalism of taught offerings at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the different institutions, in terms of content, structure and international understanding. In order to identify and share examples of good practice throughout the network, the report will contain findings and views concerning the available inter-institutional contribution to the core curriculum and international ethos of each participating university.
Sub-Work Package 6.1.3. Recognising and rewarding student international practice
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 72 of 157 WP 6 The third strand of grounded internationalism involves EUTOPIA operations that will be used to further encourage, recognise and reward student international practice. This will involve, at the least: the EUTOPIA Undergraduate Research Online Conference. This will be an online, real-time presentation of students’ research to the whole of their international community, challenging students to rethink their work in an international context. It will be procured by extending the established model of the Warwick-run International Conference of Undergraduate Research, giving EUTOPIA students the chance to interact with peers from five continents. It will have a target participation number of 60 over the course of the pilot. A sample of student presentations will be recorded and made available to future cohorts; the EUTOPIA Undergraduate International Scholarship, which each year will grant 12 alliance students a bursary of €1500 to carry out a piece of research abroad. Students will receive appropriate support and training before conducting their research project, and produce an academic poster describing their results. Posters will be presented at the existing Warwick-led Undergraduate Research Showcase. Students will also have the opportunity to publish results in existing open-access institutional journals; the EUTOPIA Certificate of Higher Internationalisation, which recognise the inherent value of a student’s international efforts by recording and certificating an individual’s international experiences and activities, foreign language attainment or improvement, and completion of provided intercultural training.
In Year 3 there will be evaluation of each of these initiatives.
6.2 Global Internationalism: Activities and Actions
The second, co-extensive approach of this Work Package involves the further collective learning and enhancement deriving from investigations of the non- European partnerships and activities of each EUTOPIA member. The aim here is to develop a further level of co-ordinated activity and enquiry, in the extra- European field, that can support and further stretch EUTOPIA’s capability, relevance and impact.
All of EUTOPIA’s universities are already engaged in multiple collaborations with non-European partners. EUTOPIA aims to further develop these into a breadth, scale and impact beyond standard practice in the European Higher Education sectors. By combining strengths of all partnerships and exploring the multidirectional potentiality of this outer alliance of global institutions, EUTOPIA will achieve an international relevance and a research capacity that the individual universities cannot attain. This will offer faculty and students unprecedented international experience and opportunity, in a globally facing open learning environment that facilitates and encourages innovation and incubation.
Sub-Work Package 6.2.1. Building strategic partnerships
Through two virtual workshops and a final high-level conference, the EUTOPIA alliance will share and evaluate experiences of building mature strategic partnerships with global (non-European) partners. Associate Partners and other existing global partners will be invited to participate. The European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 73 of 157 WP 6 aim will be to establish networked links between the wider collection of partners and to leverage the potential of each other’s existing connections for the alliance. The learning achieved through collective reflection will cover the challenge-led dynamics of inter-national, inter-regional, economic and entrepreneurial development, the academic internationalism of joint programmes and shared pedagogical resource, and the many practical administrative and support issues to be realised concerning (for example) uncapped student exchange, joint appointments, and global virtual mobility. Along with sharing experience and expertise and beginning to establish relationships between the EUTOPIA alliance and the global partners, a case- study analysis will be produced to disseminate this learning to an external audience.
Key existing global collaborations to be examined collectively in this context may include those between:
Gothenburg and the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa; Ljubljana and Kyungpook National University (KNU) in South Korea; Cergy-Pontoise and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore; Pompeu Fabra and UCLA in USA on their shared Global Cities programme; VUB and Tec de Monterrey in Mexico; Warwick University and Monash University in Australia. Existing networks, such as the Associate Partner Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (Cergy-Pontoise) and SANORD (Gothenburg) will also be utilised in the development of the global partnership.
By way of complementary examples: Ljubljana operates double degree programmes, and student and staff exchange schemes, with KNU in South Korea, focused particularly on the latter’s College of IT Engineering, where an industry-oriented BSc programme in mobile computing is executed in collaboration with Samsung; the Monash Warwick Alliance since 2012 has engendered over 10 professorial joint appointments and 500 co-publications. More than 1,000 students have engaged in joint activities, among them student exchange, an annual international undergraduate research conference, an online undergraduate journal, and a Joint PhD programme.
Following the conference, a high-level case-study analysis will be produced and published independently or as a special edition for an organisation such as the European Association for International Education.
Sub-Work Package 6.2.2. EUTOPIA Leaders of the Future
In keeping with its central concern with student-shaped development, the alliance will institute EUTOPIA Leaders of the Future. This will be a blended learning programme, delivered over 12 months and constructed around a chosen key global priority that emphasises initiative, innovation and entrepreneurialism. It will bring undergraduate student leaders and ambassadors (2 selected from each EUTOPIA institution, plus 12 additional from the EUTOPIA global partner institutions) together online and then in an intense four-day face-to-face symposium at one of the alliance campuses. Leaders of the Future will give selected students the extracurricular opportunity to gain mentoring from international leaders in specialist fields, and develop key intercultural skills and experience. Mentors will be drawn from EUTOPIA’s existing networks, including from the regional partners identified in WP4. The intention is to inspire and celebrate a new generation of inspiring change-makers who will be supported in their proposals for
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 74 of 157 WP 6 initiatives that bring about positive change and dynamic interdependence. Participants will significantly include invited students from the non-European institutions with whom EUTOPIA is in alliance. Each EUTOPIA participating student will be supported in making graduate applications to international enterprises focused on key global challenges, and encouraged to return to share their experiences with subsequent student cohorts on the programme.
Students will be selected via an open, inclusive application process. The programme specification will be finalised and mentors recruited during months 1 – 6. Two iterations of Leaders of the Future will run from months 7 – 30. An evaluation of the pilot programme will run for the final six months of the project.
Sub-Work Package 6.2.3. ‘Be EUTOPIAn!’ conference
In furtherance of the student-shaped and challenge-driven nature of the alliance’s internationalism, we will also institute and support the annual international ‘Be EUTOPIAn!’ student conference. This will be completely student-led and delivered, with general institutional support as required. After an initial planning phase during months 1 - 6, two two-day conferences will be held in Years 2 and 3, in a different partner institution each year. It will assume the task of presenting and debating the current position and potential scenarios concerning a key social-scientific mission such as Sustainability. Students from each of the non-European institutions with whom EUTOPIA is in alliance will be able to participate virtually. This aims to ensure a global perspective is provided on each of the missions. The conference will subsequently produce a report summarising its key findings and recommendations, which will be produced with support from the student body in all languages of the alliance, submitted to each university Education Committee and to EUTOPIA’s advisory board, and made publicly available on the EUTOPIA website. During the final six months of the project there will be evaluation of the pilot programme.
Management
Warwick will have overall responsibility for the management and delivery of the activities within the Work Package. The Work Package will work in accordance with the management principles and guidelines outlined in WP1. Progress against overall project aims will be monitored at the meetings of the Executive Board. Between Executive Board meetings, Warwick will monitor progress within the Work Package as required. WP6 will engage with the Learning Commission, the Research and Innovation Commission and the External Engagement Commission as outlined in WP1.
University of Warwick (lead of Work Package and of sub-Work Packages Lead Organisation 6.1.3, 6.2.1, 6.2.2, 6.2.3) Participating Universitat Pompeu Fabra (co-lead for Work Package, leader of sub work- Organisations and their packages 6.1.1 and 6.1.2) contribution University of Ljubljana (participating in activities 6.1.1 – 6.2.3) Vrije Universiteit Brussel (participating in activities 6.1.1 – 6.2.3) Université Cergy-Pontoise (participating in activities 6.1.1 – 6.2.3) University of Gothenburg (participating in activities 6.1.1 – 6.2.3)
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 75 of 157 WP 6 Associated Partners Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) Banco Santander
WP6 - Results (outputs and outcomes)
Expected results Description 6.1.1 Annual international student body report, module template and (outputs) rationale (TI) Due dates Month 18 Month 30 Language(s) English
Dissemination ☐ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☒ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination The module template and rationale will be shared with the EUTOPIA education committees for assessment for inclusion in the curriculum.
Expected results Description 6.1.2 Education committees’ joint report and recommendations (SD) (outputs) Due dates Month 12 Language(s) English
Dissemination ☐ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☒ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination The joint report will be shared within the EUTOPIA consortium in order to share best practice and identify potential areas in which to develop joint taught courses.
Expected results Description 6.1.3 EUTOPIA Undergraduate Research Online Conference (TI/PC) (outputs) Due dates Month 22, Month 34 Language(s) English
Dissemination ☒ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☐ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination A sample of presentations will be recorded each year and made publically available on EUTOPIA website and in existing institutional repositories. The samples will be drawn from a range of academic disciplines and institutions.
Expected results Description 6.1.3 EUTOPIA Undergraduate International Scholarship projects (outputs) (TI/PC) Due dates Month 12 (12 posters presented) Month 24 (12 posters presented) Month 36 (12 posters presented) Language(s) English
Dissemination ☒ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☐ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 76 of 157 Posters will be displayed physically at each institution and made available virtually through the EUTOPIA website.
Any publications resulting from research funded by the scholarship shall be made available to all through open access journals.
Expected results Description 6.1.3 EUTOPIA Certificate of Higher Internationalisation (TI/PC) (outputs) This will be piloted on a small scale at first, with 10 students per EUTOPIA institution receiving the certificate in month 20. 100 students per institution will receive the certificate in month 32. Due dates Month 20, Month 32 Language(s) Local language of degree transcripts
Dissemination ☐ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☒ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination The transcripts themselves will be confidential. Template transcripts will be shared between EUTOPIA partners.
Expected results Description 6.1.3 Evaluation of initiatives (SD) (outputs) The EUTOPIA Undergraduate Research Online Conference, Undergraduate International Scholarship and Certificate of Higher Internationalisation will be evaluated in terms of effectiveness and value for money. The evaluation will contain recommendations and identify ways in which the initiatives could be improved. The report will allow a reincorporation of findings, recommendations and feedback into the next phase of planning and delivery for the long- term EUTOPIA vision. Due dates Month 36 Language(s) English
Dissemination ☒ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☐ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination The evaluation report will aim to reach a wide audience of external HEI stakeholders. We will utilise our associate partners involved in dissemination (e.g. the Guild) and the EUTOPIA website and social media channels.
Expected results Description 6.2.1 High-level case-study analysis report (SD) (outputs) The report will allow a reincorporation of findings, recommendations and feedback into the next phase of planning and delivery for the long- term EUTOPIA vision. Due dates Month 36 Language(s) English
Dissemination ☒ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☐ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination A public version of the case-study analysis report will aim to reach a wide audience of external HEI stakeholders. We will utilise our associate partners involved in
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 77 of 157 dissemination (e.g the Guild) and the EUTOPIA website and social media channels.
Expected results Description 6.2.2 Future Leaders Programme specification document (TI) (outputs) Due dates Month 6 Language(s) English
Dissemination ☐ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☒ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination Internal document for implementation of the programme
Expected results Description 6.2.2 Future Leaders Programme certificate (PC/TI) (outputs) Due dates Month 22 (24 certificates given to students who have completed the programme that year) Month 34 (24 certificates given to students who have completed the programme that year) Language(s) English
Dissemination ☐ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☒ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination Certificates given out to students.
Expected results Description 6.2.2 Future Leaders Programme evaluation report (SD) (outputs) Due dates Month 36 Language(s) English
Dissemination ☒ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☐ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination The evaluation report will aim to reach a wide audience of external HEI stakeholders. We will utilise our associate partners involved in dissemination (e.g. the Guild) and the EUTOPIA website and social media channels. The report will allow a reincorporation of findings, recommendations and feedback into the next phase of planning and delivery for the long-term EUTOPIA vision.
Expected results Description 6.2.3 Student ‘Be EUTOPIAn!’ conference reports and (outputs) recommendations (TI/PC) Due dates Month 16 Month 28 Language(s) All languages of EUTOPIA (Catalan, Dutch, English, French, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish).
Dissemination ☒ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☐ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination The reports will be published on the EUTOPIA website and on institutional websites in all languages of the EUTOPIA alliance. Social media channels will be utilised for dissemination.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 78 of 157 Expected results Description 6.2.3 Evaluation of Student ‘Be EUTOPIAn!’ conferences (SD) (outputs) Due dates Month 26 Language(s) English
Dissemination ☒ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☐ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination The evaluation report will aim to reach a wide audience of external HEI stakeholders. We will utilise our associate partners involved in dissemination (e.g. the Guild) and the EUTOPIA website and social media channels.
WP6 – Expenditures
Planned budget Explain and justify how the different types of expenditures will be used for project expenditures activities under this WP (e.g. staff costs, mobility costs if any, equipment costs if any, sub-contracting (please see the costs if any, etc.) 'Funding rules' of the European Staff costs are included for coordination and implementation of activities in Universities' in the E+ Programme Guide) WP6, including facilitation of workshops and assistance with module template preparation (6.1.1), conducting scoping work (6.1.2), organising events and workshops (6.1.1, 6.2.1, 6.2.2, 6.2.3) and running competitions (6.1.3).
A specific mobility budget includes short term visits for students (6.1.1, 6.2.2, 6.2.3) and staff (6.2.1, 6.2.2). To keep costs to a minimum, Work Package coordination meetings will be held virtually.
Other costs are included for bursaries and ICUR membership (6.1.3, noting that as an existing member, Warwick’s costs for membership have not been included) and for travel and subsistence costs for staff and students from outside of EUTOPIA who have been invited to participate in core project activities (6.2.1, 6.2.2, 6.2.3)
WP7 – Description of Activities
WP 7 Title Sustainability and Dissemination
Description of the 7.1 Sustainability planned activities Vision
The EUTOPIA alliance is built around six universities that are student-centred, committed to the principles of openness and inclusion, challenge-led and research driven. Nevertheless, our universities are deeply different in terms of structure, profile and business model. This combination of shared values and diversity reflects the reality of Europe. It is both an immense asset and a challenge. A challenge that we will address by placing sustainability at the core of the project.
EUTOPIA is built on a strong ambition: in the three years of our project we want to develop a unique European alliance as the first step to establish a full European University. This methodology will allow students from six different countries to face together the challenges of the 21st century and to overcome future political and societal problems by sharing and promoting common
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 79 of 157 WP 7 European values. Our vision defines it very clearly: “Change is not simply the output of our alliance, but the driving force that brings us together”.
Each of the previous six Work Packages has defined activities and outputs that will lead to the creation of a federation with a flexible internal organisation that will prefigure the establishment of a European University. Our alliance will act as a role model: we will share our outputs and good practices to other institutions and networks in the European Union and beyond. Importantly, this includes making a significant contribution to Open Education (WP2) and Open Science and Citizen Science (WP3) agendas.
In terms of sustainability, we face a number of key challenges: engaging our communities, creating a sense of shared identity and purpose, creating a common culture, launching new common training programmes, underpinned by aligned student fees and promoting collaboration, rather than competition, between our institutions.
To address these challenges an adequate community representation in the three main dimensions (administrative staff, faculty and students) shall and will be included and respected in all processes.
The first half of this Work Package focuses on sustainability and aims to define the tools for the implementation of the EUTOPIA alliance and the progressive construction of the EUTOPIA university.
Long-term Goal Our long-term goal is therefore: the establishment of a European University with a shared, integrated long-term strategy for education, research and innovation. Our European University will have overcome the challenges of the diversity of our profiles, and also the dangers of internal competition for funds, students, staff and visibility.
This risk of internal competition is one of the key threats to the sustainability of our project. We do not claim to have an answer to it at this point. It is precisely the aim of the EUTOPIA alliance to explore and experiment to find the balance point between the interests of each member and the utility of the new university. Our will is firm, and we believe in the possibility of a strong alliance that works for the interests of all members. But we need to overcome the structural constraints each member is engaged in and to consolidate them with the building of a new inter-university campus.
This calls for a pragmatic step-by-step approach.
Objectives
7.1.1 Set up the governance structure of EUTOPIA and the wider alliance 7.1.2 Create a long term and sustainable business model 7.1.3 Implement Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3)
Methodology
Our methodological principles derive from the above diagnostic: The new university will be created step by step by punctual integration namely of courses and activities that will receive the EUTOPIA label (WP2, WP3, WP4, WP6)
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 80 of 157 WP 7 The project will be based on a participatory approach, a bottom-up culture and the inclusion of a wider circle of stakeholders (WP4, WP3) The appropriation of the alliance by our communities is key. We need a large basis of consensus considering the scale of the experiment we are about to conduct (WP4) A flexible organisation that can adapt itself to difficulties encountered and absorb them The establishment of a common control and management structure for the EUTOPIA 2050 project first, then for the European University (WP1) The establishment of tools to release own resources The development of the impact of our universities in our respective territories and by leverage, the development of our impact at European and international level (WP2, WP3, WP4, WP5, WP6) Clear mapping of research, education, good practices for student life, governance (WP2, WP3, WP4, WP5, WP6) Involvement of students and staff as a process and as a goal (WP1-6).
Sub-Work Package 7.1.1 Long-term governance structures
The objective in terms of governance is twofold: 1. To prepare the transition from an alliance to a European University by creating a sustainable model of governance. 2. To allow the establishment of new strategic and creative partnerships. We must consolidate the relationship between the six-member core of the alliance and give EUTOPIA enough flexibility to accommodate new members (in the first or second circle of partnerships).
We will develop a sustainable and collaborative project governance and decision-making structure, which will ensure effectiveness, transparent communication and clear decision making. This will enable EUTOPIA to tie individual Work Package results to the overall project goals.
An important aspect of our proposed model is to review the diverse regulations, governance structures, quality assurance and accreditation processes of EUTOPIA members to ensure a sustainable and efficient long-term joint governance model. WP1 (management of the project) will ensure a smooth flow of the project activities through effective project coordination in financial, legal, administrative and technical tasks.
We will ensure that students are represented in all bodies involved in the development of the long-term governance model and in the structure and bodies that result. Student involvement is particularly crucial when considering EUTOPIA activities related to sustainable co-creation. The Strategic Board, the Executive Board, the Annual General Conference, the External Advisory Board and the specific commissions outlined in WP1 will thus include students or alumni.
Another of our challenges is to include flexibility in this well-defined governance model. The governance detailed above and described in WP1 is structured to be operational and effective for the duration of the EUTOPIA 2050 project. In the longer term an academic governing body will be crucial to structure common curricula for EUTOPIA and to set up a range of double diplomas linked to a EUTOPIA student card. European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 81 of 157 WP 7
To guarantee a controlled flexibility and an evidence-based decision making process, to ensure the alignment between the overall strategy and the individual actions, we will set up a Quality Board.
We will implement a continuously evolving decision-making system centred around a dashboard of indicators established and maintained by a dedicated team. This will enable a solid data-based information, monitoring and planning system, that will help support strategic decision making.
This service will be responsible for: the production and dissemination of retrospective and prospective data ensuring the cooperation of components and the quality of gathered data monitoring and evaluation of running actions and projects producing an annual SWOT analysis.
Our SWOT analysis will be updated yearly and adjusted in order to ensure strategic alignment.
By the end of the EUTOPIA 2050 project, we will have developed a long-term new strategic plan adjusted to our strengths and weaknesses but still closely linked to a clear vision statement. A gap analysis may be used to point out the EUTOPIA alliance’s status and the specific features of the vision of the university.
We will set out a framework of priorities for the university and this strategic plan will ensure that vision, mission, goals and resources are aligned. It will define a clear resource allocation process and it will be organised to make assessment, resource allocation, and accreditation easier, and be a source of information about progress and achievement.
The Strategic Plan will be developed with a 10-year horizon planning for concise strategy documents every 4 years. Each year, a planning for operations and resource allocation will be issued. To ensure each goal is properly phased, we will prefer a back-loading approach.
Sub-Work Package 7.1.2 Long term and sustainable business model
A stable and sustainable business model must generate and release resources to allow the continued financing of ongoing projects and the launch of new ones.
We will develop a EUTOPIA business model which will install efficient and complementary financing tools that will serve the objectives and consequent activities of all Work Packages.
This business model will be based on simple principles: annual reporting tools will allow precise monitoring and immediate adjustments priority will be given to alliance members when applying to calls a business model of each new EUTOPIA curriculum will be established to check its feasibility before implementation.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 82 of 157 WP 7 We have identified three main axes of resource development to enhance the impact of EUTOPIA programmes and actions:
1. Internal funding 2. External funding 3. Revenue from grants and calls
Internal funding Internal funding can come from different sources: members of the alliance, student fees for specific EUTOPIA programmes (Double diplomas, PhD programmes, summer schools, international education programmes…) and the creation of a EUTOPIA Foundation.
The six EUTOPIA partners will commit to providing the right level of financial support for EUTOPIA. Each partner agrees to take care of its own expenses based on the activities that will be organised in their country.
Revenue from academic fees will sustain pedagogical programmes. A key task will be to resolve the difference between the registration fees of the different institutions.
The creation of European alliances can foster a philanthropic culture in Europe which is not as strongly developed and settled as in the US. Fundraising will be considered as part of the strategic plan of EUTOPIA because we need to prioritise the income from private streams. To define this strategic approach, we will share good practice as fundraising is very different in each of our 6 universities. We will define the contribution of EUTOPIA to the fulfilment of the needs of society and identify some key priorities. To avoid the competition of EUTOPIA Foundation with our own foundations, we will focus on some specific programmes (e.g. fundraising dedicated to non-EU students).
We will need to build a specific relationship between our alumni, our stakeholders and EUTOPIA to create the habit of financing the alliance. This point is crucial to enhance donor’s proactive identification and to work on the study of their characteristics. Income by fundraising will be enhanced by the promotion of our brand (see Sub Work Package Dissemination).
External funding Some of our governments (France, Spain) commit to fund, at different levels, European alliances.
Work Package 4 will set the basis of strong partnerships with local SMEs and other companies. In WP7, we will develop a fundraising strategy. This will have clear priorities and will allow us to develop external funding as gifts, sponsored project agreements or vendor contracts. Additional sources of income will be sought through engagement and lobbying with regional bodies, municipalities, Chambers of Commerce and embassies.
Revenue from grants and calls
EUTOPIA 2050 will support the process of academics from our institutions applying for collaborative research funding by providing seed-funding for such projects and by raising the internal and external profile of our project and alliance.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 83 of 157 WP 7 We w EUTOPIA will develop applications to competitive national calls : local calls (e.g. from regional councils, municipalities, Chambers of Commerce), national calls (e.g. ministries of Foreign Affairs, Research, Education) and will look to prioritise and incentivise applications to European competitive calls (e.g. Horizon Europe, Erasmus+ including ERASMUS MUNDUS, CO-FUND, ESIF).
The EUTOPIA partners have already developed collaborative applications to a number of European funding schemes, including Erasmus+ Key Actions 2 and 3 and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie CO-FUND scheme.
Sub-Work Package 7.1.3 Implementation of Smart Specialisation Strategies
Universities are key actors in the establishment and development of regional Smart Specialisation Strategies.3 We embrace this role: each member in its home region and EUTOPIA as a whole as a core feature of our project.
We want to help our regions to systematise the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process methodology (EDP) and to emphasise our connections with regional entrepreneurs and authorities. For EUTOPIA members it is necessary to structure a bridge between “thinkers and makers” as we conceive ourselves as a challenge-led alliance. A clear identification of areas of investment in research and innovation for our respective universities will be an important tool to identify specific value chains.
EUTOPIA will assume a key role in joint value chains for the benefit of all our regions. This is a point where our alliance will deploy its core potential, developing the process initiated at The Regional Event organised in Paris in November 2019 (workshops and round tables with academics from VUB, Warwick, Cergy-Pontoise, Ljubljana and the Region Île-de-France, Val d’Oise County Council, the West Midlands Region, the SATT Île de France, Flanders Investment and Trade Agency).
It will also drive at national level a bottom-up reflection on the implementation of Smart Specialisation.
In a long term perspective, we will benefit from the expertise of UPF (UPF ventures) to foster new Private Public Partnerships and to strengthen the links with the companies of our respective regions.
7.2 Dissemination
Vision
Dissemination for an alliance of universities is very specific. It must include communication, distribution of information (availability, accessibility, approachability) and transfer of knowledge but also aims to create a climate of readiness for change in our communities.
We believe that differences can co-exist more easily when based on common interests. Our institutions are anchored in our regions while reaching out across the world. We think that working together and creating new ways to
3 See the assessment of the JRC in S3 Policy Brief Series No. 03/2013 http://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/documents/20182/115084/JRC85508_Universities_and_S3.pdf/23a84c8b-233f- 4cee-aae9-c89914f23e9c European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 84 of 157 WP 7 disseminate our methods, our findings, our thinking processes, our frame of mind, is the best way to open and create new paths of creativity.
To propel innovation and to enhance new educational skills and methods, we need creative frictions from our different approaches. Comparison, cross overs, similarities and differences are at the core of renewal thinking and are the dynamics of competitive edge creativity.
We need to create a common culture as we believe that the EUTOPIA European University is not a 7th entity added to our six universities but the place to design the future at the interconnection of six stakeholders. The EUTOPIA European University will be a facilitator and will help us to contribute to the future and to solve issues addressed to the universities of the 21st century.
The second half of this Work Package will ensure that an effective communication flow, a strategic plan for communication and dissemination and the management of knowledge and intellectual property are well incorporated into the project.
Objectives
Our short-term (3 years for EUTOPIA 2050) and long term (European University) goals are the same: Construct a shared vision and common academic culture inventing new ways of interacting and promoting comparison, cross overs and collective ways of teaching and researching Develop measures to promote EUTOPIA’s values Foster the involvement of communities Provide information to relevant targeted groups (e.g. press, policy makers) Disseminate results and outputs to other European universities Have an impact on wider society through formulation of recommendations for policy makers and by influencing the public through new communication models.
Methodology
We will employ a phased approach (short term and long term) for an adapted and progressive communication and dissemination strategy We will utilise new dynamic and flexible tools, which are attractive to current and future students and other audiences Adopt forms of implementation involving students.
Sub-Work Package 7.2.1 Define the EUTOPIA strategy for communication and dissemination
A small dedicated team will be set up first to communicate the values and methodology of EUTOPIA, then to enable the use of the results.
This global plan for dissemination will be based upon a mapping of good practice and a clear and updated database of stakeholders. It will review and assess the dissemination plans of each WP and will ensure that they are aligned with the overall strategy.
Two spheres of dissemination will be considered. European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 85 of 157 WP 7
Firstly, we will build common ground among the community of our 6 universities. Digital tools have opened new perspectives to design platforms and media to share working processes and to disseminate knowledge to a wider audience. By disseminating not only topics but also ways of doing teaching and research, we will contribute to cross-cultural learning and sharing good practice.
Secondly, on an international level, we will create our own interactive media on particular projects to disseminate to a global audience. This interactive dissemination will promote EUTOPIA activities outside of the classroom and laboratories in order to contribute to the translation of research into practice.
Providing open access to texts, articles, publications and classrooms is a first step towards dissemination. Digital tools and videos are a second step, allowing academics to communicate and spread knowledge and research. The challenge, which the strategy will address, is the third step: combining peer review and the spreading of science beyond academia.
Specific indicators will be identified by the Quality Board to ensure monitoring of dissemination. The strategy for dissemination will be updated according to the evolution of EUTOPIA goals and KPIs.
Sub-Work Package 7.2.2 Develop EUTOPIA external communication and dissemination tools
Common marketing tools will be designed in order to communicate the results, methods and strategy of the project. These tools will reinforce the existing methods and platforms for dissemination and strengthen the reach to different targets.
Communications will be dynamic, modern and will seek to communicate academic knowledge in a way that will be easily understandable to the layperson. The participation of young generations of researchers will be a key asset of communication.
We will go beyond formal and institutional ways of presenting project results. We believe that engaging different publics and communities is enabled by using forms and methods used commonly by the general public. Therefore we will spend the first year of the project defining the specific tone and the tools needed to engage with a broad range of society as well as more targeted groups with specific interests.
Creating new opportunities for debate and new ways to debate will be one of our core dissemination objectives. Hackathons have revolutionised the way to come up with solutions as a group. In a similar spirit, we will create videothons and debathons as a new approach to dissemination.
Sub-Work Package 7.2.3 Dissemination of EUTOPIA strategy, activities and results
Our website will deliver information about the project, foster the construction of a shared vision and will provide access to results. Its targets are both internal to EUTOPIA (students, researchers, staff, stakeholders) and external (civic
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 86 of 157 WP 7 society, industries, research communities, policy makers). In addition, dissemination via social media will take place from the outset of the project.
A secure restricted access area for the EUTOPIA community will be dedicated to specific material (administrative reports and information, common calendar for all community, web forum for discussion, database about networks, work in progress papers, etc).
At the same time, dedicated platforms for Education and Research (Open Access) will be set up and will ensure a transfer of knowledge and results. The objective is to increase the impact of research and pedagogical EUTOPIA programmes through openness.
Innovative YouTube content, hosted by staff, students and influencers, will further disseminate our results. Yearly exhibitions and biennial “science fairs” will bring together scientists, teachers and the general public on a particular EUTOPIA topics. These events will promote important reviews on EUTOPIA’s practices and engage non-academic audiences in scientific issues.
To ensure the involvement of communities and stakeholders, cross-sector seminars will be organised (interdisciplinary research seminars, training seminars, innovation seminars with local authorities and SMEs). They will systematically include students.
Management
The Université Cergy-Pontoise will have overall responsibility for the management and delivery of the activities within the Work Package. The Work Package will work in accordance with the management principles and guidelines outlined in WP1. Progress against overall project aims will be monitored at the meetings of the Executive Board. Between Executive Board meetings, the Université Cergy-Pontoise will monitor progress within the Work Package as required.
Lead Organisation Université Cergy-Pontoise
Participating Co-lead: University of Ljubljana Organisations and their contribution University of Gothenburg Universitat Pompeu Fabra University of Warwick Vrije Universiteit Brussel Associated partners British Council Slovenian Rectors’ Conference The Guild Of European Research-Intensive Universities Young European Research Universities (YERUN)
WP7 - Results (outputs and outcomes)
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 87 of 157 Expected results Description Sub-Work Package 7.1.1 Long – term governance structures (outputs) A report detailing the different regulatory environments, governance structures and quality assurance and accreditation regimes in which the EUTOPIA parents operate. (SD) Formation of Quality Board (Terms of Reference, Constitution and Membership, frequency and scheduling of meetings, quoracy) (TI) Dashboard of indicators developed (TI) Evaluation report on the operational effectiveness and impact of the dashboard of indications SWOT analysis conducted (SD) Long-term strategic plan developed (SD). Due dates Report - month 12 Quality Board team in place – month 6 Dashboard – month 6 Dashboard evaluation – month 36 SWOT analysis – months 12, 24, 36 Long-term strategic plan – month 36 Language(s) English
Dissemination ☐ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☒ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination
These outputs will be restricted to members of the EUTOPIA project team.
Expected results Description Sub-Work package 7.1.2 Long term and sustainable business model (outputs) A report on good practice in and strategies for fundraising, communications and dissemination (TI) Internal funding strategy including agreement on membership fees and tuition/registration fees (SD) Creation of a fundraising strategy (SD) Annual progress report on number of external funding applications and awards (TI) Creation of a long term business model (TI) Creation of the EUTOPIA Foundation. (PC) Due dates Report – Month 9 Internal funding strategy – Month 36 Fundraising strategy – Month 24 Annual progress report – Month 12, Month 24, Month 36 Long term business model – Month 36 EUTOPIA Foundation – Month 36. Language(s) English Expected results Description 7.1.3 Implementation of Smart Specialization Strategies (outputs) A report outlining areas of investment in research and innovation in the six EUTOPIA partner universities (TI) A long term sustainable EUTOPIA strategy for regional engagement and place-making and the creation of Public Private Partnerships (SD) Mapping of technological transfer good practice (TI). Due dates Report – Month 12
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 88 of 157 Mapping – Month 18 Regional Engagement strategy – Month 24. Language(s) English
Dissemination ☒ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☒ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination Where appropriate, e.g. taking into account commercial sensitivities, public versions of strategies will be made available on the EUTOPIA website.
Expected results Description Sub-Work Package 7.2.1 Define the EUTOPIA strategy for (outputs) communication and dissemination
Form dissemination team (TI) Produce report on existing good practice building upon mapping exercise (TI) Compile a database of dissemination stakeholders (TI) Produce a EUTOPIA strategy for communication and dissemination (SD). Due dates Team formed – Month 3 Report on existing practices – Month 6 Database of dissemination stakeholders – Month 6 Produce communication strategy – Month 12 Language(s) English
Dissemination ☐ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☒ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination The outputs in 7.2.1 are for internal EUTPOIA use
Expected results Description Sub-Work Package 7.2.2 Develop EUTOPIA external communication (outputs) and dissemination tools
Creation of a controlled and homogeneous EUTOPIA message (TI) Production of common EUTOPIA marketing tools (TI) Develop printed communication resources (for educational fairs, international relations) and branded gifts (TI) Develop formats for videothons and debathons (TI)
Due dates Message – Month 6 Marketing tools – Month 9 Printed resources and branded gifts – Month 12 Develop formats for videothons and debathons – Month 18 Language(s) English
Dissemination ☐ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☒ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination The outputs in 7.2.2 are for internal EUTPOIA use
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 89 of 157 Expected results Description Sub-Work Package 7.2.3 Dissemination of EUTOPIA strategy, (outputs) activities and results
Website launched (TI) Twitter account (TI) Instagram account (TI) Youtube content (TI) Science fairs (TI) Seminars (TI) Due dates Website – Month 3 Twitter account – Month 1 Instagram account – Month 1 Youtube content – Month 24 Science fairs – Month 12, Month 36 Seminars – Months, 9, 21, 33
Language(s) English will be the predominant language used for dissemination activities, although versions of some outputs will be available in all EUTOPIA languages (Dutch, French, Swedish, Slovenian, Spanish, Catalan). The website for example will be available in all languages by month 12.
Dissemination ☒ for 'Public' dissemination (means, targets, ☐ etc.) for 'Restricted' dissemination The strategies and tools outlined above will be used to disseminate the results of the project to a wide audience of stakeholders.
WP7 – Expenditures
Planned budget Explain and justify how the different types of expenditures will be used for project activities expenditures under this WP (e.g. staff costs, mobility costs if any, equipment costs if any, sub-contracting costs if any, etc.) (please see the 'Funding rules' of the In order to deliver the activities described above, staff costs are included to: European Universities' in the E+ Programme Guide) Co-ordinate and implement WP7 activities Establish Quality Board (7.1.1) and communication (7.2.2) teams Set up the EUTOPIA Foundation (7.1.2) and develop Smart Specialisation Strategies (7.1.3)
Mobility costs are included for short term visits to define the sustainability and communications strategies (7.1.1, 7.2.1). To keep costs to a minimum, Work Package coordination meetings will be held virtually.
Some activities require equipment costs providing funding for development and maintenance of the EUTOPIA website (7.2.3). Other costs will cover marketing tools (7.2.2).
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 90 of 157 III.2. Aims of the alliance and planned activities to achieve them
Explain how the aforementioned activities will contribute to:
III.2.1 Enhancing the high quality of education including through the use of innovative pedagogical models to develop forward-looking skills and competences, making best use of digital technologies, blended learning and work-based learning (max.500 words)
The EUTOPIA learning model departs from the traditional and still dominant transmission model, to one synchronised with the 21st-century disruptive environment. The EUTOPIA model aligns with a challenge- based approach to learning, encouraging application of knowledge and theory to real-world problems. Students, staff and non-academic stakeholders will address real problems in order to find and implement meaningful solutions. This challenge-based learning will constitute a multidisciplinary approach encouraging students to work actively with peers, teachers and stakeholders in society to identify complex challenges, formulate relevant questions and take action for sustainable development. It will challenge traditional binaries such as research/teaching, in/extra curricula activities, on/off line learning and local/international experience.
We shall organically grow the alliance’s experience of innovative pedagogies, problem/project-based learning, excellent disciplinary research and global outlook to levels where creativity and safe risk-taking will empower learners to improve our world. EUTOPIA’s praxis will harmonise learning objectives and delivery modes to enable EUTOPIAns to develop attributes that encourage success, purpose and impact. The participatory approach advocated will allow space for informal exploration and enablement. While such qualities have always been aspirations of research-led education, student feedback and performance analysis indicate low confidence in applying research post-graduation. Challenge-based learning will enable development of skills and confidence in teamwork, interdisciplinary research, problem-solving, leadership. EUTOPIAns will be designedly analytical, critical, collaborative, resourceful, ambitious, adaptable and inclusive.
Learning as a way of doing is central in our approach. We shall empower learners to assume ownership of their learning experience and development. Our work will draw on published accounts of communities of practice frameworks and social theory of learning, and of how blended learning environments constitute the norm of 21st-century learning. The daily leveraging of technology challenges static conceptualisations of digital/non-digital spaces. In EUTOPIA praxis, technology will move from being a supplement, to becoming sine qua non infrastructure, and from reflecting on/off divisions to acknowledging mutually dependent structures. This embedded flexibility and mobility will surpass the linearity of students being ‘here’ or ‘there’. EUTOPIAns will use virtual spaces for teamwork, benefit from short-term mobility schemes and move seamlessly between institutions and placements.
EUTOPIAns will form dynamic communities around projects, modules and activities, at all years/levels, generating an ecosystem of learning communities that offer learning beyond the degree and provide space for participants to construct mutual engagement communities. Such communities will assume different forms, sizes and meanings in context.
The EUTOPIA university will be radically open. It will be a learning community deeply embedded in its regional, local and international contexts, that will provide opportunities to every person with a stake in academic work, or using it for a specific purpose, or participating with the dream of becoming a citizen scientist. Crowd-sourced education will thus be aligned with the ideals of the EUTOPIA model, as part of EUTOPIA’s mission to transform and radicalize the European HE landscape.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 91 of 157 III.2.2 Where possible, strengthening the links between education and research and/or innovation, including the integration of research results and/or innovation in education (max.500 words)
EUTOPIA is committed to the threefold objective of being a research-intensive University, a high-quality teaching institution and a leading place for innovation. It also recognizes the high value of connecting educational programs with research and innovation activities and the relevance of involving students in these activities as members of knowledge-creation communities to the benefit of both the students and the researchers. Knowledge is continually evolving. Researchers, students, innovators and teachers all take part in the creation, exploration and application of new knowledge. Promoting the ability of all students to assess, produce and use new knowledge throughout their careers and lives is one of the main challenges facing educational policy.
EUTOPIA will strengthen the links between education, research and innovation by promoting the development of challenge-driven knowledge creation communities, by encouraging the development of research-led teaching modules and their integration in educational curricula and by promoting student innovation and entrepreneurship.
One of the main aims of EUTOPIA is to promote societal impact and relevance, through the development of challenge-driven research projects (WP3.1). By design, such research projects will involve various disciplinary perspectives and multiple stakeholders: researchers from our universities but also students from our educational programmes and external partners, from either the private sector or local societal stakeholders. Through the implementation of an internal call for challenge-driven research projects, we will cover a broad range of societal and scientific challenges open to all academic disciplines. Consequently, the research projects developed under this scheme will include students from all academic backgrounds, rather than be confined to any specific areas.
EUTOPIA will also strongly emphasize the incorporation of research-led teaching modules in programme curricula at all levels of study through creation of learning communities (WP2.3). As discussed in WP2, we will first establish an inventory of resources available for the development of research-led teaching or learning modules and promote the sharing of such resources across members of the alliance through the online learning platform. Secondly, we foster the development of new resources by encouraging faculty to develop close connections between their active research areas, external stakeholders and their teaching module offering. Fellows of the Young Leaders Academy (WP3.2.2) will be significant contributors to this development and will help to facilitate links between research and education activities across the alliance, serving as internal role models and ambassadors.
EUTOPIA will also undertake specific actions to involve students in innovation projects and to promote student entrepreneurship across WPs 3 and 4. Training material and online resources already exist among the partners that aim at enhancing entrepreneurial skills by learning how to turn research- projects in a business proposal. These resources will be shared and promoted across partners and among new curricula (WP2). Special programs will be implemented to develop PhD entrepreneurship and early-career research-driven innovation through mobility and mentoring (WP3.3). In WP4, students will engage will with external stakeholders across industry, policy and cultural sectors through being involved in cross-institutional, challenge-based networks and teams working on projects and placements.
III.2.3 Increasing mobility of students, staff and researchers. Please quantify the expected numbers of participants, indicate the categories involved (students, PhD students, academic staff, administrative staff etc.) and indicate the complementarity with other Erasmus+ actions supporting mobility i.e. Erasmus+ Key Action 1, Key Action 2 and/or Key Action 3 (max.500 words)
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 92 of 157 EUTOPIA will support the mobility of students, staff and researchers directly through short-term mobility activities, and indirectly through stimulating new bottom-up programmes and activities developed by the EUTOPIA communities as a result of their increased integration.
Since the inception of the alliance, EUTOPIA colleagues have identified commonalities of interest and approach that have led to increased student and researcher mobility between member institutions. Scoping workshops have led to the development of double/joint programmes and research bids to promote further mobility and integration (e.g. H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND and Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Network). EUTOPIA has allowed us to stimulate both national funding sources and donations, such as Rutherford funding (Universities UK) which funded mobility of early career researchers from EUTOPIA partners. In addition, by the time the project starts, EUTOPIA will have piloted the multilateral mobility of an annual cohort of up to 300 students, a partnership intensification of Erasmus+ mobility funded outside of this European Universities project.
Continuing bottom-up mobility is vital if EUTOPIA is to flourish and grow. Across all WPs, developmental mobility activities will stimulate and test further collaborative ideas and projects and will, in turn, increase and broaden this initial collaborative mobility. These activities are designed as pilots with final evaluation and strategy-planning phases to enable EUTOPIA to further extend mobility activities beyond the funding period. Activities will complement, not replicate, other Erasmus+ actions by providing short- term, real, virtual and/or blended mobility, that together help build our European University.
WP1: Strategic and Executive Boards, Commissions, the General Conference and the Quality Board will bring together staff with administrative delivery remits in key areas of EUTOPIA’s activities 130 academics/administrative staff.
WP2: Staff, students and extra-academic stakeholders will jointly implement pilot projects at bachelor, master and PhD level. Short-term virtual/blended mobility and international placements will be embedded in these pilot curricula through the virtual platform, benefiting 4,500 students
WP3: Integration of the EUTOPIA research community is built around three mobility programmes, the Young Leaders Academy (12 researchers); the Research Mobility programme (24 researchers); and the Post-doctoral and doctoral training programme (18 PhD students/researchers). Programmes will also fund mobility of staff who support innovation (72 staff/student innovators) and Open Science (20 physically-mobile staff: + virtual).
WP4: The weEUTOPIANS initiative provides mobility opportunities for 35 academics and students, the beUTOPIAN initiative for 84 academics and students and the weDISCOVER initiative for 18 students. The EUTOPIA career ambassador scheme will provide 6 student mobility opportunities.
WP5: Mobility here is concerned with the development and dissemination of EUTOPIA inclusion strategy (36 visits) and engagement with universities in the Western Balkans (16 academics/administrative staff).
WP6: WP6 will provide short-term mobility opportunities for at least 160 students, with a minimum of 160 additional virtual mobility places offered through participation in the Undergraduate Research Online Conference. WP6 will evaluate experiences of building strategic partnerships with global partners through virtual workshops and a final conference. 24 academic/administrative staff.
WP7: Expert Seminars will bring together communications managers to define a forward-looking dissemination and communications strategy. 12 administrative staff.
III.2.4 Strengthening engagement with key stakeholders to foster societal engagement of students and staff as well as their entrepreneurial key competences. (max.250 words)
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 93 of 157 Our universities are key players in knowledge exchange, engaged intensely in multiple knowledge exchange collaborations with businesses, local stakeholders, or social and cultural organisation. New knowledge for emerging industries is generated and transferred from our research and innovation centres. EUTOPIA will collect, analyse, and synergize this activity in all locations. This will involve the reinforced embedding of activity, and active encouragement of collaborations between locations, to deliver distinction and reach.
We shall produce and disseminate consequent policy initiatives that drive knowledge exchange among universities, research institutions, large ‘anchor’ firms, SMEs and innovative start-ups, across the sectors consistent with each location’s smart specialisation strategy.
Key actions will involve: Collaborating with local high-tech firms, through our knowledge activities. We shall focus on both product and process innovation identified through our knowledge and innovation WP Encouraging student companies and spin-outs. We shall here address challenges identified and articulated in our place-making WP Working with public, and third sector groups on social inclusion. We shall focus on developing indicators from our inclusion WP Contributing to place-based industrial strategy and smart specialisation, including through sectoral analysis, and identification of business support gaps for early-stage start-ups and scale- ups. We shall focus on identification of local research, innovation and infrastructure strengths in order to pinpoint investment opportunities for public and private sectors in innovation, especially for emergent technology, in European pioneering contexts Encouraging open innovation, including through helping partners from both sectors to identify external partners and funding sources to support innovation collaboration projects.
III.2.5 Improving the involvement of the local community (max.250 words) EUTOPIA will focus on ‘hard-to-reach’ groups, using public and third sector partners to set challenges. These include the socially disadvantaged, and small firms at early-stage development. Beginning with the recognition that inequality within and across Europe remains stubbornly and unacceptably high, involving polarisation of work and opportunity, we shall engage with community groups to incentivise place-based solutions as part of a productive bottom-up approach to the grander societal challenges.
Concrete actions in this area include:
Conducting applied research that benefits local partners Encouraging collaboration on innovation between local businesses Developing management and leadership skills in local SMEs Encouraging staff and student start-ups and spin-off companies Providing workspace and facilities for innovative businesses who employ more people Supporting social innovation and social enterprise, and driving local arts, creative and cultural activities.
EUTOPIA insists that all collaborations need to be seen here in the contexts of place and the smart specialisation strategies of individual locations. We shall therefore work actively to help local partners deliver on their agenda. This may variously be in the areas productivity, mental health or transport, or involve maximizing the economic and social benefits of mega-events such as the Olympics, City of Culture, or the Commonwealth Games. Each location will have task forces focused on development and social inclusion, steered by our partners and associate partners. The alliance will therefore target activities to help to maximise the social returns on this form of economic, social, intellectual and symbolic investment.
III.2.6 Ensuring the social diversity of the student body and promoting the access, participation and completion of under- represented and disadvantaged groups. (max.250 words) European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 94 of 157 EUTOPIA aspires to remove economic, social and cultural barriers that have prevented people from working and studying at university, and to be recognised as best in class in our approach to diversity and inclusion. EUTOPIA will ensure that the activities outlined in the work packages will be open to all EUTOPIA students, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, (dis)ability, sexual orientation [etc]. The individual universities of the alliance demonstrate their commitment to an inclusive and open education, demonstrated notably through the use of bursaries and scholarships for Bachelors and Masters study. EUTOPIA will continue such mechanisms, ensuring that talented students are not excluded from participation due to financial constraints. A focus on short-term and virtual mobility will help to overcome some of the financial barriers to student mobility (WP2, WP3, WP4, WP6). Co-creation and co-production of knowledge involving staff, students and external stakeholders will aim to give a voice to those often excluded from dominant academic narratives (WP2). A joint inclusion strategy will identify common exclusionary practices, highlight challenges and obstacles and pilot mechanisms for overcoming them (WP5). Indeed a pilot project in the Western Balkans will allow the participation of students and researchers from an area on the periphery of Europe (WP5). We recognise that we cannot reach a homogenous definition of inclusion, due in part to the varied contexts in which our universities reside. Inclusion must be understood at different levels and intersections from ensuring equality of opportunity within our institutions to contributing to inclusivity between Europe’s regions.
III.3. Quality and financial assessment:
III.3.1 Which methodology and qualitative and quantitative indicators will the alliance use for the quality assessment of its activities? What will be the methodology used for the evaluation of progress, processes, deliverables and impact? (max. 1000 words)
Quality Control Structure
An important aspect of our proposed model is to review the diverse regulations, governance structures, quality assurance and accreditation processes of EUTOPIA members to ensure a sustainable and efficient long-term joint governance model. WP1 (Management of the Project) will ensure a smooth flow of the project activities through effective project coordination in financial, legal, administrative and technical tasks.
As quality assurance is a cross-cutting set of activities linked to the assurance of quality of project outputs, activities and impact, it demands active collaboration of all EUTOPIA partners as well as functioning structures at the level of consortium that inform key decision makers with proper evidence. To guarantee a controlled flexibility and an evidence-based decision making process, and to ensure the alignment between the overall strategy and individual actions, we will set up a Quality Control Board. The QB, chaired by a Quality Assurance coordinator, will be made up of quality assurance managers from each alliance partner with knowledge of their institutional quality control mechanisms. This cross- alliance representation will ensure coherence across different quality control, monitoring and evaluation systems as well as delivery of data of the same quality from each institution. This Board will develop and implement the monitoring, quality control and evaluation mechanisms.
The QB will oversee quality across the consortium and keep a systematic check on the progress and quality of the outputs of EUTOPIA 2050 activities. The QB will devise a EUTOPIA Quality Plan as a guide for the partners’ delivery of activities throughout the project. This Plan will define the QA aims, objectives and principles, the quality assurance methodology, cycle (annual), indicators, procedures and tools, responsibilities at the level of consortium, and monitoring mechanisms for progress and deliverables. The Quality Plan will be supplemented with an implementation plan and guidelines. Communications between members of the QB will be through online meetings for most day-to-day business, but with annual physical meetings timed to coincide with the General Conference.
The QB will report to the Executive Board through Quality Assurance Coordinator. Thus the EB will have overall responsibility for ensuring EUTOPIA 2050 progresses against its objectives, and will deal with any issues or changes needed as they arise. In the first instance, any urgent issues will escalated to the
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 95 of 157 Secretary General as Chair of the EB and, if necessary, the Executive Board will schedule an extraordinary virtual meeting to ensure the issue is dealt with in a timely manner. The Strategy Board will direct the ongoing development of EUTOPIA Strategy towards its goal of delivering the EUTIOPIA European University. Any changes to that Strategy necessitated by changing internal or external circumstances, if and when agreed with the European Commission, will cascaded down through the EB to the Work Packages to ensure they all deliver to current priorities.
The Quality Assurance Coordinator will organise the work of the QB and manage dialogue with the other governance bodies as required. The QB will deliver Annual Quality Reports and other outputs outlined by the Quality Plan, as well as deal with any other issues that come up through the lifetime of the project. The QB will therefore monitor the timely achievement of project deliverables to the agreed timescales and quality standards. Beyond the EUTOPIA 2050 project, the QB will form the core of the quality assurance processes for the EUTOPIA European University.
Indicators and Monitoring
EUTOPIA 2050 will implement a continuously evolving decision-making system centred around a dashboard of indicators established and maintained by a small, dedicated QA team. This will enable a data-based information, monitoring and planning system to support strategic decision making.
Through use of this dashboard, the QA team will:
produce and disseminate retrospective and prospective data ensure the alignment of information and the quality of gathered data across EUTOPIA activities monitor and evaluate EUTOPIA activities and projects produce a SWOT analysis to feed in to strategic decision-making, and adjusted annually to ensure strategic alignment.
As described in Section III.1.2, each Work Package will meet its objective by delivering outputs across three types of activity: Strategy Development, Development and Implementation of Tools & Instruments, and Implementation of Pilot Cases. WPs have identified indicators through which the monitoring of delivery of these outputs will be achieved, as listed above. In many instances, these outputs are the delivery of a single article towards the end of the project such as a strategy, recommendation or plan for continuation of activities beyond the EUTOPIA 2050 project. In these cases, the QA team will proactively engage with the WP teams directly through the lifetime of the project to ensure that delivery is on track, rather than wait for delivery at the end of the project. For those other outputs where collection of quantitative or qualitative data is more appropriate to measure progress and outcomes, the QA will assist with and coordinate data capture across the WPs to drive the dashboard. The QA team will deliver guidance on data capture to all WPs at the outset the project.
The Sustainability and Dissemination team in WP7 will oversee the development of the impact of EUTOPIA in our respective territories and, by continuation, the development of our impact at European and international levels. Three main axes of resource development to enhance the impact of EUTOPIA programmes and actions have been identified: Internal funding, external funding and revenue from grants and calls. WP7 will not only disseminate results and outputs, but also coordinate and develop EUTOPIA’s impact on wider society through formulation of recommendations for policy makers and influence on the public through new communication models. To meet the objective of increasing the impact EUTOPIA’s education and research programmes through openness, dedicated platforms for Education and Research (Open Access) will be set up and will ensure a transfer of knowledge and results.
By the end of the EUTOPIA 2050 project, a new long-term strategic plan will have been developed, adjusted to take account of our pilot activities and a changing external environment, but still closely linked to our clear vision statement.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 96 of 157 III.3.2 Justify how quality monitoring will also ensure that the implementation of the alliance is cost-efficient. (max.500 words) Efficiency is a key principle for EUTOPIA 2050 management. Efficient implementation is guaranteed through effective project control and appropriate quality assurance, ensuring that project results are available on time and within budget, and meet a high-quality standard.
The Executive Board, supported by the Project Management team (PMT) in Work Package 1, will undertake the monitoring of the overall financial progress of EUTOPIA 2050. The PMT will also undertake all financial reporting to the Commission and will liaise with alliance members in this respect. WP budgets will be managed by WP Coordinators, and will report to the Executive Board on both overall spend and projected activity. Thus, the Executive Board will be able to identify any problems regarding the progress of activity and take remedial action at an early stage to keep both the project activity and budget spend on track to meet delivery dates. In the project set-up phase, the PMT will issue guidelines to all EUTOPIA partners to ensure all costs are budgeted efficiently from the outset.
For a project devised to create a European University such as EUTOPIA 2050, resources are allocated to activities that will deliver either a strategy/plan for future implementation, develop tools or instruments to deliver new integrating activities, or pilot new actions such as new types of collaborative mobility actions. Thus the budget is directed towards investigation and trial of new activities, not funding large collaborative education or research programmes in their own right. It follows that, in all WPs, the most significant resource cost is the time input of academic, research and administrative staff to develop and deliver these new activities. This is followed, in most WPs, by travel and individual support costs for pilot actions as the next highest category.
The PMT will liaise closely with the Quality Assurance team to ensure that any changes or delays to planned activities are followed through to budget plans. All staff costs have been calculated in line with local procedures and norms. For travel and subsistence costs, meetings have been planned where possible either to take place virtually or to coincide with other project meetings to both keep travel costs to a minimum and avoid duplication of travel where possible. However, for a project designed to stimulate mobility and collaboration between partners, physical meetings and working are often necessary for productive collaboration. Physical meetings, more so than virtual collaboration, build trust and mutual understanding between collaborators and allow for deeper investigation and learning. This mutual understanding is a vital element of the EUTOPIA European University we are building, so virtual meetings cannot completely replace physical ones. Therefore, physical travel is necessary for the successful delivery of the project, but should be undertaken as efficiently as possible. Once activities are underway, costs will be monitored closely by the PMT to ensure that any travel undertaken is vital for the successful delivery of the project, and that the most efficient mode of travel is used. All other costs will be monitored in a similar manner.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 97 of 157 Please fill in the following table about indicators, sources of information and assumption and risks
Objectives of the proposal Indicators: List relevant quantitative and Source of information: How could Assumption and risks: What might be the qualitative indicators showing whether and to these indicators be measured? - factors and conditions not under the direct what extent the project's objectives are being What could be the sources of control of the alliance which are necessary achieved information? to achieve these objectives? What risks have to be considered?
EUTOPIA 2050 will implement a continuously evolving decision-making system centred around a dashboard of indicators established and maintained by a small, dedicated QA team (see III.3 above). The QA team will assist with and coordinate data capture across the WPs to drive the dashboard. The QA team will deliver guidance on data capture to all WPs at the outset the project.
1) Set-up and Test a Number of Board, Commission and Governance Framework (all Risk: lack of engagement from Governance Structure and Student Forum meetings held Boards and decision-making EUTOPIA staff and students, and other Strategy for Managing a Attendance at Board, Commission and bodies, each with Terms of external stakeholders in governance European University Student Forum meetings Reference, Constitution and processes Alliance Revision of terms of reference, Membership, frequency and Mitigation: ensure regular constitution, membership of each Board scheduling of meetings, quoracy). communications and engagement Number of related policies produced - Register of Board attendees. activities with all participants, tracking ethics, risk management, IPR, diversity Board papers - agenda, minutes, attendance and participation, with and inclusion, conflict management reports, presentations. follow-up flagged through Work Number of revisions of policies where EUTOPIA policies – ethics, risk Packages, Project Management Team issues have arisen management, IPR, diversity and and Secretary-General, as appropriate Number of items progressed through the inclusion, conflict management referral process for resolution (e.g. and a schedule for their Risk: change of leadership and conflict) effectiveness review management within each EUTOPIA Number of instances of budget Risk register and issues log partner university, impacting strategic monitoring requiring reallocation of Log of referrals for resolution priorities resources Project Management Plan Mitigation: ensure thorough induction Number of Items referred to WP7 to Data Management Plan and ongoing communications of all support EUTOPIA strategy for Quality Plan staff, managers and senior leaders sustainability across partner universities
Risk: overall lack of engagement in development of EUTOPIA for the long-
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 98 of 157 term, due to changes in the external, national and regional political environment in partner territories and impacting partner priorities Mitigation: flag external changes and impacts through issues log and risk register, ensure regular and ongoing communications and engagement activities and track levels of engagement and partnership commitment 2)Develop a Common Production of the strategy for a joint Numbers of uses (learning units Risk: Limited take up of learning EUTOPIA Learning educational programme, policy brief and delivered, student numbers, platform by teaching staff and students Community comparative analysis of educational teaching staff use etc) of the Mitigation: Engage Learning legislation collaborative platform will be Commission to ensure widest possible Establishment of collaborative learning collected directly. feedback and usage. platform Numbers and type of engagements and Numbers of external stakeholders Risk: Use of the platform does not learning units on the collaborative engaged to be collected directly indicate ‘real’ engagement platform by partners. Mitigation: Engage local teaching staff Numbers of students experiencing and student representatives, collect mobility through learning units, by type Report on the joint education and collate feedback to ensure of student strategy and implementation engagement is real and useful. Numbers of teaching staff initiating plan for the EUTOPIA Learning learning units Community Risk: External stakeholder engagement Number and type of external may be low or sporadic stakeholders engaged Related policy briefings to the Mitigation: Engage broad range of European Union and relevant external stakeholders so no great governments on the obstacles, burden on any one body. Manage enablers and solutions for a truly engagement of stakeholders through European University WP1 to ensure targeted engagement and that they understand the potential Evaluation and feedback analyses benefits of their involvement. from participants in the training to engage in new pedagogical
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 99 of 157 approaches adapted to expand best practice on the EUTOPIA platform, informing the development of learning communities across the EUTOPIA partner universities.
3)Develop a Common Set Production of Tracking engagement of students, Risk: changing European Commission of Challenge Driven and roadmaps/SWOTS/meetings related to staff and researchers (in policies on Open Science, Open Data Integrated EUTOPIA the EUTOPIA Research Space meetings, workshops, study and Open Education Knowledge Creation Production of a report on strategy for visits, seminars and other training Mitigation: horizon-scanning for trends Communities developing a virtual platform, and the activities) through activity and policy developments, engaging establishment of the platform reports, analyses and impact routinely with policy-makers Number of engagements of students, indicators staff and researchers across the Risk: Changes in border control policies EUTOPIA network in the form of Catalogue of training modules and visa regimes restricting researcher meetings, expressions of interest, and participant evaluation mobility workshops, study visits, online seminars, reports Mitigation: Plan for changes in location sandpits for events, increase use of virtual Number and type of EUTOPIA Log of visitors and engagement communications, alongside ongoing collaborative research bids generated via from outside EUTOPIA monitoring of policy developments workshops and number of successful bids Reports from new collaborative Risk: Researcher engagement may be Establishment of the Young Leaders projects and joint publications, low or sporadic Academy, number of leaders and the reviews and citation indices Mitigation: Engage broad range of subsequent engagement researchers so no great burden on any Establishment of research-led training Policy reports on best practice one individual or group. Manage modules and strategies for advancing engagement of researchers to ensure targeted engagement and that they Numbers of engagement in the mobility Open Science, innovation and understand the potential benefits of scheme and types of mobility innovation support and their involvement. Numbers of engagement in competitions mentoring Engagement of EUTOPIA Open Science Officers – numbers engaged and types of collaboration
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 100 of 157 Policy Model for Open Data and Open Number of entrants and winners Educational Resources in start-up competitions to be Production of training guides monitored by partners. 4)Develop the Place- Production of reports on collaboration, Tracking progress of challenge Risk: lack of engagement of place- Making Capacities of the identified challenge programmes, programmes, site-visits, outputs based Associate Partners and other Alliance related and unrelated variety and outcomes through periodic stakeholders due to the impact of opportunities reports changes in the external, national and Number of engaged of students in regional political environment in challenge programmes Feedback from Associate partner territories Knowledge Hubs created partners and stakeholders on Implementation of pilot groups, career challenge programme progress, Mitigation: Associate Partners and ambassadors, place-based collaborations adoption of the “what works” other stakeholder identified by on identified challenges, site-visit evaluation framework and its leveraging existing links and projects, employability sessions – impact established relationships. Ongoing numbers engaged, type of external relationships will be maintained stakeholder engaged Hackathon outputs and through the Commissions and Challenge solutions, collaboration and submissions for EUTOPIAN Associate Partner Co-ordinator, using good practice models (“what works” awards clear and regular communications, framework development) exchanged by including invitations to the Annual Alliance and Associate partners General Conference. Hackathons delivered and weEUTOPIAN awards made. 5)Install Activities and Production of a EUTOPIA definition of Number of mobility visits and Risk: Changes in border control policies Mechanisms to Ensure disadvantage, and the subsequent engagements to be collected and visa regimes restricting mobility Inclusion and Balanced students and communities identified directly at events held Societies Production of a comparative analysis Mitigation: Plan for changes in location report and policy model for inclusion Impact reports on the for events, increase use of virtual Production of a map and organigram of operational frameworks for communications, alongside ongoing EUTOPIA equality and inclusion policies identifying student communities monitoring of policy developments Engagement of EUTOPIA students, staff and forms of exclusion and researchers in events, workshops, seminars, mobility visits - numbers and West Balkan Universities’ type of students and staff database of inclusion policies and The implementation of joint equality and practices inclusion policies European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 101 of 157 Report and reflection paper on quality and effectiveness of inclusion and equality bodies and policies, and inclusion best practice
Equality and inclusion policies, and reports on the analysis of their quality and impact of their effectiveness
Feedback and participant evaluation reports from workshops and dissemination events
Take-up analysis report of toolkits of educational formats facilitating inclusion 6)Develop both grounded EUTOPIA students engaged through Number of engagements to be Risk: lack of engagement of and global workshops, meetings, conferences, collected directly at events held. international partners and other Internationalisation of the scholarships, journal publication, and stakeholders due to the impact of peer consultation - number and type of Course reports, feedback and changing external, national and EUTOPIA alliance students participant evaluation, regional political environment in Engagement of EUTOPIA academics – effectiveness and value-for- partner territories number and type money reports from the pilots Engagement of non-European initiatives, certificates and Mitigation: International partners institutions – number and type programmes (from modules, identified by leveraging existing links Reports on effectiveness of activities in workshops, meetings, and established relationships. Ongoing WP conferences, dissemination and relationships will be maintained using Establishment of modules as a result of other events) clear and regular communications, WP activities including invitations to the Annual Production of case-study analysis General Conference and the other events detailed in WP6.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 102 of 157 7)Ensure Sustainability of Development of long term strategic plan Establishment of the Quality Risk: withdrawal of Alliance or EUTOPIA and Applications made to national and Board (Terms of Reference, Associate Partners on completion of Dissemination of its European calls – number and type Constitution and Membership, the pilot, due to changing priorities Learnings Number of successful applications frequency and scheduling of impacting their ability to commit to Number of stakeholders on database meetings, quoracy). EUTOPIA’s long-term objectives, arising Production of a report mapping good Register of Board attendees. from changes in the external, national practice Board papers - agenda, minutes, and regional political environment in Development of the business model reports, presentations. their territories Number and type of engagements related to open access, including non- Report on governance, Mitigation: flag external changes and academic engagements regulation, quality assurance and impacts through issues log and risk Number of hackathons, videothons and regulation across Alliance register, ensure regular and ongoing debatathons and number of people partners communications and engagement involved activities and track levels of Number of online engagements Reports on good practice in and engagement and partnership (website, social media) strategies for fundraising, commitment communications and Engagements at seminars – number and dissemination, regional Risk: audience(s) become disengaged type of attendees engagement and place-making, from communications and creation of Public-Private dissemination activities, impacting Partnerships, technology transfer EUTOPIA’s brand and reputation
Evaluation report on the Mitigation: regular tracking of operational effectiveness and audience feedback, responses and impact of the dashboard of comment to adapt communication and indicators dissemination strategies.
Annual report on external funding applications made and awards.
Numbers of external stakeholders engaged to be collected directly by partners.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 103 of 157 Number of engagements (seminars, hackathons etc.) to be collected directly.
Number of online engagements to be monitored on platforms.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 104 of 157 PART IV. Quality of the alliance cooperation arrangements (max.20 point)
IV.1. Composition of the European Universities alliance IV.1.1 Please list the organisations (applicant and full partners4) which will make up the alliance. Indicate the category for each partner and ensure that the composition fulfils the eligibility criteria. Please use the same numbering here, in the e Form and in the excel budget table. n° Name of the Organisation Role of the Type of Higher Education Institution Country WP n° WP n° as partner Website organisation: (e.g. University of Applied Science, as APP (Applicant) or Research University, etc.) leader PAR (Partner) 1 University of Ljubljana APP Comprehensive Teaching and Slovenia 1, 5 2, 3, 4, 6, 7(co- https://www.uni-lj.si/eng/ Research University lead) 2 Vrije Universiteit Brussel PAR Comprehensive Teaching and Belgium 2 1, 3, 4, 5(co-lead), http://www.vub.ac.be/en/ Research University 6, 7 3 Université Cergy-Pontoise PAR Comprehensive Teaching and France 7 1(co-lead), 2, https://www.u-cergy.fr/en Research University 3(co-lead), 4, 5, 6 4 University of Gothenburg PAR Comprehensive Teaching and Sweden 3 1, 2(co-lead), 4, 5, https://www.gu.se/english Research University 6, 7 5 Universitat Pompeu Fabra PAR Comprehensive Teaching and Spain 4 1, 2, 3, 5, 6(co- https://www.upf.edu/en/h Research University lead), 7 ome 6 University of Warwick PAR Comprehensive Teaching and United 6 1, 2, 3, 4(co-lead), www.warwick.ac.uk Research University Kingdom 5, 7
4 Applicant: the participating organisation that submits the proposal on behalf of all the partners. Full partners: The participating organisations that contribute actively to the alliance's activities. Should the proposal be selected they will take part to the alliance and be co-beneficiaries and entitled to receive EU funding. European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 105 of 157 IV.1.2 Where applicable, please indicate the organisations that will participate as 'associated partners'. European Universities can involve associated partners who contribute to project-specific tasks or support the dissemination and sustainability of the alliance. For contractual management issues, they are not considered as partners and thus do not receive EU funding. Name of Type of Country Main aims and activities of Role in the project Related WP n° Website organisation organisation (e.g. the organisation research centre, enterprise, local public body, NGO etc.) 22@Network Enterprise ES 22@Network BCN is an The network will 4 https://www.22network.net/ BCN Innovation District based provide advice and in Barcelona which aims to expertise on open foster the conditions for innovation and its the development of an place in regional Open Ecosystem of economic Innovation. development. It will also contribute to the development of region- to-region collaboration fostered by EUTOPIA. Agence Association FR AUF is a worldwide AUF will provide advice 6 www.auf.org/ Universitaire de association of French- and share knowledge la Francophonie speaking higher education based on its extensive (AUF) institutions. knowledge and understanding of higher education practices and challenges both within and beyond the EU. AIMPLAS Research ES AIMPLAS is a technology AIMPLAS will provide 3 www.aimplas.net Organisation centre providing solutions advice on how research throughout the value adds value for chain in the plastics businesses and fosters industry. innovation and efficiency. AIMPLAS will also host European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 106 of 157 researchers and students from the EUTOPIA project on short-term placements. Banco Enterprise ES Banco Santander is a Banco Santander has a 2 and 6 https://www.santander.com/csgs/ Santander multinational banking strong record in Satellite/CFWCSancomQP01/en_GB/ corporation which, promoting and Corporate/Sustainability/Santander- through its Corporate financing international Universities-/Santander-committed-to- Social Responsibility (CSR) mobility, particularly Higher-Education.html arm, Santander for students, and Universities, has invested student €1.5bn in higher education entrepreneurship. Its activities in more than 20 CSR programmes have countries. the potential to support pilot mobility and entrepreneurship activities. It will also advise on higher education outside the EU. Barcelona City Public Body ES The City Council of The Council will advise 4 https://www.barcelona.cat/ca/ Council Barcelona is the top-tier on the development administrative and and implementation of governing body of the regional economic municipality of Barcelona, policy. It will support Spain. the development of collaboration with other regional governments involved in the project. British Council Public Body UK The United Kingdom’s The British Council will 2 and 7 https://www.britishcouncil.org/ international organisation disseminate the for cultural relations and outputs from educational opportunities, consortium activities through its global
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 107 of 157 principally for study network and will abroad. support the development of teaching and mobility programmes. Business Region Not-for-profit SE Business Region Göteborg Business Region 4 www.businessregiongoteborg.se Göteburg enterprise is responsible for business Göteborg will provide development in the City of expertise on inward Gothenburg representing investment strategies thirteen regional and economic municipalities. development best practice. It will assist in the building of region- to-region collaboration promoted by EUTOPIA. Center for Public Body FR CRI promotes innovative, CRI will provide expert 2 and 3 https://cri-paris.org/ Research and student-focussed knowledge on how Interdisciplinary pedagogy through research can be the (CRI) projects, research and basis of innovative societal challenges. pedagogy. Its experience of building international collaborations will also inform the work of the project. Conseil Public Body FR The Conseil is a As a local government 4 www.cergypontoise.fr/ Agglomération consortium of the 13 body, the Conseil will de Cergy- communes of Cergy- provide advice on the Pontoise Pontoise. challenges to be addressed and implementation of the innovative solutions being considered. The Conseil will also participate in region-
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 108 of 157 to-region collaboration brokered by EUTOPIA. Conseil Public Body FR The Conseil is the The Conseil will advise 5 www.valdoise.fr/ Départemental governing body for the on the reasons for de Val d’Oise Département of Val d’Oise social exclusion from higher education and their consequences. It will work with higher education providers find solutions to these challenges. European Public Body BE ENoLL is a network of ENoLL will support 4 https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single- Network of open and citizen-centric EUTOPIA by providing market/en/news/european-network- Living Labs innovation ecosystems, its expertise and advice living-labs-enoll-explained (ENoLL) which works closely with on open innovation the European Commission. theory and practice, and how that promotes inward investment. European Research Centre CH CERN is one of the world's CERN will contribute 2 https://home.cern/ Organization largest and most problem solving for Nuclear respected centres for assignments for young Research scientific research with the researchers, including (CERN) world’s largest particle monitoring the learning physics laboratory. and solving process of EUTOPIA students. Fira de Public Body ES Fira is one of the most Fira de Barcelona has 4 www.firabarcelona.com Barcelona important European trade practical strategic fair organisations and is a experience of consortium of Barcelona attracting inward City Council, the Catalan investment. Fira de Generalitat and the Barcelona works Barcelona Chamber of closely with regional Commerce. and city government, and will provide advice
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 109 of 157 on collaboration strategies. Flanders Public Body BE FIT promotes international FIT will provide advice 4 www.flandersinvestmentandtrade.com Investment and enterprise in Flanders in a on sustainable Trade (FIT) sustainable way as a key development factor in the social and strategies, about economic development of inward investment the region. policy and procedures, and on engagement with the public sphere. It will work with other similar organisations to develop links between stakeholders in different regions. Ministry of Public Body The Ministry of Public The Ministry will 2 http://www.mju.gov.si Public SI Administration manages contribute projects as Administration, the allocation of part of the Slovenia resources to other development of ministries and the wider problem solving and public sector to ensure the challenge-based delivery of high quality curricula and will public services. facilitate access to other governmental agencies. National Higher Education FR CNAM is a doctoral CNAM will share its 2 http://www.cnam.fr/ Conservatory of Institute degree-granting higher expertise in providing Arts and Crafts education establishment education programmes (CNAM) and Grande École in worldwide. CNAM’s engineering, which advice will focus on provides education and business-relevant conducts research. training. Région Île de Public Body FR The Région is the The Région will provide 4 www.iledefrance.fr/ France governmental organisation expertise in regional for the Île de France. economic and cultural
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 110 of 157 development strategies and practice, including in business-related training of students. It will support the development of region- to-region collaboration promoted by EUTOPIA. Region Västra Public Body SE The Region is the second The Region offers both 2 www.vgregion.se Götaland largest in Sweden and vocational training and works with 49 continuing education municipalities, business alongside work on and academia. competence development, including for health professionals trained outside Sweden. The Region will give advice on training strategies and their practical application. Regional Network The Platform focusses on The Platform will 5 www.uni-lj.si/study/news/regional- Platform for the development and support the platform Benchmarking SI promotion of cooperation, identification of good and and the preparation of practice in terms of the Cooperation in joint activities, in PhD regional economic role Higher studies. of higher education Education and and research. It will Research also facilitate debate at regional level on the application of good practice in order to promote economic development.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 111 of 157 Sahlgrenska Enterprise SE Sahlgrenska is a Sahlgrenska works 3 www.sahlgrenskasciencepark.se/ Science Park consultancy and incubator closely with regional working with a large universities. It will network of businesses, advise on innovation with a focus on life and business sciences, in Western development from Sweden. research, highlighting best practice. Slovenian Representative The Slovenian Rectors' The Conference will 7 www.rkrs.si/en Rectors’ Body SI Conference is a body promote co-operation Conference entitled to represent between universities universities and to protect and the Slovenian their interests. Government. It will also provide advice about the Slovenian higher education sector, will promote the internationalisation of Slovenian higher education, and will disseminate the outcomes of the EUTOPIA consortium in Slovenia. Swedish Research SE The Secretariat is a leading The Secretariat will 5 www.genus.se Secretariat for Organisation actor in the area of gender advise on the state-of- Gender research. the-art research in Research relation to gender- based inclusion strategies and practice. Technology Enterprise The Technology Park is the Certified trainers and 3 http://www.tp-lj.si Park of SI largest innovation experienced mentors Ljubljana ecosystem for the will provide workshop commercialization of programmes and mentoring for
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 112 of 157 knowledge and technology individual students in SE Europe. based on the LEAN methodology for promoters of ideas and start-ups. The Guild Of Network The Guild is a network of The Guild will support 7 www.the-guild.eu European 19 of Europe’s most the dissemination and Research- BE distinguished research- exploitation of project Intensive intensive universities, outputs within its Universities dedicated to enhancing members and through the voice of academic its policy and other institutions, their contacts. researchers and students. The SGroup Network BE SGroup has over 30 SGroup will support the 7 http://sgroup.be/ European member organisations in dissemination of Universities higher education and project outputs within Network promotes excellence in its membership. It will (SGroup) research and education. It also advise on also supports adaptation internationalisation and innovation in the strategy, academic sector. collaboration and mobility, and the transfer of knowledge. West Midlands Public Body UK The WMCA a regional The WMCA will provide 4 www.wmca.org.uk Combined grouping of 18 local expertise on regional Authority government authorities development strategy (WMCA) and 4 Local Enterprise and will support the Partnerships. WMCA has region-to-region responsibility for regional collaboration economic strategy promoted by EUTOPIA. development and implementation. Young Network BE The Network’s mission is YERUN will disseminate 7 www.yerun.eu European to strengthen and develop the outputs of the Research cooperation in research, EUTOPIA project to its
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 113 of 157 Universities education and service to membership and other (YERUN) society among highly contacts. It will also ranked, young research contribute its expertise universities in Europe. on educational and research collaboration, and graduate skills development.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 114 of 157 IV.2. Details on the 'Applicant' and on each 'Full partner' organisation The next part must be completed separately for each participating organisation, i.e. applicant and full partners (Applicant = Partner (P) 1)
Partner 1 (P1) – (Add Name) Organisation name and acronym Country
University of Ljubljana, UL Slovenia
IV.2.1 Why did this Higher Education Institution decide to join this alliance? What is the strategic added value for this institution in joining the alliance? (max. 500 words)
One of our activities in the new institutional strategy will be to test and implement ‘research based’ and ‘student-centred’ education, with the particular aim to offer students more international, interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral opportunities outside the formal curriculum. Secondly, in a long- term perspective, we are aiming to develop an attractive knowledge eco-system which will systematically integrate education with research and innovation. Positioned in Central and South-East Europe as one of the leading universities in the region, University of Ljubljana represents probably the best starting point to balance the development across the West Balkan region which is still underperforming in research, innovation and internationalization of education. This alliance offers us the opportunity to share and build on experiences of leading European universities, in order to enable us to become the facilitating link between different regions and not only between our university partners. In order to prevent the brain drain from the region, there are particular needs that have to be addressed, one of them being good research infrastructure and digitalised educational resources. Finally, within this alliance we will be able to develop a more focused strategy from 2020 onwards that will prioritise research-based learning and co-creation of the curriculum ensuring that students will become important partners in our community. University of Ljubljana will be thus able to expand its international and regional reach and reputation.
Promoting equity, social and regional cohesion and active citizenship is one of the main strategic objectives in our institutional education strategy. This could be achieved only by increasing the quality of international education and student experience, and by maximising the social and cultural benefits in addition to the economic value. Being the biggest and oldest university in a small country with 2 million people, but positioned almost in the heart of Europe, University of Ljubljana it is ready to accept its role as one of the major regional players in fostering international education and economic development and innovation in the South East Europe, in particular in the Western Balkan region. In parallel with the implementation of the EUTOPIA 2050 project, we will start by fostering an institutional culture where teaching and research will be valued equally, and by embedding institutional mechanisms and structures that will facilitate, recognise, and reward excellence at all levels.
Being the coordinator of the EUTOPIA 2050 alliance gives us the unique opportunity to work with some of the best universities in the EU that, apart from sharing their best practices will for the first time, put us in the centre as an equal partner in shaping the universities of the future. Within EUTOPIA alliance, our university will be able to offer students much better opportunities to develop necessary skills, competences and values for the world of tomorrow. The innovative concept of collaborative teaching and learning practice, where students and staff members become partners in the curriculum development process, is certainly our most ambitous goal. Common to our institutional vision, EUTOPIA 2050 fosters the interaction of research with education, society and economy.
IV.2.2 Please provide a short presentation of the key aims and activities of the organisation that are relevant to the future activities of the alliance. (max. 500 words)
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 115 of 157 University of Ljubljana is the oldest, largest higher education and scientific research establishment in Slovenia, being among the top 500 universities according to the ARWU Shanghai ranking. The university was established in 1919 and encompasses 23 faculties, 3 art academies and 3 associated members. By number of students UL ranks among the largest HEI in Europe with more than 40.000 students, covering all ISCED areas in the first and second cycle study programs. UL is also very active in national and international R&D and educational programmes, and creates almost half of the research results of Slovenia. Internationally, University of Ljubljana ranks on the first place among all new members states with the highest number of 97 Horizon 2020 projects.
One of our key activities that are relevant for the knowledge triangle integration and the rest of activities in WP3 – Knowledge and Research, is the establishment of the Innovation Hub with dedicated services for connecting and networking with individual stakeholders, companies, research organisations, technology centres and value chains. There are also a number of university initiatives relevant for the WP2 - Learning, where through work-based learning, and in collaboration with multiple companies and organisations, we ensure that undergraduate students engage in research-based learning during their studies. Relevant for WP4 is in particular our University Career Center, which through a wide array of activities, encourages students to participate in various events and workshops, to connect with potential employers and to gain additional skills and competences needed to facilitate the entry onto the labour market. With the same relevance, our Research office has developed a full professional support service for grant planning and writing, aimed at graduates and researchers, in order to develop grant-writing skills already at the undergraduate level. Importantly for WP 5 – Balanced societies, which is also lead by UL, we have established the Regional Platform Council for Benchmarking and Cooperation in Higher Education and Research together with 11 universities from the Western Balkans. The operations of the Platform focus primarily on the development and promotion of cooperation as well as on the preparation of joint activities in PhD studies. In order to significantly contribute to the well-being of our closest region, we will use the Platform to ensure that the benefits and outcomes of the EUTOPIA 2050 alliance will be shared with the region.
IV.2.3 (if applicable) A full partner organisation is allowed to contribute to the project activities through its 'affiliated entities', i.e.: - legal entities having a legal or capital link with beneficiaries; this link is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation. - several entities which satisfy the criteria for being awarded a grant and together form one entity which may be treated as the sole beneficiary, including where the entity is specifically established for the purpose of implementing the action. If the case, please fill in the table below: n° Name(s) of the affiliate(s) Description of their direct input to the activities Financial ventilation in EUR between the affiliated entities (based on the budget planned to be allocated to the full partner) 1. 2.etc.
IV.2.4 Skills and expertise of the key staff involved in the project: Fill in the table below for the main staff members who will contribute to the project (add lines as necessary). Please note that the first key staff to be listed under P1 should be the alliance coordinator.)
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 116 of 157 Names of the staff Summary of relevant skills and experience members
Prof. Dr. Igor Papič is serving as a Rector of the University of Ljubljana for the mandate from 1 October 2017 to 30 September 2021. He was awarded his PhD in 1998 from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Ljubljana where he is currently also professor and Head of the Laboratory of Electricity Networks and Devices. He was the Vice-Dean for Education from 2011 to 2013 and the Dean of the Faculty from 2013 to 2017. From 1994 to 1996, he trained at Siemens’ Power Transmission and Distribution department in Erlangen, Germany. In 2001, he was guest professor at the University of Manitoba in Igor PAPIČ Winnipeg, Canada. Prof. Dr. Igor Papič has also led numerous domestic and international research and development projects. In 2009, he and his partners established Reinhausen 2e, a spin-off company of the University of Ljubljana. His activity extends beyond the academic sphere as well, having served as Chairman of the Slovenian Smart Grids Technology Platform from 2006 to 2017. Prof. Dr. Igor Papič is also the convenor of the international working group Cigre C4.42/CIRED and the Vice-Chair of the international IEEE working group.
Prof. Matjaž Krajnc is the Vice-Rector for Research and full professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Ljubljana. He was awarded his PhD in Chemical Engineering in 1997 from the the same university. Afterwards, he was employed as a Head of R&D Division at Helios Coating Company. In 1999 he joined the academic community of the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of the University of Ljubljana. He was Visiting Researcher at John Hopkins University and at Oregon State University and a Visiting Professor at the University of Zagreb. Matjaž KRAJNC He served as a Head of Polymer Engineering Department (2001-2013), and for three consecutive terms as Vice-Dean for science and research at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology (2003-2013). Between 2013 and 2017 he served as the Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology. He was also a member of the University of Ljubljana Senate’s Commission for Research and Development (2007-2009) and a member of the Senate of the University of Ljubljana (2013-2017).
Professor dr. Tanja Dmitrović is the Vice-rector for Knowledge Transfer and full professor of Marketing at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Economics, where she received her PhD in 1998. As the Vice-Rector she is a member of governing bodies of two Centres of Excellence, and a member of the Permanent Advisory Council for improved cooperation between education, research and business. She also leads a Working group for Quality Enhancement of the Tanja DMITROVIĆ, Slovenian Universities at the Rector´s Conference of the Republic of Slovenia. Vice- Professor Dmitrović is a member of various professional research associations and she currently serves as a National Representative for Slovenia at the European Marketing Academy. In the past, she held numerous leading positions, among others she was the Chair of Marketing Department, Head of the project of obtaining international business school accreditations, and Program (co)Chair of several research and professional conferences. Prof. Dr. Barbara Novak is the vice-rector for education and full professor of civil and commercial law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana. She obtained her PhD in 1998 with the thesis ˝Educational and Upbringing Process Barbara NOVAK from the Point of View of Family and Civil Law˝. She was Head of the Department of Civil Law and has held numerous assignments within the faculty and the university. She is a member of the expert group at the CEFL (Commission on
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European Family Law), a member of the ECTIL (European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law, Vienna) in partnership with the Institute for European Tort Law of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, a corresponding member of the Cambridge Family Law Centre, a member of the international editorial board of the journal FamRZ (Zeitschrift für das gesamte Familienrecht) and a member of the Scientific Association for Family Law (Wissenschaftliche Vereinigung für Familienrecht e. V., Bonn). In 2018 she received the Faculty of Law Award for Services in the Development of Scientific Work. In the same year she was elected to the position of the Vice-Rector of the University of Ljubljana. Professor Barbara Novak is member of the board of Venice International University (VIU), a coordinator of the Working Group for Evaluation of Pedagogical Performance at the University of Ljubljana, a representative of Rector´s Conference of the Republic of Slovenia in The European Association of Distance Teaching Universities and a representative of Rector´s Conference in the project council ˝EVROŠTUDENT VI˝. Matej Černe, PhD is Associate Professor in the Department of Management and Organization at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Economics (FELU), Slovenia. He has previously acted as Head of the Open Innovation Systems Laboratory and Head of the Centre for Innovation Research CERINNO within the Centre of Excellence for Biosensors, Instrumentation, and Process control (CO BIK). His research interests include non-technological innovations, creativity, organizational behavior and psychology, human resource management, Matej ČERNE, leadership, and multi-level issues in management. He has received numerous awards for his research (e.g. Academy of Management Meetings best paper proceedings, CEEMAN Champions Award in category 'Research', EDAMBA top 10 dissertation awards), his research was published in top management journals (e.g. Academy of Management Journal), and serves as editor-in-chief of the Dynamics Relationships Management Journal and an editorial board member in The Leadership Quarterly, Human Resource Management Review, and Economic and Business Review. Tamara Pavasović Trošt is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard University in 2012, with a dissertation examining the interplay between history and ethnic identity among Croatian and Serbian youth, and a M.A. in Political Science from Syracuse University. She spent the 2015-2016 year research issues of social class at Princeton University, and was previously a Tamara PAVASOVIĆ Visiting Professor at the University of Graz 2013-2015. She works on issues of TROŠT nationalism, youth values, everyday identity, populism, history education, collective memory, and language, with a geographical focus on the Western Balkans and specializes in qualitative research methods. Her most recent book, Changing Youth Values: Beyond Ethnicity, was published by Routledge in 2018, (co-edited with Danilo Mandic). Her article on nationalism in school textbooks in the Western Balkans received the London School of Economics prize for best article in nationalism in 2018. Ivan Svetlik is professor of human resources at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, is involved in an international Knowledge Alliance project Integrating Entrepreneurship and Work Experiences in Higher Education, and chairs the Ivan SVETLIK Platform for Benchmarking adn Cooperation in Higher Education and Research composed of Western Balkan universities and ministries. He was preparing his PhD at Warick University and Arbetslivescentrum in Stockholm. He was rector of the University of Ljubljana (2013 – 2017), minister of labour, family and social
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affairs of Slovenia (2008-2012). He was involved in the country’s labour market, social security, education and training reforms and in consulting in these fields in the Balkan countries. He collaborated with EU agencies, such as CEDEFOP and ETF. As a rector he established close cooperation with some European and Asian universities and university associations. His main research topics and interests are: work, employment, education, human resources, social security, quality of life. He published over 400 articles, book chapters and books. His last publication is a book chapter titled Between Academic Self-Governance and State Control: The Case of the University of Ljubljana, published by IGI Global in: Chang Zhu and Zayim-Kurtay, M., eds.: University Governance and Academic Leadership in the EU and China. Tomaž Deželan is associate professor of Political Science, research fellow at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana and assistant secretary- general of the University of Ljubljana. After completion of his PhD studies he pursued a research career and subsequently coordinated more than 15 basic and applicative national and international research projects. He holds a prestigious title of Jean Monnet Chair for citizenship education awarded by the European Commission. He currently coordinates more than 10 research projects, among them most notably the project on teaching and learning in higher education (INOVUP) with a budget of more than three million EUR. Prof. Deželan also performs the role of the principal researcher for the Youth Progress Index and is the principal evaluator of the programme of the Republic of Slovenia for youth, Tomaž DEŽELAN national evaluator of the E+ Youth in action programme, principal research partner of the National E+ Youth in Action Agency, principal reviewer of the European Commission’s Youth Wiki project, member of the Council of Europe and European Commission’s European Pool of Youth Researchers, policy advisor of the OSCE for the field of political participation of youth, policy advisor of the International IDEA for the field of intergenerational dialogue and policy consultant of the European Youth Forum for the field of political participation and representation of youth. He authored or co-authored more than 30 peer reviewed scientific journal articles, 25 chapters in edited volumes, 10 scientific monographs and edited several edited volumes and journal special issues (ISI ranked) as well as several policy papers for international governmental organizations (OSCE, International IDEA). Staska Mrak Jamnik is the Head of the Research Office and LEAR at UL. She has a B.Sc. in Computer Science and M.Sc. in International Economic Relations. She has 25 years of postgraduate experience in the areas of software development, international co-operation and development and management of European projects. Before joining University of Ljubljana, she has spent two years as Director of the Information Centre of the Delegation of the European Commission in Slovenia where she cooperated in information and awareness Staška Mrak JAMNIK raising campaign of the European Commission in Slovenia. Since 2006 she is the Head of the Office for research (former European projects office) at the University of Ljubljana. She is mainly working on organisation, coordination and consulting activities in particular on financial planning and management of EU grants. She also coordinates the development, implementation and evaluation of the UL Strategy for the Researchers’ Career development. She served as a member of expert group SYGMA to European Commission and she is a member of European Association of Research managers and Administrators EARMA.
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Veljko Pejović is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Computer and Information Science, University of Ljubljana (UL FRI). Before joining UL FRI, he worked as a research fellow at the School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham, UK. He obtained his PhD from the Computer Science Department, University of California Santa Barbara, USA. He is actively involved in the internationalization of higher education in Slovenia. In particular, through the internationalization of UL FRI study programmes, the organization and Veljko PEJOVIĆ participation in activities aiming to promote Slovenian HEIs abroad, as well as through participation in working groups aiming to address the needs of foreign researchers in Slovenia. From 2016 to 2018 he served as a Vice-Dean for International Affairs at UL FRI. His rich international experience includes research and teaching stays at CSIR and the University of Cape Town, South Africa, University College Cork, Ireland, and the University of Cambridge and University of Edinburgh, UK. Mojca Maher Pirc works as Erasmus+ Project Manager in the International Relations Office at the Faculty of Economics. She has 17 years of experience in international education management. In the beginning she was coordinator of student and staff exchange and Ljubljana Summer School Take the Best from East and West. Since 2009 her key area is coordination and management of various Erasmus+ and Erasmus Mundus mobility projects with partner universities worldwide, short-term mobility projects and Ljubljana Doctoral Summer School. Mojca Maher PIRC She coordinated two Erasmus Mundus Partnerships projects, several Erasmus+ Intensive programmes, Erasmus+ Strategic partnerships and Erasmus+ Jean Monnet projects. Since 2016, she is a steering group member in the EAIE (European Association for International Education) Expert Community Business Education which co-creates the biggest higher education conference in Europe. Mojca holds Bachelor's Degree in Marketing and Master's Degree in Business Administration. Graduate of the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences (FDV), Head of the university’s network of careers centres and, as Head of department, responsible for developing activities at the centres and alumni clubs and for extracurricular activities.
Maja Dizdarević graduated in sociology and human resource management. Immediately after graduating, she was employed by the University of Ljubljana and given responsibility for careers advice and for coordinating the Leonardo da Vinci mobility project for unemployed graduates. She was also tasked with developing the tutoring system. In next two years, she took a leading role in Maja DIZDAREVIĆ setting up the careers centres attached to the university’s faculties and academies, which she continues to head. The careers centres are in operation at 23 faculties and three academies, and provide students and graduates with comprehensive support for their academic and career choices. The centres ease their transition to the jobs market, and organise a host of activities that help them to acquire additional skills, identify employers and network successfully. She is a member of the national working group for lifelong career guidance, helping to formulate their recommendations, a member of the Slovenian Human Resources Association and of the management board of the Slovenian Career Guidance Association, and a member of the FDV alumni club. MSc. Katja Cerar is Head of Office for Internationalisation. She completed Katja CERAR bachelor and master studies at the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Sport. She
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began her career in 2004 in the private sector, as a sport and health coordinator. She was in charge for planning, implementing and promoting sports and other activities. She has been employed at the University of Ljubljana for 14 years. From 2005 to 2015 she worked as a coordinator of sports and extracurricular activities. Since September 2016 she has been in working in Rector's cabinet, where she si primarily responsible for the promotion of study for international students and coordination of international partnerships. Simona Rataj is Head of Strategic Marketing of IPR at Knowledge Transfer Office of the University of Ljubljana. She is a business - research networker, connecting industrial partners with top experts, researchers and innovators from University of Ljubljana. And the aim is supporting the development of innovation. She is experienced in preparation of research / potential innovation pitches, she is helping researchers - innovators preparing the presentations of their innovation / technologies pitches.
Simona has extensive experiences in managing the innovation support projects, Simona RATAJ networking and preparation of innovation pitches. She was Head of Technology development and innovation department at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia from 2007 till 2019. She is a member of various innovation competitions (start:up weekends, Ecotrophelia, CCIS’s Innovation Award, Dean’s Award for best innovation of the University of Ljubljana). She has experiences from many innovation support projects (FP7, CIP, COSME, H2020), she was involved in the Innovation support actions of Slovenian Consortium of the Enterprise Europe Network, including KAM (Key Account Manager for SME instrument coaching).
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) Belgium
IV.2.1 Why did this Higher Education Institution decide to join this alliance? What is the strategic added value for this institution in joining the alliance? (max. 500 words)
For more than 180 years the Vrije Universiteit Brussel has helped build a better society as an innovative, free inquiring and critical thinking university. VUB has always been an open-minded and internationally oriented university. We are linked to the world from within our international capital Brussels and feel committed to the project of European integration. A never-ending quest for knowledge, insights and enlightenment form the golden thread in all we do in education, research and social commitment. At the same time, we continue to advance our very personal and democratic approach that enables all the members of the VUB-community to grow, so they can successfully take up their roles in the world of today and tomorrow.
The long-term vision of the university is to become a learning, open, warm and connected university. This means that we proactively optimise and innovate education for the future, proactively optimise and innovate research for the future, become the reference place for work and study, and connect with the city, society and the world through partnerships.
These aims fall perfectly in line with the vision that we have set together with our partners in EUTOPIA: to be challenge-led, student-shaped, place-based and inclusive. Through creating a learning community, together with our students and stakeholders, EUTOPIA will stimulate each partner to reach further.
Building on the long tradition of cooperation, VUB set out with two of our closest partners to find other institutions with the same ambition to learn from each other. EUTOPIA now brings together six universities who share the vision of connecting to the world and opening up the educational content. The VUB proudly commits to EUTOPIA, knowing that each and every one of our partners shares this outlook and that we are all connected by our hope for the future.
Through intensive collaboration and sharing of resources and capacities within EUTOPIA, we will not only create the university of the future but also accomplish our set goals. It is in line with the foundations of Europe to create mutual understanding through intensified co-creation of a common future.
IV.2.2 Please provide a short presentation of the key aims and activities of the organisation that are relevant to the future activities of the alliance. (max. 500 words)
The VUB has the lead of the Learning Community Work Package. With an active department for Education and Student Affairs, which focusses on the quality and inclusiveness of our education, we feel confident to share our best practices and create EUTOPIA’s Learning Community.
In previous years there has been a strong focus on innovative teaching methods at VUB. Through the sharing of best practices and stimulation from the central education department, we are modernising our way of teaching. As VUB we also take the professionalisation of our teaching staff very seriously. This happens through a trajectory where they, for example, learn how to engage more and better with their students.
Additionally, we have made diversity and inclusion a focus point both in our policies and our activities. We have experience with mapping the needs of students from a disadvantaged background and European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 122 of 157 supporting them where needed. This will be helpful to make EUTOPIA truly inclusive, especially in the Inclusion Work Package.
At the VUB we hold student participation in high regard. Each governing council of the university contains at least 10% student representatives. They are supported with training and assisted in their work by staff. They have been involved in the creation of the proposal and will also be a part of all stages of the EUTOPIA 2050 project.
Through the weKONEKT.brussels project, which revolves around sustainable cooperation in the city, we have strong links with future-oriented entrepreneurs, enthusiastic people from civil society, the cultural sector and the government. Together we make our students ambassadors of Brussels, critical citizens and the leaders of the future. We connect students with the professional field and the complex but fascinating reality of an international city. This project will be strengthened by the activities of EUTOPIA and will provide good contacts for the activities in Place-Marking Work Package.
We are looking forward to sharing these practices with the EUTOPIA partners in the activities of the different Work Packages and beyond.
IV.2.3 (if applicable) A full partner organisation is allowed to contribute to the project activities through its 'affiliated entities', i.e.: - legal entities having a legal or capital link with beneficiaries; this link is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation. - several entities which satisfy the criteria for being awarded a grant and together form one entity which may be treated as the sole beneficiary, including where the entity is specifically established for the purpose of implementing the action. If the case, please fill in the table below: n° Name(s) of the affiliate(s) Description of their direct input to the activities Financial ventilation in EUR between the affiliated entities (based on the budget planned to be allocated to the full partner) 1. 2.etc.
IV.2.4 Skills and expertise of the key staff involved in the project: Fill in the table below for the main staff members who will contribute to the project (add lines as necessary). Please note that the first key staff to be listed under P1 should be the alliance coordinator.) Names of the staff Summary of relevant skills and experience members
Caroline Pauwels is the rector of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She outlined the long-term strategy of the university and selected the activities to reach the set goals. She supervises all governing councils and policies, including the implementation of Open Science policies at the university.
She was member of the steering committee of an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Caroline PAUWELS Degree (DC LEAD) and has a vast experience in European projects.
In 2000 she became the director of the research center SMIT, a research center specializing in the study of information and communication technologies which employs over 60 researchers. Since 2004, SMIT is part of the Strategic Research Centre iMinds, a Flemish interdisciplinary and inter-university institute. Within
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iMinds she brought together research groups from the universities of Ghent, Leuven and Brussels. Through these experiences she got insights in collaboration between universities and the related opportunities the opportunities. This also influenced her priorities for the university as current rector.
Through all her experiences and positions she built a network that reaches beyond faculty and university borders, across the private and public sector and at various levels of governmental organizations. This was key for the implementation of the new project weKONEKT.Brussels, which aims at shaping the future of the city. The students, teachers and researchers use their expertise to make Brussels stronger by providing answers to metropolitan, societal challenges, while highlighting the diversity and plurality of Brussels. WeKONNEKT.Brussels build bridges across disciplines, sectors, communities and cultures. Jan Danckaert is vice-rector educational and student affairs at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. In this position he oversees the Educational policies of the university and chairs the educational council. He also supervises the Erasmus+ Joint masters and the financing of international degrees.
As chairman of the educational board of the VUB he is responsible for the quality assurance systems at the institution and the processes concerning quality control and improvement, and the participation of students in these matters. Through several initiatives he encourages participation of education professionalisation.
He has been at the cradle of major educational innovations in the two faculties at VUB he is connected to, including through an ambitious educational innovation project ("The Cookbook Tradition Over, Renewing the Learning Methods in Education Based on Laboratory Experiments"). This involved an investment of an estimated € 1.5 million. Jan DANCKAERT Previously a chairman of the Higher Education Committee within ACOD and member of the Science Policy Committee of the Flemish Advisory Council for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, he has a thorough knowledge of and network within the higher education landscape in Flanders. Living in Brussels and as a father, he also knows the Brussels educational landscape. He therefore has a broad vision of the educational field: university education, higher education, Brussels education field.
As researcher he is currently head of the Applied Physics research group at VUB (APHY, see http://we.vub.ac.be/aphy/), comprising about 15 researchers. In 2014, the APHY group has been granted a Strategic Research Project “growth funding” at VUB on Complex Systems and Systems Biology, with Jan Danckaert as principal investigator. The group also participated in several European projects (IOLOS, PHOCUS). He was the (co-)advisor of more than 10 successful PhDs over the last 5 years. Luk Van Langenhove is the Academic commissioner for International Institutes and Networking at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. In his position he is responsible Luk VAN for the development and engagement in EUTOPIA, the management of the LANGENHOVE activities within the European University and the communication internally and externally.
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Since December 2017 he combines directorship at the Institute of European Studies (an academic Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence and a policy think tank) as the Vrije Universiteit Brussel with the position of Research professor Scientific Coordinator of the EL-CSID project under the Horizon2020 programme. This project studies the potentials of science and cultural diplomacy as soft power tool for the EU’s policies.
In October 2001 he was appointed founding Director of UNU-CRIS, the Institute for Comparative Regional Integration Studies of the United Nations University in Bruges. At UNU-CRIS he directed several EU funded projects. Amongst them was: “The EU as a Global and Regional Actor in Security and Peace” (‘EU-GRASP’). He also set up a partnership between UNU and the UN-DPA that brought together Chapter VIII regional organizations and the UN.
He has vast experience with teaching in higher education, at several universities around the world and collaboration between higher education institutions, through his previous and current positions. Rosette S’Jegers is currently advisor of the vice-rector of educational and student affairs at VUB. She was previously the secretary-general of the Flemish Interuniversity Council. In this position she handled big educational topics and interacted with the ministry of education and other educational councils in Flanders.
Previously she was the vice-rector for educational affairs at the VUB and the dean of the Social Sciences and Solvay Business School faculty. In this position she was responsible for the educational policies on respectively the institutional level and faulty level. Rosette S’JEGERS With a background in economy and as researcher she knows how to translate macro-economic developments to the business context. She has a critical attitude with an eye for the creation of levers for economics and has experience with guiding start-ups.
She is currently also member of the board of director of several organisations. Rosette has driven change in educational policies and innovative teaching methods throughout all her positions in her life and gained expertise in improving cooperation between universities and companies. She is passionate to use the EUTOPIA project to push these policies even further.
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Université Cergy-Pontoise (UCP) FRANCE
IV.2.1 Why did this Higher Education Institution decide to join this alliance? What is the strategic added value for this institution in joining the alliance? (max. 500 words)
University of Cergy-Pontoise (UCP) believes Higher Education Institutions must transform themselves to serve a changing society and prepare students to the 21st century issues in link with sustainable development goals, through transformative and innovative methodologies. It should better serve the needs of tomorrow students, citizens, employees and employers. Informed citizens require cross- disciplinary knowledge which far from limiting them to a specific domain, provides them with a comprehensive and seamless understanding of major societal challenges.
In this context, University of Cergy-Pontoise aims to better prepare its staff and students through research and innovation. UCP is a full member of the consortium Université Paris Seine, which is a national public HEI that gathers 14 members (UCP and schools), in particular ESSEC Business school and EISTI engineering school. In 2017, Université Paris Seine, through its 3 members, UCP, ESSEC, EISTI, have been laureate of the highly competitive and prestigious French national programme « Initiative d’Excellence » which aims to foster top universities in France (19 laureates). The objective of Paris Seine Initiative is to boost research potential and international attractivity, to reach top 200 of world research universities within 2030. For this purpose UCP, EISTI and ESSEC (through an affiliation to the initiative of excellence programme stamped by the State, and through Université Paris Seine) intend to reshape their academic environment in Cergy Pontoise and propose a new model in the French education system. Beyond that, UCP as a citizen-driven and challenging university, tries to reinvent itself continuously by: - Reviewing teaching methods to make knowledge more accessible and to enhance skills of everyone; - Enabling interdisciplinary approaches - Accelerating and creating value from research, technology and knowledge transfer between the academic world the socio-economic and cultural stakeholders - Developing long term strategic partnerships with Europe, Asia and Africa
For UCP and Paris Seine Initiative, being part of the EUTOPIA European University will bring outputs and good practices at two levels: - at the alliance level for new transversal educational, entrepreneurial and research programmes, new physical and digital mobility for its students, staff, academics and researchers enhancing multilinguism and the European values/spirit. - at the member institution level , since as a feed back the Alliance will help through its implemented programmes and activities the transformation of each member institutions to the global challenges of the 21st century, and to the sustainable development goals to make Europe a practical reality and meaningful utopia again. One level will feed the other one, back and forth bootstrapping to go much further. For UCP in the context of Paris Seine Initiative, being part of this Alliance is an opportunity to capitalise on the differences and expertise of the EUTOPIA University members and create a long-term strategic partnership with them in education, research and entrepreneurship. Besides designing the European University of tomorrow based on a common vision, enlightened by a common humanist and entrepreneurial spirit, goals and European values, the members complete each other perfectly and inter-institutional projects will be valuable for our own staff and students.
IV.2.2 Please provide a short presentation of the key aims and activities of the organisation that are relevant to the future activities of the alliance. (max. 500 words) European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 126 of 157 The University of Cergy-Pontoise (UCP) is a national dynamic, pluridisciplinary university created in 1991, in the Western side of Paris, student oriented, anchored on its territory, and developing fundamental as well as applied research at high level. Its territory stands at the forefront of national economy thanks to privileged links with front-line industrial sectors such as computer services, electronics, bio- industries, automotive. As a citizen driven university, UCP shares knowledge, inspires creativity and promotes innovation & entrepreneurship. UCP aims to design a new academic model to move boundaries and think out of the box.
UCP thinks and acts locally and globally, as it strongly believes that individual and community development has to go hand in hand with multilateral dimension and planetary issues.
Current remodelling and transformation rebuilding of its Cergy-Pontoise campus are to create a world- class International Campus with research, teaching, collaborative programmes, living and sports quarter. With an important number of international students, fellows and researchers welcomed each year in the framework of different mobility programmes, bilateral cooperation, and programmes co- created with cultural and economic stakeholders, UCP provides a place of intersection between internationals, staff and territorial stakeholders. (WP6)
The territorial and social mission will thus be undertaken using diversified, flexible pathways, promoting new innovative teaching and assessment methods, and through the joint construction of vocational training with the socio-economic world and the promotion of multidisciplinary approaches. By creating the Paris Seine College UCP aims to reinvent the French “licence”, with strong links to the secondary cycle, the local territory and the socio-economic and cultural environment to welcome and support all students after high school. (WP5).
UCP is truly engaged with its city and region and it plays a key role in the strategic development of its region via decisive contribution to R& D and breakthrough innovation and extensive territory based presence. Thanks to its entrepreneurial programmes for students, long-term partnership with its local (Val d’Oise territory) and regional authorities (Ile de France Region), ground-breaking cooperation programmes with major cultural, economic industrial and technological actors, UCP will contribute to place-making (WP4) by helping regions connecting to each other.
The integration of the project lead methodology, professional and scientific dimension in the curricula results in an academic offer focused on the continuous evolution of the labour market and research demands, helping deliver real world relevant degrees to well trained graduates valued internationally and it plays a key role in the transformation and in the modernisation of education (WP2).
As a challenge driven university, it promotes excellence in research and innovation through its Institute of Advances Studies, fellowship programmes and open and participative research events in arts and heritage studies, modelling sciences and technology (WP3).
Being in a transitory period towards the establishment of the international research university in the framework of the Paris Seine initiatives, implying the fusion of 2 institutions and the affiliation of others, UCP already experiences the process of sustainability by the creation of a business model and dissemination by the creation of a common identity (WP7).
IV.2.3 (if applicable) A full partner organisation is allowed to contribute to the project activities through its 'affiliated entities', i.e.: - legal entities having a legal or capital link with beneficiaries; this link is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation. - several entities which satisfy the criteria for being awarded a grant and together form one entity which may be treated as the sole beneficiary, including where the entity is specifically established for the purpose of implementing the action. European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 127 of 157 If the case, please fill in the table below: n° Name(s) of the affiliate(s) Description of their direct input to the activities Financial ventilation in EUR between the affiliated entities (based on the budget planned to be allocated to the full partner) 1. ESSEC Business School ESSEC will participate in the WP Inclusion by 30 000 € proposing to the community the results of its program Trouve Ta Voie (TTV). ESSEC will also have a special contribution to WP International with the experience and networks of their campuses in Asia (Singapore) and Africa (Rabat). 2. EISTI Engineering School EISTI will contribute to the 15 000€ creation of the collaborative platform and in the design and creation of the stakeholders database
IV.2.4 Skills and expertise of the key staff involved in the project: Fill in the table below for the main staff members who will contribute to the project (add lines as necessary). Please note that the first key staff to be listed under P1 should be the alliance coordinator.) Names of the staff Summary of relevant skills and experience members
Graduated from the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées in 1993, François GERMINET completed his PhD in mathematics in Paris Diderot University where he passed it in January 1998. He became lecturer at the University of Lille in 1998, and had been assistant professor in the University of California Irvine in 1999. In 2003, he joined the University of Cergy-Pontoise as professor of mathematics.
Vice-president of the mathematics society of France (2006-2010), he was named junior member of the French University Institute in 2007, which aims to enhance research development and interdisciplinarity to a high level.
He was elected vice-president of the scientific council of the University of Cergy- Pontoise in 2006 and nominated in charge of the strategic development and human resources in 2010. As such, he coordinated the “Investissement d’Avenir” program at Cergy-Pontoise, a national investment program launched by the François GERMINET government, especially the Excellence research lab Patrima and the Excellence equipment Patrimex.
He was elected President of University of Cergy-Pontoise in 2012 and in 2016. Member of the Conference of Presidents of Universities (CPU), he joined its administration council since 2013, and presided the numeric committee (2013- 2016). Since December 2016, he is the President of the training course and professional integration commission of the CPU. In November 2015, he handed a report on the development of the continuing vocational training in higher education to Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, former Minister of education, and to Thierry Mandon, former Secretary of State for higher education.
On June the 26th of 2017, he is named acting President of Paris Seine University. Thanks to his experience and his status as a president of two universities, his main areas of expertise are in sustainable strategic planning, ; research development
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and interdisciplinarity ; teaching ; innovative education methodology, coordination of multiple stakeholders. Isabelle PRAT is Vice-president for strategy and partnership at Paris Seine University and at University of Cergy-Pontoise and a Professor in Spanish studies.
She is the director of the AGORA research centre, a transdisciplinary Human and Social Sciences centre whose main lines focus on “Heritage”, “Creation” and « Politics ». She is also the scientific director of the « Paris Seine Graduate School Humanities, creation and heritage » which affiliates, with the support of the Isabelle PRAT CNRS, the training and research departments in the Human and Social Sciences of the University of Cergy-Pontoise with four schools. She is currently the project leader of the “Heritage” section of the Centre of Acceleration, Technology Transfer and Knowledge “Heritage, Arts, Luxury” CATTS.
She has an expertise in strategy conception and development; business model design, coordination of multiple stakeholders, international background, national and international project coordination, interdisciplinary, HR. Arnaud LEFRANC is vice-president in charge of the international scientific development at University of Cergy-Pontoise and director of the Institute for Advanced Studies of UCP.
He is the founder of the MME-DII Centre of excellence in economics and mathematical modelling and the former director of the THEMA research center in economics and management. Arnaud LEFRANC He is also professor of economics. His research interests focus on the economics of inequality (with particular emphasis on the analysis of equality of opportunity), on family economics (with special attention to the influence of family environment on the success of children) and applied econometrics. He has an expertise in project coordination, research development, strategic planning, modelling sciences. Olivier ROMAIN is vice president for valorisation and the relations with the companies at the University of Cergy-Pontoise, as well as Deputy director of the ETIS engineering school Laboratory. After validating an engineering degree and a PhD in electronics, Olivier Romain worked from 2002 up to 2011 as an assistant professor at the University of Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris in the Lab LIP6. Olivier ROMAIN In 2010, he passed an habilitation to lead researches and he is since 2011 a full professor in embedded systems at the University of Cergy-Pontoise.
He is Head of Smart Embedded Systems group of the ETIS Engineering School lab.
His main areas of expertise are in research event coordination, leading PhDs and research development, national and international research projects. Sophie CECILIA is Vice President for the evolution of the education offer at the University of Cergy-Pontoise. Sophie CECILIA After validating her law and cultural/international/touristic development studies, she spent most of her career at the university of Cergy-Pontoise, where she has
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 129 of 157 Names of the staff Summary of relevant skills and experience members
been in charge of different services since 1999 (communication, cultural and scientific action, international relations, general resources). Between 2008 and 2016, she has been nominated by the ministry of Foreign Affairs as an Officer for linguistic and university cooperation, and as a Director for French as a Foreign language classes at the French Embassies in Cambodge and Finland.
She now has a double mission as a Director and a Vice President at the university of Cergy-Pontoise in order to put in place a steering and education development strategy to achieve students achievement through quality and modernisation.
Her main areas of expertise are international relations, university cooperation, education, inclusion, strategic planning. Caroline Hodak, with a PhD in History, is a specialist in the history of leisure in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the sociology of cultural and sports practices, as they structure sociability, the dissemination of knowledge and the space of cities. She has 2 years of experience driving change, developing strategies and plans, on cross-cultural and cross-functional projects as transition manager and project coordinator. Strategic Planner, Content Editor and Multimedia Manager along with communications, digital transformation and creative writing. Caroline HODAK She is an expert in Building collaborative teams and strengthening connections, editorial Strategy, Brand Platform, Corporate Communication (Internal and PR), Institutional, Employer and Cultural issues.
Her key skills are: Strategic advisory & Spin Analyst, Dynamic cross-functional project leadership, International coordination, Web, cross canal, print & event monitoring, Expressing positions and providing perspective. Pierrick ROBERGE is in charge of the NCU (New university courses) programme of the Paris Seine College.
From 2013 to 2018 he was Deputy Administrative Director to the CNR- Institut of the univers sciences and in 2012 he was coordinator of a device of educational Pierrick ROBERGE succes and inclusion for the Zup de Co association during one year he was in charge of the development of partnerships, adviser for orientation for students, and he was assuring the link between colleges and university.
He has an expertise in the field of inclusion, multistakeholder project coordination, strategic planning. Before working for the higher education Carmen BRANESCU held positions in France, as Marketing and Event Project Manager for an event company and Business developer for Eastern European countries for a logistic company.
After 2 years of coordination of European Projects for a research laboratory in Carmen BRANESCU sustainable development and 3 other years as Chief officer of a cooperation and partnership department, she works nowadays for the coordination of European and international projects of Paris Seine University and University of Cergy- Pontoise.
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She has expertise in European project management, interculturality, event organization, multistakeholder coordination.
Partner 4 (P4) – (Add Name) Organisation name and acronym Country
University of Gothenburg (GU) Sweden
IV.2.1 Why did this Higher Education Institution decide to join this alliance? What is the strategic added value for this institution in joining the alliance? (max. 500 words)
Being a part of the EUTOPIA alliance makes it possible for the University of Gothenburg to sustain and strengthen its internationalization efforts in both education and research together with partner universities that share our core values. It also promotes a challenge driven and student focused perspective that is of the utmost importance in universities’ future role as hubs for knowledge production and innovation. Thus joining the alliance is in total alignment with the strategic mission at the University of Gothenburg. Being an integrated part of the project makes it possible for the university to work even more intensively with implementing its principles and strengthening the overall internationalization efforts. It will open up a learning dialogue with the partner institutions, their students and staff, as well as with stakeholders outside the university.
A core belief at the University of Gothenburg is that all activities shall be based on complete academic environments with research, education and cooperation with the surrounding society. This implies that all education – regardless of level – is linked to research, and that all research is linked to education. This gives all students at the University of Gothenburg a direct link to research. The environment shall contribute to cross-boundary research and education collaboration, and shall be characterised by cooperation with both public and private actors from across society. The ongoing strategic work at the university fits very well with the vision and strategy of the EUTOPIA alliance.
The alliance also makes it possible to deepen the cooperation with existing European partners and create a more comprehensive partnership portfolio. In addition, it is a way forward to attract leading European researchers and offer all educational programmes international outlooks and student exchange opportunities. As in many other countries these are very important components in the ongoing discussion on how to internationalize the curriculum and bringing researcher together to work on the global challenges from at multidisciplinary perspective.
As within EUTOPIA the University of Gothenburg strongly emphasizes its presence locally and regionally. Its tradition of broad and deep cooperation with the surrounding society fits seamlessly with the overall perspective of the consortium. Intertwining the local with the global and vice versa can be seen as a continuation of the university’s existing strategy and will add value to its ongoing projects. The University of Gothenburg is open to and in vibrant interaction with its surroundings. It is also inviting and accessible. We cooperate closely, including information exchange, with a great number of actors outside academia. Our multifaceted approach provides for fruitful meetings between various knowledge realms and scientific perspectives – and hence also for increased benefit to society. It is clearly in line with our strong civic engagement – and is something that can be strengthened together with our EUTOPIA partners.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 131 of 157 IV.2.2 Please provide a short presentation of the key aims and activities of the organisation that are relevant to the future activities of the alliance. (max. 500 words)
The University of Gothenburg (GU) has a proud tradition. Engaged citizens came together already in 1891 to contribute their resources and ideas for the future of Gothenburg University College in constant interaction with the surrounding society and the rest of the world. Over 120 years later, the distinct sense of social responsibility and openness to the rest of the world prevails. The University has strong local and regional ties at the same time as research, education and cooperation are characterised by strong global engagement. The University of Gothenburg is an active force in the overall development of society.
GU is by virtue a challenge driven university with a passionate engagement in regional collaborations and impact driven utilization. It has the ground breaking UGOT Challenge Centres, which are interdisciplinary teams of researchers that are deeply engaged in societal challenge driven research. The teams develop and utilize research and knowledge to tackle their respective areas. The University of Gothenburg is a strong and invested partner in the regional and national innovation eco-system through its excellent Innovation office and collaborations such as Lindholmen Science Park, Johanneberg Science Park, Sahlgrenska Science Park, GU Ventures and AI Innovation Sweden. (WP3)
With 39 departments spread throughout the city encompassing disciplines that touches all aspects of life, GU is a vibrant intersection, inviting and accessible to cooperate closely with a great number of actors outside academia. GU has world class and world leading research groups and infrastructure together with strong regional and international partners. (WP4)
GU is student centred at its core and students are represented with voting mandate at every level of the university. GU has several entrepreneurial courses and programmes focused on commercialisation and utilization of knowledge and innovation. The university has several years of experience of engaging students in challenge driven utilization projects of research knowledge through the Innovation Office complementing their academic studies. Fostering and building a community of Doers (WP2).GU focuses on broader recruitment and widening participation, new innovative pedagogical development with Academic Fast tracks for newly arrivals and engagement in extracurricular activities in socio economic poor areas in Gothenburg to provide information, role models and guidance to higher education. (WP5) GU is a part of many international collaborations and has a long history collaborating with Universities in Africa to learn and contribute to the development of strong research communities and infrastructures. The university has a high number of international students, fellows and researchers in various mobility programmes and constantly seeks new international collaborations to invite the world to Gothenburg and to invite Gothenburg to the world. (WP6)
To spread knowledge and learn from its peers, GU hosts and participates in a wide range of events, seminars and public discourse. The yearly International Science Festival Gothenburg and the biannual Nobel Week Dialogue are two examples. (WP7)
The University of Gothenburg is eager to contribute with its long experience with strong regional collaborations, challenge driven education and utilization focus to tackle and solve societal challenges and foster European values in the EUTOPIA project.
IV.2.3 (if applicable) A full partner organisation is allowed to contribute to the project activities through its 'affiliated entities', i.e.: - legal entities having a legal or capital link with beneficiaries; this link is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation. - several entities which satisfy the criteria for being awarded a grant and together form one entity which may be treated as the sole beneficiary, including where the entity is specifically established for the purpose of implementing the action.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 132 of 157 If the case, please fill in the table below: n° Name(s) of the affiliate(s) Description of their direct input to the activities Financial ventilation in EUR between the affiliated entities (based on the budget planned to be allocated to the full partner) 1. 2.etc.
IV.2.4 Skills and expertise of the key staff involved in the project: Fill in the table below for the main staff members who will contribute to the project (add lines as necessary). Please note that the first key staff to be listed under P1 should be the alliance coordinator.) Names of the staff Summary of relevant skills and experience members
Professor in Italian, and since 1 July 2017 the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gothenburg. Before coming to the University of Gothenburg, Eva Wiberg had several management positions at Lund University, such as Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Dean of the Languages and Literature Division, and Head of Department of the Centre for Languages and Literature.
Eva Wiberg has an international background. Except from a short stay in Princeton N.Y. in the USA in 1969, she has since childhood lived over 22 years in Italy. She graduated with a German Abitur from the Deutsche Schule Rom in 1978, and she studied languages at Università la Sapienza in Rome, Italy in the 1980’s. She has a PhD from Lund University in Romance Languages, especially Italian, from 1997 and held a Post Doc in Pavia 1999-2000.
Eva Wiberg’s research concerns second language acquisition and bilingualism, Eva WIBERG with a focus on Italian. The research field is mainly within tense and aspect and discourse analysis, as well as text complexity. Eva Wiberg has also been involved in studies concerning general Italian tense and aspect. She has a long-term experience of teaching and supervising at Master and PhD level.
Eva Wiberg is member in several national and international networks, and has been active in the European network LERU and the global network Universitas 21, for which she was the Executive Director during 2015-2016. During 2010-2011 she was National Bologna Expert, appointed by the Swedish Government. Eva Wiberg has also been an active member of the World Conference of University Rectors. She is a Dame of Stella della Solidarietà Italiana (Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity) for her outstanding contribution to the development of Italian in Sweden and at Lund University in particular.
She speaks Swedish, Italian, English, German and French. Professor of Physics and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gothenburg since July 2017. He has previously served as Head of Department at the Department of Physics. Mattias GOKSÖR He is a professor in physics but has also a Master of Science-degree in business and economics. His research is interdisciplinary and concerns single-cell analysis. By means of optical manipulation, microfluidics and advanced bioimaging
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techniques, he has develop experimental platforms for following both intracellular and intercellular migration of biomolecules with high temporal and spatial resolution upon drug-induced perturbations. Mattias Goksör also hold a patent for the development of organ-on-a-chip based on pluripotent stem cells.
In 2012 he in collaboration with prof. Jacky Snoep (University of Stellenbosch, South Africa) was awarded the FEBSJ Publication of the year-award, after successfully inducing glycolytic oscillations in single cell, managing to control the onset and frequency of the oscillation, while providing a detailed kinetic model.
He has previously been the manager for the KAW SWEGENE research facility “Biophysical imaging” at GU. Between 2008 and 2014 he was the chairman of the biological and medical physics section within the Swedish Physical Society. Between 2013 and 2017 he was the board member of the center for interdisciplinary gender research and between 2015 and 2017 the board member of the unit for pedagogical development and interactive learning, both at GU. Associate professor of business administration and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, responsible for issues regarding education. She has worked as Vice-Dean of the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, and Head of Department of the Department of Business Administration.
Mette Sandoff is chair of the Board of Education, which is a preparatory and advisory body to the Vice-Chancellor with the main mission to develop university- wide principles for education. 2015-2018 she was at the Board of Universeum Science Park and has also had several other board assignments.
She has extensive and varied teacher and research experience and is conducting Mette SANDOFF research within the fields of leadership and human resource management, especially in the service and health sectors. She is now conducting research on experience-based pedagogical learning among teaching staff. The spring 2017 she attended an Administrative Fellowship at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania; shadowing the President’s and the Provost’s managerial work and shared experiences.
Recently she has been the chair of the quality assurance committee evaluating Malmö university. The evaluation is part of the Swedish national system for quality assurance. She is also a member of a national committee assigned to support pedagogical development within the higher education system. Chief physician and professor of pathology at the Sahlgrenska Academy and the Sahlgrenska University Hospital with research contributions at the Sahlgrenska Cancer Center and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, responsible for issues regarding research. Göran LANDBERG In 2015 he was appointed director of the Wallenberg Centre for Molecular and Translational Medicine. He has also been professor in Lund and in Manchester. Göran Landberg has been part of the management of the Sahlgrenska University Hospital. Deputy Vice-Chancellor, responsible for issues regarding outreach and Fredrika LAGERGREN cooperation.
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Fredrika Lagergren was previously head of the Department of Applied Information Technology and before that head of the Department of Political Science.
She holds several internal assignments, including as member of the Library Board and vice chair of the University Coordination Board for Teacher Education. Head of Unit at the International Centre. The Office overseas a broad number of international activities ranging from student mobility to coordinating international research projects and leadership support.
He is active in several international networks, and is presently a member of the Hans ABELIUS Executive Committee of the SGroup European Universities’ Network.
He got his his PhD in History in 2007. Prior being the head of the International Center he held a position as a Faculty Programme Director at the Faculty Office for Social Sciences. Head of Unit at the Grants and Innovation Office which provides support on issues related to research, commercial law, innovation and utilization of research. She has previously been a team leader for the Research Support group at the unit, and a Research Advisor. Sigridur BECK She is currently the Secretary of the University’s Research Board, and is a member of the SUHF expert group for research. Her background includes a Ph.D in History, and the roles of Research Coordinator at the Faculty of Arts, and Coordinator for the University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor responsible for issues regarding research.
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Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) SPAIN
IV.2.1 Why did this Higher Education Institution decide to join this alliance? What is the strategic added value for this institution in joining the alliance? (max. 500 words)
In the words of UPF’s Rector, Prof. Jaume Casals: ‘EUTOPIA is, first and foremost, a happy encounter: a friendly alliance of universities that still breathe and live on the road coming at a good time. Then it’s a useful tool, optimal for the birth of the European universities of the 21st century, innovative, respectful to the local environment and with a vocation to cause an impact on a planetary scale’.
Why join the European Universities? UPF is recognised as one of the leading universities in Spain and in Europe, both for the quality of its teaching and the competitiveness of its research, with particularly good indicators of international outreach. This position in the rankings has been earned thanks to a continuous effort to revisit and innovate in the way we conceive and deliver the classical university’s missions, so that UPF can attract the best talent from home and abroad to remain at the forefront of the higher education landscape in Europe. UPF consistently strives to offer original and effective solutions to social needs. This foundational spirit is still inspiring current projects at UPF and we can recognise it in the European Universities initiative.
Why working in a European consortium? UPF has an extensive history of collaboration with European and global partners, based on reciprocity and collaboration. We strongly believe that only when joining forces and learning from each other, new opportunities for students, faculty and staff arise. This way, UPF becomes better equipped to meet the needs of society and the future, fulfilling its social responsibility and engaging in its public mission also through internationalisation.
This combination of competitive edge and will to collaborate on an equal-footing with like-minded institutions has motivated UPF to join EUTOPIA.
First, it was clear from the beginning that we all shared values and aspirations (the vision and horizon). UPF is a young, creative and ambitious university and has found in EUTOPIA other universities mirroring this spirit.
Second, there was common and strong ground of bilateral collaboration with all partners. UPF has a long-standing relation with Warwick, particularly in the fields of Politics, with an existing double MA programme, and Economics, with a healthy exchange of students. Mobility and bottom-up scientific collaborations are also active with Université Cergy-Pontoise (including ESSEC), VUB and the University of Ljubljana in different academic fields. In the case of the University of Gothenburg, there is academic cooperation in the areas of Political Sciences as well as Health.
Third, cooperation within EUTOPIA can grow from a solid bottom-up basis with new links and opportunities in a university-wide approach, building on commonalities and complementarities in terms of the strengths of different disciplines and institutional models. This is an ideal scenario where top- down and bottom-up can meet and bring cooperation to the next level, where existing multilateral linkages are geared towards a truly transformative collaboration.
These are the reasons why the EUTOPIA partners have been able to jointly co-design a project with a long-term horizon, fully aligned with UPF objectives and projects.
IV.2.2 Please provide a short presentation of the key aims and activities of the organisation that are relevant to the future activities of the alliance. (max. 500 words) European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 136 of 157 UPF 2025 strategic plan envisions raising the profile of UPF as a world-class university and the EUTOPIA proposal for European Universities effectively contributes to this goal. As partner of this alliance, UPF has shaped a proposal that feeds into its action plans and embeds UTOPIA, creating the synergies and the conditions for success and sustainability. UPF projects fitting in EUTOPIA are:
1) Planetary wellbeing as a trans-disciplinary initiative and a vision committed to tackling the major challenges facing global society in the 21st century generating at the same time a transformation of both the university and its urban environment: Barcelona (WP4). Improvements in societal wellbeing have come at an environmental and inequalities cost. By increasing understanding of the complex and interrelated issues affecting wellbeing as a global ecosystem, UPF aims at identifying innovative solutions. The project integrates the contributions of all university's areas, blurring the boundaries between disciplines, and awakes the interest of other global players, like the EUTOPIA partners (WP3). 2) EDvolution as a response to today’s new knowledge and learning challenges. UPF is defining its own education model, which expresses its particular singularity as an educational institution and adapts to the needs of tomorrow’s professionals, companies and social agents. In 1999, the creation of the European Higher Education Area represented the last major university reforms. Since then, however, there have been numerous social and cultural changes in teaching and learning processes. EDvolution is a model designed with the flexibility and versatility of our students in mind. It is based on cross-disciplinary learning, on the integration of collaborative efforts between society, companies and the University, on knowledge generation and on the integration of teaching and research. EDvolution connects to WP2, WP3 and WP4. 3) UPForward as a process to rethink UPF from a student perspective and adapt the university to the changing needs of a competitive and uncertain global context. It comprises different projects: mapping the student experience at UPF, improving student services from a student-centred perspective, implementing a CRM (Costumer Relationships Management) system to accompany and track the student and alumni experience. Taking the student as an active agent, UPForward ties to WP2, WP5 and WP6, as access, inclusion and internationalisation are key aspects in the student journey. 4) Internationalisation strategy at the core of a 21st century university, going beyond mobility towards more innovative and integrative approaches to internationalisation. Internationalisation of the curriculum and internationalisation of the classroom take a central role in the stage as a means to reach more students and for benefits of internationalisation to spill over in a more inclusive way. Activities coordinated by UPF in WP6 both generate from and nurture this strategy. 5) Àrea Tallers as a co-creation space (WP4) linked to EDvolution (WP2). It is located in one of the more dynamic and innovative districts of Barcelona, 22@, where cultural and media industries are based and start-ups flourishing. By opening this space to the city, learning, cultural production, brainstorming, collaborative work, and cross-fertilisation take place.
IV.2.3 (if applicable) A full partner organisation is allowed to contribute to the project activities through its 'affiliated entities', i.e.: - legal entities having a legal or capital link with beneficiaries; this link is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation. - several entities which satisfy the criteria for being awarded a grant and together form one entity which may be treated as the sole beneficiary, including where the entity is specifically established for the purpose of implementing the action. If the case, please fill in the table below: n° Name(s) of the affiliate(s) Description of their direct input to the activities Financial ventilation in EUR between the affiliated entities (based on the budget planned to be allocated to the full partner) European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 137 of 157 1. 2.etc.
IV.2.4 Skills and expertise of the key staff involved in the project: Fill in the table below for the main staff members who will contribute to the project (add lines as necessary). Please note that the first key staff to be listed under P1 should be the alliance coordinator.) Names of the staff Summary of relevant skills and experience members
Jaume CASALS Jaume Casals is Rector of UPF since 2013. Professor of Philosophy at the Humanities Department of Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) he is also a senior fellow of the Institute for Catalan Studies (Institut d'Estudis Catalans). With a Ph.D. in Philosophy (UAB, 1984), before becoming a professor at UPF he taught at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and Paris Diderot University (Paris 7). His main lines of research include the Greek genesis of modern and contemporary thought, philosophy and literature. He has translated and edited works by Montaigne, Montesquieu, Berkeley and Bergson, and is the author of 40 articles and the books La filosofia de Montaigne [The Philosophy of Montaigne]; L'experiment d'Aristòtil. Literatura d'una incursió en la metafísica [Aristotle's Experiment: Literature of an Incursion into Metaphysics]; El pou de la paraula. Una història de la saviesa grega [The Well of Words: A History of Greek Wisdom] and El aprendizaje de la muerte en la historia de las ideas [Learning from Death in the History of Ideas]. He was joint editor-in- chief of the journal L'Avenç (1999-2000) and contributor and member of the editorial boards of various international scientific series on Renaissance literature and philosophy. In the management and administrative spheres, he has held various positions. At UPF, he was Vice-Rector for Teaching Staff (2005-2009) and for Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies (2001-2005), as well as Dean of the Humanities Faculty (2000- 2001). He was also President of the University Libraries Consortium of Catalonia (CBUC, 2005-2009), Director of the Barcelona Humanities Institute (Institut d'Humanitats de Barcelona) and Chair of the UAB Philosophy Department (1990- 1992). He has also been the Continuing Education Institute's (IDEC) Academic Board Chairman and Executive Vice-President from 2009 to 2013. He is currently president of the Board of Trustees and the Governing Council of the UPF's Foundation of the Institute of Continuing Education, to which belongs the UPF Barcelona School of Management. Jaume is committed to take the lead of EUTOPIA within the Pompeu Fabra University and with the EUTOPIA fellow partners. Pelegrí VIADER Assistant Vice-rector to the Rector, under the direction of the Rector, coordinates and oversees the coordination of administration, institutional planning, information resources, quality, assessment and accreditation, as well as sponsorship. In this capacity, Pelegrí is instrumental to the effective implementation of the project, making sure that structure follows strategy. Born in 1953. Attended University in Barcelona (UB) where he graduated in Mathematics (1976). After a few years as an Assistant Lecturer at UB I joined the Secondary School system as a Head of Mathematics at several schools. Headmaster of a British School in Barcelona for a few years (Oak House School in Barcelona, 1987-1991).
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Entered Pompeu Fabra University in 1991 where he is Associate Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Economy and Business. Obtained the Lester R. Ford Award 2007 from the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) for the paper "On a Series of Goldbach and Euler", (joint with Lluís Bibiloni, Jaume Paradís). American Mathematical Monthly, 113 (3), 2006 pp. 206- 220. Achievements in two fields: History of mathematics with the recognition of the important work of Fermat in early integration (see Selected Publications below); Real Analysis with important work on Singular Functions, mainly Minkowski's ?(x) fragenfunktion and Riesz-Nágy singular functions family. The best result is the construction of a singular function with a set of non-zero finite derivatives uncountable and dense in [0,1] with Hausdorff measure one. Isabel VALVERDE Vice-rector in charge of directing internationalisation projects, Isabel coordinates and oversees the UPF International Relations, internationalisation of undergraduate studies, mobility and educational cooperation programmes, as well as specific programmes for foreigners and international summer schools. She is the leading voice for the EUTOPIA project at UPF and directly involved in WP4 and WP6. Isabel Valverde holds a PhD in Art History from the Freie Universität of Berlin (1990) and she has studied at the Graduate Center and at Hunter College of The City University of New York where she earned her Master of Arts degree (1984). She completed undergraduate studies in Art History at the University of Barcelona (1982) and in French Literature at the University of Toulouse-le-Mirail (1981). After working in the Universal Exposition Seville 1992 and at the Residencia de Estudiantes of Madrid, she joined the Department of Humanities in 1995, where she participated in the creation of the University Institute of Culture (IUC) and where she is Associate Professor in Art History from 1999. Her research and teaching focus on the history and theory of modern art, the relations between art and politics, as well as between art and literature, especially in the field of art criticism, on which she has widely published. In recent years she has also devoted her research to the idea of landscape from an interdisciplinary and theoretical point of view, and has organized international seminars on theory and landscape within the context of the Humanities. She has been a Visiting Professor at the Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte and is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art, both in Paris. She has held several positions at the University: she was the first coordinator of the University Institute of Culture and also secretary of the Department of Humanities. Between 2010 and 2016 she directed the Hispanic and European Studies Programme, and since 2012 the UPF Barcelona Summer School and the Global Cities programme, in collaboration with UCLA. Pablo PAREJA Commissioned by the Rector for Student Experience, Pablo Pareja has promoted the UPForward project, which is a new framework to rethink the student experience at UPF and to launch specific initiatives in order to improve student services all along their cycle at the university. He is the spokesperson before the student representatives and supervises and enhances student participation and associations. From this position, his role in EUTOPIA is instrumental to keep the European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 139 of 157 Names of the staff Summary of relevant skills and experience members
students engaged in the governance of the project as well as actively participating in the different co-creation and student-driven activities planned.
Pablo Pareja-Alcaraz is Serra Húnter Fellow in International Relations and Commissioner for Student Affairs at the University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. He is also Academic Coordinator of the Erasmus Mundus Master Programme in Public Policy at the Barcelona Institute of Internacional Studies, and member to the Board of Directors is the Spanish Association for the United Nations. Prior to joining the UPF and IBEI, he gained some international professional experience at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, Human Rights Watch, and the Washington Office of El País. In addition, he gained some field experience as an electoral observer in the 2003 electoral process in Cambodia.
His research interests include: 1) The study of continuity and change in contemporary international relations, in particular with regards to the current international order; 2) The analysis of conflict and cooperation in Asian international relations; and 3) The examination of security transformations and the rise of private actors in the provision of security. He is currently working on an interdisciplinary project on the construction of global norms. Pere TORRA Current UPF General Secretary, Pere Torra has an extensive management experience in Teaching and Learning and he is now at the service of the general operations of the university. He is actively involved in WP2. Born in Blanes (la Selva) in 1965, he holds undergraduate degrees in Law (UAB), Catalan Philology (UAB) and Linguistics (UB); and master degrees in Business Leadership from the Catalan School of Public Administration and the Construction and Representation of Cultural Identities (UB). Most of his professional career has been spent in the university environment, especially in management positions. Before becoming deputy manager of the UPF Teaching Area, he was technical director of the Centre for Teaching Quality and Innovation (2007-2009) and head of the Academic Programming and Management Service (1996-2004). From 2004-2007 he was the Catalan government's Deputy Director General for Universities, responsible for programming and authorization processes of university teaching in Catalonia, including the first official masters adapted to the European Higher Education Area. He has also been project director on the Master in University Policy and Management at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (2002 and 2003 editions) and has taught numerous legal language courses for different public authorities. Between 2005 and 2013 he was Chair of the Board of Directors of the Association of Lawyers in Defence of the Native Language, winner of a National Cultural Award in 2007, which advocates the need for special protective measures to guarantee the use of the Catalan language in the administration of justice. José FERNÁNDEZ- José Fernández-Cavia, PhD, is Associate Professor in Advertising and Public CAVIA Relations, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Because of his academic background and expertise, he is involved in WP7.
He is a founding member of the research group “Communication, Advertising and Society” (CAS) and leads the research project ITOURIST: “The tourist on the Web:
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informational habits and destination choice”, funded by the Spanish government. His research interests are in communication, advertising, and place branding.
Currently he serves as Head of Department at the Department of Communication. In this position, José is part of the UPF Governing team and can touch base with the other Heads of Department at UPF to pulse and to promote the necessary bottom-up approach. Sara LÓPEZ-SELGA Sara joined UPF in 2007 as Director of International Relations. She is responsible for influencing and implementing internationalisation strategy, promoting agreements and Erasmus+ projects for mobility and academic cooperation worldwide, supervising international student services and programme development. In her position, she coordinates the EUTOPIA taskforce at UPF.
In 2014 Sara conducted research in international education as a Schuman- Fulbright Scholar in the United States, visiting the University of California and the State University of New York systems. Her experience provides external reference of university systems to EUTOPIA.
Before joining UPF, she gained professional experience at the Teaching and Learning Institute of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and working for the Barcelona local government both in Brussels and back in Barcelona. Sara started as a coordinator of a European network of local governments to become afterwards involved in an EU capacity building project with Latin America.
She holds a dual Bachelor’s degree in political sciences and sociology and a Master’s in public and social policies from UPF. In June 2011 Sara was chosen to participate at the Santander W50 Program for Women leadership “Preparing Our Women Board Members of Tomorrow” held at UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Sara is actively engaged in the international education field in Europe. She served at the EAIE (European Association for International Education) Professional Development Committee and was elected as Board member for 2016-2018 and re-elected for 2018-2020. Sara has been part of the EAIE Barometer advisory group in its two editions, contributing and making sure the survey and the results would shed light on the field of internationalisation and the profession, as well as the wider policy context. She is a usual speaker at the EAIE conference and in 2014 she was recognised for her collaborative work as a member of the Network of Catalan Universities with the EAIE Bo Gregersen Award for Best Practice. Anaïs TARRAGÓ Economist who accumulates more than 20 years of experience in the field of public administration, territorial and sectorial planning and the design and implementation of dashboards, public policy evaluation and analysis, Anaïs is instrumental in WP4. Since 2015 Anaïs is the Deputy General Director of the UPF Foundation. In June 2017 she is chosen to participate at the Santander W30 Program for Women leadership in University Management held at UCLA Anderson School of Management. She holds a degree in Economics from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and a Master's Degree in Economic Analysis at the Universidad de Alicante.
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Between 2000 and 2004 she wrote her PhD thesis combining the political economy with microeconomics and microeconometrics under the title of Funding of political parties and other mechanisms for citizen participation. Since 2010 she teaches Public Economics at the University of Barcelona. In 2004 she starts a professional career in the field of economic territorial planning. First, at the Institute of Regional and Metropolitan Studies of Barcelona (IERMB), where she was Head of the area of Economics, and then at the President of the Generalitat’s Office as a public policy analyst to design and implement a new set of instruments for the analysis, evaluation and accountability of the Government’s policies and investment in the territory. She has also worked at Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona and has been a freelance consultant in the field of local economic development and evaluation of public policies. Between 2012 and 2014 she was the responsible of developing the RIS3 strategy at the city of Hospitalet de Llobregat, the second largest city in Catalonia. While developing the RIS3 strategy, she has the opportunity to put local government, local industry and the university work together to launch a new sustainable economic growth strategy. Pau FERNÁNDEZ Currently responsible for the UPF corporate fundraising, Pau Fernandez has wide experience in alumni relations, marketing, and planning in higher education.
Degree in Advertising and Public Relations from Open University of Catalonia (UOC), he also holds a Master in Human Resources Management from EAE Business School, and a bachelor's degree in History from the University of Barcelona (UB). He started working in the financial market before joining Pompeu Fabra University in 1992, where he has developed his professional career.
From 1998 to 2006 he served as Head of Career Services. He gained more responsibility as Director of the Promotion and Business Program. In that position, Pau acted as a facilitator between the University and the business world, fostering collaboration with companies, and promoting the professional integration of UPF students and alumni, through the management of in-company internships and the careers service. Pau transitioned to the UPF International Office to become an international projects officer from 2012 to 2015. He can bring in this experience and financial background as financial officer for the EUTOPIA project at UPF.
Since January 2015, he is responsible for the UPF corporate fundraising (UPFund), developing and fostering partnerships and links with business, government, alumni and the community, as well as optimising the effectiveness and efficiency of external relations activities. From this role he can assist the EUTOPIA project in the development and sustainability strategy, as well as liaising with local stakeholders. Regina ARQUIMBAU Regina Arquimbau is International Projects Manager at the UPF International Relations Office since 2015, where she promotes and supports project applications to the Erasmus+ programme and EACEA funding calls. She also manages the implementation of mobility projects KA1, Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees, Jean Monnet activities, and KA2 cooperation projects, among others.
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Regina has a Degree in Political Science and Administration, and is Master in International Relations, Security and Development by UAB, and has developed part of her professional experience in the field of international cooperation for development both in Spain and abroad, specifically in Latin America, working in project management, institutional development, elaborating internal assessment tools, and as evaluator.
In 2008 she worked for the Public Health programme at UPF, where she managed internationalisation initiatives and Erasmus Mundus mobility programs, before joining the International Office team.
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University of Warwick (Warwick) UK
IV.2.1 Why did this Higher Education Institution decide to join this alliance? What is the strategic added value for this institution in joining the alliance? (max. 500 words) The University of Warwick’s core purposes of research and education are underpinned by four strategic priorities: innovation, inclusion, regional leadership and internationalization. These priorities align closely and dynamically with those of our partner universities, and have become a central part of our collective affirmation as a European alliance of like-minded, modern, and committed institutions. The importance of collaboration on a level wider and deeper than that of bilateral agreement cannot be overstated here. Individuals, universities and even countries alone cannot solve the complex challenges that face modern society, whether they be climate change, inequality, automation or sustainability. An alliance approach to such issues is vital, is one in which Warwick wishes fully to play a decisive role, irrespective of the current national political condition. The UK’s recent decision to exit the European Union was almost universally opposed by the university community. However, this situation has had the effect of encouraging vigorous reaffirmation of the fundamental importance of collaboration with our European neighbours in every sphere of education and research. Indeed, an alliance such as this permits a pooling of knowledge and resources that can all the better assist universities in tackling the key urgent challenges. It is Warwick’s determined aim, therefore, to be a champion of creativity and complementarity in the active and challenge-based learning environment of this alliance, and to encourage and support transnational and translational capability in pursuit of our collective major social, cultural, economic and scientific missions.
Warwick can demonstrate its immensely strong internationalist ethos through its international staff and student numbers. In the 2017/18 academic year, 39% of Warwick students were domiciled outside of the UK. In the same period, 43% of Warwick staff were non-UK EU nationals. Notwithstanding Brexit, Warwick is a hugely attractive destination for EU students: the 2017/18 academic year therefore saw a further 10% rise in applications to Warwick from EU citizens. The political uncertainties caused by Brexit have caused some UK universities to turn away from Europe; Warwick, instead, remains totally committed to deepening and furthering its involvement in all EU activities and aims to position itself as a leading university in Europe and at the heart of Europe. Far from withdrawing from engagement, Warwick will demonstrate leadership and solidarity in affirming the vital necessity of continuing British university commitment to Europe.
The EUTOPIA alliance unites six institutions that share an ambitious and collective vision for the future of Higher Education in Europe. Leveraging our local circumstances and regional contexts, we champion a number of shared values. We are committed to delivering excellent teaching and world-leading research. We are also equally committed to regional engagement, inclusion and internationalization. We have in common our dynamic histories of bottom-up, academic-led development. We are all enormously committed to mobility and student exchange, and see this flow as a vital social as well as educational strength. Coming together as an alliance therefore allows us to build on this collaborative and internationalist ethos, reinforce our shared values, and deliver a lasting and valuable impact on society.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 144 of 157 IV.2.2 Please provide a short presentation of the key aims and activities of the organisation that are relevant to the future activities of the alliance. (max. 500 words)
The University of Warwick is one of the UK's leading universities, regularly ranked within the top 10 UK universities and in the top 100 worldwide. Warwick has an unsurpassed reputation for combining excellence in research and teaching, with innovation, and links with business and industry.
The EUTOPIA alliance’s activities echo and reinforce Warwick’s strategic direction for 2018-2030. This strategy outlines how the University’s core purposes of research and education are underpinned by four strategic priorities: innovation, inclusion, regional leadership and internationalisation. The strategy outlines how, by 2030, a Warwick education will be even more research-led and international in outlook, and reached through staff and students working in ever-closer partnership to co-create the education experience. A nurtured and championed ethos of internationalisation will enable students to both study abroad for part of their course, and reap the benefits of a vibrant international student community on their home campus (WP6). Innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial energy have always been pivotal in differentiating Warwick from other universities during its first 50 years. By 2030, Warwick intends to have created a series of new approaches designed to develop an open learning and innovation culture, progressively removing barriers to innovative practice and internationalist experience, and actively rewarding student and staff innovation.
The strategy also affirms strongly that Warwick remains as ever committed to its inclusion agenda. As a university, it was born from the social aspiration to remove economic, social and cultural barriers that prevented talented people from working and studying. Since that time, and in the words of a former Prime Minister, Warwick has come to be viewed as a ‘beacon’ of innovation and social progress, and acknowledged as best in class in our approach to diversity and social inclusion, for both staff and students (WP5).
In 2015-16, it was independently calculated that Warwick had delivered over £1 billion GVA as an annual financial contribution to its region’s vitality. By 2030, Warwick intends to play an even greater leadership role in the economic, social and cultural growth of the region, thus making it a better place for those who study, live and work in the area, as well as more sustainable for future generations. As an anchor institution within its locality, Warwick therefore wishes to have a key leadership and galvanising role to play in helping to connect the different European regions represented by the members of the alliance, and to connect those in turn to non-European partnerships in order to maximise expertise and solution- driven activity (WP4).
EUTOPIA, a challenge-driven, research-led, student-shaped alliance of entrepreneurial, change-focused universities will therefore help Warwick to achieve and surpass the goals set out in its institutional strategy. The Work Packages outlined in this proposal align closely with Warwick’s individual strategy, as well as being areas of shared concern and endeavour. Through these mutual areas of challenge and commitment, EUTOPIA will enact the sharing of best practice, the testing of innovative models of delivery, and the pioneering of an educational practice that puts the student experience at its core (WP2).
IV.2.3 (if applicable) A full partner organisation is allowed to contribute to the project activities through its 'affiliated entities', i.e.: - legal entities having a legal or capital link with beneficiaries; this link is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation. - several entities which satisfy the criteria for being awarded a grant and together form one entity which may be treated as the sole beneficiary, including where the entity is specifically established for the purpose of implementing the action. If the case, please fill in the table below:
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 145 of 157 n° Name(s) of the affiliate(s) Description of their direct input to the activities Financial ventilation in EUR between the affiliated entities (based on the budget planned to be allocated to the full partner) 1. 2.etc.
IV.2.4 Skills and expertise of the key staff involved in the project: Fill in the table below for the main staff members who will contribute to the project (add lines as necessary). Please note that the first key staff to be listed under P1 should be the alliance coordinator.) Names of the staff Summary of relevant skills and experience members
As Warwick’s Vice-Chancellor and President, Stuart works with academics and professional services staff to deliver excellent education and research locally, nationally and internationally. He is an experienced university administrator Stuart CROFT having previously been Warwick’s Provost and, before that, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research (Arts & Humanities). He joined Warwick in 2007 as Professor of International Security. As Warwick’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor (External Engagement), Simon is responsible for the University’s international, national and regional collaborations across Higher Education, and private and public sectors. He is Academic Director of Simon SWAIN Warwick’s major partnership with Monash University in Melbourne. His current international priorities focus on Warwick’s research, impact, and partnership interests in Continental Europe, and its significant research and teaching links with leading universities of China and South East Asia. As Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Europe), Seán works closely with the University’s Executive, especially the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (External Engagement), and with the International Strategy & Relations Team, to extend and deepen relationships Seán HAND with European university partners, and to pursue opportunities for funding, student mobility, and European research and teaching collaboration. Seán was the founding Head of Warwick's School of Modern Languages and Cultures (2014- 16). Saul is Warwick’s Senior Advisor (European Strategy) focussing on the development of Warwick’s European partnership strategy; he has provided advice to Stuart Croft, Simon Swain and Seán Hand and the University Executive Board. He is a professor in, and former head of, Warwick’s Statistics Department and is a member of Warwick’s Senate and its Research Committee. Saul currently serves on the Scientific Steering Committee of the Isaac Newton Saul JACKA Institute (England’s national mathematics institute), is a Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute and a member of the International Advisory Board of the Centre for Mathematical Research in Economics and Finance, Manchester. Previously, he led Warwick’s bid to be a founding joint venture partner in the Turing Institute (the UK national institute for data science) and prior to that led the foundation of Warwick’s Data Science Institute and served as its Interim Director. As Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Regional Engagement), Nigel is Professor of International Business at Warwick Business School. His research area concerns the interactions between globalisation, in various forms, and economic Nigel DRIFFIELD development, in particular the interactions between factors that are mobile, such as skilled workers or international capital, and factors that are spatially bounded, such as less mobile labour or small firms. To this end, he has worked with a
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number of Investment Promotion Agencies, both locally and nationally, exploring both how locations can attract internationally mobile capital, but crucially how those locations can maximise the benefits for the local economy. He has worked with the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership, serving on its economics strategy board and chairing the academic advisory group. More recently he was the local expert in the OECD study into the Coventry and Warwickshire region, and has written extensively on the prospects for inward investment post-Brexit. As Academic Director for Industrial Research and Innovation, Kerry works with the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) and is responsible for Strategic Alliances and Partnerships for Research in Europe, Industry and Innovation, major research projects, and research funding and strategy. He is a member of Warwick’s Kerry KIRWAN European Advisory Board and the Monash-Warwick Alliance Steering Group. Kerry leads Warwick’s Global Research Priority in Innovative Manufacturing and is a member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council’s Manufacturing the Future Strategic Advisory Team. He is Vice-Chairs of multiple Horizon 2020 panels as well as being a project Co-ordinator in his own right. Jo is the Strategic Lead for the Internationalisation component of Warwick’s Education Strategy. She works with the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) and in close partnership with Warwick’s International Students' Office, academic departments and the University of Warwick Students' Union. Jo leads on the Jo ANGOURI development of existing and new mobility schemes with strategic partners and on the intercultural experience on- and off-campus, to ensure Warwick delivers an excellent student learning journey which is international, interdisciplinary and inclusive. Nikki leads on the development and delivery of Warwick’s European strategy. She works closely with the University Executive Board to develop partnerships with universities, industry and policy. Nikki also has extensive experience of working with senior representatives of Warwick’s partner universities and other key stakeholders in Brussels and more widely in Europe. She supports University partnerships across national, European and international networks to develop durable collaborations that support future plans for research, teaching, impact Nikki MUCKLE and other engagement.
Nikki has worked in management and administration in the higher education sector for 20 years. She was formerly the Head of Research Strategy at Warwick, responsible for embedding Warwick’s Research Strategy within both academic and administrative departments. She also led on the development of support for inter-disciplinary and programmatic research groupings, and led Warwick’s Global Research Priorities programme. As International Partnerships Manager (Europe), Mr Haymes has played a key role in the development of Warwick’s strategic partnerships with universities in Europe including the University's partnerships with L'Université Paris Seine and Michael HAYMES the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He works closely with Warwick’s Deputy Pro-Vice- Chancellor (Europe), the Director of European Strategy, senior academics at Warwick and its partner universities, and administrative stakeholders at Warwick and partner institutions to deliver agreed strategic and operational objectives. As International Partnerships Officer (Europe), Denise works with senior Warwick Denise HEWLETT management and academics to deliver the University’s Europe Strategy. She also liaises with academic and administrative staff from Warwick’s European
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university partners to ensure the delivery of events, the management of budgets, and the organisation of administrative mechanisms to ensure the smooth running of the partnerships. Denise has extensive experience in the management of very large Framework Programme projects – GARNET in FP6 and GR:EEN in FP7 – with up to 50 partners. As Director of Social Inclusion, Kulbir is responsible for leading the development of a new and comprehensive social inclusion strategy linked to the University’s recently published strategy and priorities. Her role covers diversity and inclusion for all staff and students, including: widening participation and access for prospective students, ensuring academic success and successful career progression; gender, faith, sexual orientation, disability and equalities more widely. Kulbir SHERGILL Kulbir has significant expertise on how diversity and inclusion strategies can support cultural change, at an operational level enhancing company reputation and performance. She has held senior management and consultant roles with KPMG, AXA, Grant Thornton, NACRO and Genesis, one of the largest Social Housing providers in England. Kulbir is a Court Member of the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants and has held advisory roles for UK Government Departments and Agencies. Kate is the Director of Regional Strategy and Partnerships in the Strategy and Policy Group and leads the Regional Strategy and Partnerships team, developing integrated management and research-related services for effective collaboration Kate HUGHES and partnership across the public sector and with business and industry. She was Director of Research Support at Warwick, managing the University’s externally funded research and related knowledge transfer activity. As Director of International Strategy and Relations, Ailsa leads and manages the development and implementation of the University’s International Strategy. She is responsible for relationship management and engagement activities with key organisations, networks, policymakers and influential individuals nationally and Ailsa CHAMBERS internationally. Ailsa is also responsible for identifying and evaluating potential partnership and other opportunities; and to advise the Director of Strategy on the prioritisation of international activities, related policy positions and management decisions.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 148 of 157 IV.3. Quality of the alliance's cooperation arrangements: IV.3.1 On the basis of the activities described in the work packages, explain how the distribution of responsibilities and tasks ensures that all partners will actively contribute to the work of the alliance (max 500 words): a) from a financial and structural perspective (for example through the common provision of services, databases and scientific infrastructure) b) from an organisational perspective, through the establishment of common management structure(s) c) from an institutional perspective, through commitment at highest institutional level while giving all staff and students the opportunity to be part of the co-creation of the alliance
a) From a financial and structural perspective (for example through common provision of services, databases and scientific infrastructure)
The leadership of the Work Packages (and their budgets) has been distributed across all the alliance partner universities, and they are all involved in the delivery of each Work Package. Each WP has both a lead and co-lead to ensure broad division of leadership across all partners. Financial oversight in the governance structure is through the Executive Board and through to the Strategic Board. It is planned that the WPs will cross-fertilise each other and deliver a holistic and integrated programme. This dynamic integration of the WPs will be a significant focus of the management and dissemination/sustainability WPs, working together to ensure the totality of EUTOPIA 2050 is greater than the sum of its parts. Underpinning the activities will be common services provided through the Project Management Team to support collaboration, talent management and career development opportunities (through the Digital Collaborative Platform) and data management (through the Data Management Plan)
b) From an organisational perspective, through the establishment of common management structure(s)
The lead role of the Secretary-General, supported by a Project Management team (PMT) and an over- arching Quality Assurance team, link to the common structures in place under the management of Work Package Leaders across all the Work Packages. The PMT liaise with each EUTOPIA university partners’ management to ensure effective co-ordination of the performance against the obligations of the European Commission legal and financial requirements, to provide an effective, comprehensive, integrated project management structure accountable through the Executive Board to the Strategic Board, overseen by the Quality Board, with advice and guidance from the External Advisory Board.
c) From an institutional perspective, through commitment at the highest institutional level while giving all staff and students the opportunity to be part of the co-creation of the alliance
The Founding Vision, Mission Statement and Strategy of the EUTOPIA European University, underpinning the activities and deliverables of all the Work Packages, is fully supported by and evidenced through the signed commitment of the Rectors, Presidents and Vice-Chancellors and the Presidents of the Student Councils and Students Unions of all the alliance partner universities. EUTOPIA is inclusive and student-centred. It will be an alliance dynamically shaped by its students, involving them in agenda- setting and programme co-creation, directly empowering them to be the leaders in key debates, fora, research projects and external stakeholder engagement. EUTOPIA will remove economic, social and cultural barriers that have prevented people from working and studying at university, and to be recognised as best-in-class in our approach to diversity and inclusion, for both staff and students. Its vision is centrally concerned with collaborative developments that generate pan-European opportunities for all its staff and students, and the progressive isolation and removal of barriers to such co-operation – to integrate all students and staff as members of a cosmopolitan community, to allow free exchange of ideas in an ethical, independent and diverse environment. The inclusion of both Pilot Cases and Tools/Instruments in all EUTOPIA’s core WPs allows for bottom-up input and engagement by all EUTOPIA’s communities (students, staff, researchers, external stakeholders) across all activities. These communities are also represented in governance structures through the Student Forum, Annual General European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 149 of 157 Conference, and Commissions to allow more formal input by these groups in to the strategy and future development of EUTOPIA.
IV.3.2 Explain how partners complement each other, including in terms of diversity of types of Higher Education Institutions, with regards to the joint implementation of the common vision, strategy and common activities. (max 250 words)
EUTOPIA unites six universities across Europe that are both individually and regionally distinct. Beyond these differences, however, lie the core shared values and commitments that have already been developed through existing collaboration. Differences in shape, context, history, funding, outlook and expertise moreover all broaden the scope of the alliance’s intended programme of collective education and research and the further development of our shared European heritage and socio-cultural value systems.
As an alliance, we strongly pride ourselves on our contemporary, anti-elitist relevance. We view our differences of position in different hierarchies to be a crucial source of strength, ambition and self- development. We therefore champion diversity and inclusivity with integrity and commitment, and our intakes will therefore experience a broader range of university realities, socio-cultural richness, and political plurality through our deepened alliance relations.
EUTOPIA is also genuinely pan-European in its geographical spread. This is designedly the case: we wish to represent the diversity of European scholarship and the European community as a strength and an asset. We therefore intend to assist in building a European Education Area with active and influential agents from all points of the compass and geopolitical circumstance. By the same token and as part of the same inclusive and generous impulse, our alliance will ensure that the co-ordinated efforts our wider global networks maintain a truly internationalist ethos at the heart of our endeavours, and support the contention that we are most dynamically and impressively European when we are least Eurocentric.
IV.3.3 Describe how the cooperation arrangements will maximise the benefits of the integrated cooperation, and reduce existing administrative barriers and obstacles in comparison to existing arrangements. (max 250 words)
One central Project Management Team under the leadership of the Secretary-General and operational management of the Project Manager, liaising with the Quality Assurance team, will allow the Alliance to function as an integrated entity whilst maintaining communication with the individual administrative management structures with each EUTOPIA partner institution.
EUTOPIA has grown organically via a series of bottom-up collaborations and top-down agreements. This reflects the natural and committed progression and co-operation of all the partners to work in an integrated and highly effective way, and to learn from each other the best ways to build high quality, enabling management and administrative structures and practices. EUTOPIA will disseminate, share and develop a focus on building transformative, challenge-driven and contemporary universities of the future.
WP1 and WP7 will facilitate the coming-together of professional and administrative staff in the areas of education and learning (quality assurance, course design/accreditation, student finance, student mobility support, student wellbeing), research and innovation (research support, research finance, innovation support), quality assurance, inclusion/wellbeing and communications. These groups will work together to identify and reduce administrative barriers across all of EUTOPIA’s activities though the life of the pilot project, to feed in to recommendations for the future governance of the alliance, and to ensure a coordinated support for all the WPs.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 150 of 157 IV.4 Working modalities of the alliance Describe the arrangements and responsibilities for transparent and efficient decision-making, conflict resolution, risk management and reporting and communication between the participating organisations. (max 500 words)
The governance and decision-making structures provided through the Strategic Board, Executive Board, External Advisory Board and Quality Board, and supported by the Secretary-General, Project Management and Quality Assurance teams, facilitate an open and effective strategic management and decision–making structure. Students are integral to this governance structure and throughout. The Commissions, Student Forum, and General Conference provide further opportunities for open communication, sharing of ideas and best practice.
The EUTOPIA 2050 project will follow a bottom-up approach to conflict management. First, conflicts will be discussed and regulated at the task and Work Package level. If a conflict cannot be resolved at this level, the WP leader must inform the Executive Board (EB), and the issue will be put on the agenda of EB meetings. The respective conflict parties (partners) will be invited to attend the part of the meeting where the conflict is discussed, with further procedures being subject to the provisions of the Partnership Agreement.
We will develop an ‘early warning’ system related to risk management. The basic rationale is to monitor risks from the project outset onwards during the regular meetings of the EB, and in more depth during the project review and reporting process. To facilitate the monitoring of risks, a risk register will be prepared on risks and risk mitigation strategies already identified in the proposal stage prior to the kick- off meeting. During the kick-off meeting, the early warning system will be set up through a) revising the list of risks and related mitigation strategies, b) prioritizing them with regards to their importance, and c) associating them with specific monitoring procedures. The system will be institutionalised in the Partnership agreement. Emphasis will be given to timely responses to risks, including possible reallocation of resources. Additional emphasis will be put on processes to identify new and unforeseen risks. The system will subsequently be implemented by the Project Management Team and will report to the Executive Board.
An Annual General Conference (AGC) will be held to which all Board members, Work Package and Commission Leaders, participants and students and other representatives from Alliance members will be invited to attend. In addition, it will be open to invited representatives from stakeholder organisations, including the European Commission, and other key influencers. It will provide a key networking and showcasing opportunity for communication, debate and dissemination for all Alliance partners, their Associate Partners and wider stakeholder groups on progress made, new management innovations and sharing of best practice.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 151 of 157 PART V. Sustainability and dissemination (max.20 points)
V.1. Long-term strategy for sustainability of the alliance: Explain the long term strategy for the sustainability of the alliance. Indicate how each member of the alliance will support this financially or otherwise, with the objective of being sustainable beyond the pilot. (max 1000 words)
EUTOPIA will face key challenges: involving communities, a sense of shared identity, a common culture, new common formations underpinned by aligned student fees, overseas students, attracting companies, avoiding internal competition, and defining a European university model. Our long-term goal is to establish a new type of European university, international but locally anchored, that has met and overcome these challenges. The daring entrepreneurial spirit of our distinctive universities, student- centred, and research- and society-driven, will secure success.
To address these challenges we will establish an alliance governance structure and develop a new shared business model with tools to generate new resources (new educational programmes, Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ calls, research contracts with companies). In this context, and to guarantee long-term sustainability, our universities have committed to support EUTOPIA politically (through the governance processes), financially (via co-financing), with human resources (with EUTOPIA dedicated teams for each WP) and through strong communications support during the project lifetime and beyond.
In order to achieve this long-term sustainability, EUTOPIA will engage in developing a long-term strategy, beginning with three initial steps that define and stabilize the EUTOPIA business model, and avoid conflict with the business models of our individual institutions.
1. Establish up-to-date and transparent data to analyse the current state Each university will give access to their own business model for mapping and analysing, so as to identify and solve any structural or cyclical obstacles (difference in registration fees for students, fees for non EU-students, percentages of governmental funding, private funding, and European funding, evaluation mechanisms and performance criteria) and taking in account institutional and legislative processes in Europe and in our respective countries.
2. Define a common strategic plan involving each of the six universities. Ensuring the stability and sustainability of the economic model is a priority of the EUTOPIA partners. The solidity of this business model will be based on the strength of the decision making circuit and the stability of the reporting system.
The sustainability of EUTOPIA’s governance is based on two complementary principles to assure the inclusion of our communities and short-decision making processes: systematic consultation with our communities (including students in all instances) and regular, two-way communication between the Strategy and Executive Boards.
The sustainability of governance will be ensured by short decision-making circuits based on simple principles: systematic information exchange and consultation with our communities; consultation of students in all instances; regular communications between the Strategic and Executive boards.
In addition, a quality control team will be set up, and its first priority will be to define the Key Performance Indicators generated by the WPs to allow for set-up and development of measurement and reporting processes. The Quality Control coordinator will work closely with all our universities to ensure the delivery of these mechanisms.
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 152 of 157 Particular attention will be paid to the construction of KPIs so that they serve both to measure the trajectory and to be tools of decision support. These indicators will inform both the business model, and research and training, but will also allow us to monitor the satisfaction rates of our communities and users and our impact. The implementation of annual SWOT analyses will allow systematic study of the evolution of EUTOPIA’s strengths and weaknesses and any consequent correction of the trajectory.
3. Careful following of priorities. The allocation of resources will be based on the defined priorities. This will use predictive economic models defined upstream and monitoring indicators, so as to adjust the trajectory of the project if required.
Dedicated project review points will serve to avoid any divergence between the strategic plan and it’s implementation. The Learning and Research & Innovation Commissions will systematically link the activities of the different Work Packages, and the Quality Control Board will ensure that project priorities are followed and that WPs are meeting their milestones. The Executive and Strategic Boards, both including student-users, are designed to make appropriate political choices on future strategy and how that is implemented.
These decision-making and monitoring processes (transparent databases, common strategic plan monitoring of specific indicators, and adjustment of the trajectory through annual SWOT analyses) are the necessary preconditions for the construction and the sustainability of our European University. In parallel, EUTOPIA member universities will develop and agree financial tools based on both short-term and long-term goals. It will then be possible to gradually integrate all EUTOPIA courses and activities without creating an opportunity cost effect.
In the short term, these financing tools will include membership fees, prioritisation of common responses to external funding calls (e.g. COFUND EUTOPIA programme in 2018 and Erasmus+ in 2019), the setting of registration fees for EUTOPIA labelled programs, any funding received from region and state contributions, collaborations with companies and donations. A dedicated EUTOPIA office will coordinate the common response to external funding calls in conjunction with alliance WP participants and partner university offices dedicated to European calls. This will allow targeted responses to promote EUTOPIA values and avoid competition.
All our universities will commit to the right level of financial support for EUTOPIA and will look to prioritise and incentivise collaborative responses to external funding calls.
In the long term, when the identity of EUTOPIA and the brand have been stabilized, a EUTOPIA foundation will be created. The funds raised will be used to finance dedicated EUTOPIA student programs and mobility, and other collaborative activities.
In the long term, EUTOPIA also proposes to be a driving force in Smart Specialization to emphasize our connections with regional entrepreneurs and authorities. We have the ambition to establish a clear interaction between national and international policy making while increasing connections with regional authorities. We need to co-create joint value chains among our respective regional economies. A clear identification of areas of investment in research and innovation for our members will be an important tool to identify specific value chains and will help to launch local or international projects (expertise and technology transfer involving several EUTOPIA partners).
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 153 of 157 V.2 Capacity of the alliance to act as role model: Explain how the outputs and good practices generated by the alliance could be replicated and shared in other higher education institutions beyond the alliance. (max.1000 words) Whilst sharing a strong common entrepreneurial spirit, sustainable development values and rising trajectories, our universities are very different; and EUTOPIA members naturally must get to know each other better. Our governance and business models are different; the way in which we engage internationally is different. The very originality of EUTOPIA is therefore to propose a co-construction methodology for a European University on the basis of partners who do not have an extensive history in common, even if collaborations already existed bilaterally, but who share a strong desire to work together and shared common values. This notably and productively extends to the inclusion of a UK partner. The methodology and learning described hereafter will be able to be duplicated and imported to other universities when structuring similar networks or alliances.
In conclusion, we regard our differences as a resource and an asset, and proceed with the following vectors:
1. Multidisciplinary v thematic network: all EUTOPIA member universities are multidisciplinary. EUTOPIA chooses not to restrict our activities to particular thematics to allow for maximum synergies both between our institutions and across all our activities. Consequently, a precise mapping of our collective priorities will be undertaken. This multidisciplinarity is not a lack of identity but a challenging way of addressing the specific social question of how to create a university of diversity and inclusion.
2. Universities ‘anchored in their territory’ v ‘universities of capitals’: Our universities are key actors with distinctive defined territories: Warwick in the West Midlands, the Université Cergy-Pontoise in the Val d'Oise/Ile de France, the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Catalonia, the VUB in Flanders and the University of Gothenburg in the region of Västra Götaland. The history of Slovenia places the University of Ljubljana at the heart of both a region and a state, as a link between the academic and the professional.
These privileged links with our regions make our universities key players in supporting economic development, and is why our alliance will simultaneously drive an Entrepreneurial Discovery Process methodology in our countries. Approaches will necessarily differ, but we will create intentionality strong and leading regional alliances in Europe to nurture a better knowledge of the political, economic and academic ecosystems that generate successful collaborations.
3. ‘Defence of common values’ v ‘consolidation of existing research collaborations’: We want to both value and build on differences, so that our alliance reflects a contemporary diverse and heterogeneous Europe. We believe that the founding principles of Europe are transferable to universities and therefore that the academic world can and must provide best practice examples and experiences for all European students, not least in the transmission of a European set of values. We shall purposefully be an inclusive university, open to diversity, promoting excellence while guaranteeing social and intellectual opportunity and inclusivity across our European locations.
We affirm that the best proof of our real commitment and determination to transmit these values is the plurality of our alliance identities, including our multilingualism. Our alliance is the geopolitical reflection of the changes and evolutions of Europe. French, English, Spanish Catalans, Swedish, Slovenes, Belgians: all have experienced or indeed currently embody doubts related to the ongoing construction of Europe. The constitution of our alliance is therefore itself a strong and honest political message as well as a direct challenge, since it demonstrates the wager that we accept and the will that we bring to this question.
To develop and duplicate our model we will undertake a co-construction approach based on transparency, mutualisation and short decision-making processes:
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 154 of 157 Transparency Our universities will begin a reasoned mapping of training, research, partnerships and business models through the sharing of information on collaborative platforms.
Complementarity Because competition between EUTOPIA members may realistically become an issue, we will work to encourage complementarity. EUTOPIA will naturally foster curriculum mobility and double diplomas; but above all, we will create brand new complementary formations with a EUTOPIA label, thus adding to our collective resource and driving ourselves to true distinctiveness. Thus: UPF will be in charge of the creation of pre-EUTOPIA summer schools; Warwick’s experience of attracting overseas students will help EUTOPIA to implement a powerful international policy; the practice-led PhD launched by the Université Cergy-Pontoise will act as one benchmark for the creation of this specific PhD pathway in other universities, so as to create a desirable EUTOPIA label.
Efficiency We believe fundamentally in the efficiency of a common quality control structure that can ensure successful implementation of the strategic plan. SWOT analyses will be based on mapping and KPIs. We shall use a three-step approach (3 years, 5 years, 10 years) in order to allow a progressive and articulated structuring of the actions. This will guarantee strong implementation of all activities and eventual adjustment (Plan-Do-Act-Adjust).
Involvement EUTOPIA places the student at the heart of every decision and wants them all to be creative agents, not least in terms of training and formation. The wikistudents programme launched via the Education WP is a perfect example of this approach to thinking through our university co-existence and our collaborative programming intentions. A powerful, representative and independent representation of students will be strongly encouraged at every level of governance.
Our academic communities have been involved from the very beginning. A collaborative platform with a restricted area for internal users will provide all relevant information (from databases to calendars) and specific seminars will be organized in research, education or in place-making to foster synergies and ensure a dynamic collaboration at every level.
Innovation We shall act as a committed role model for the implementation of Smart Specialization in our respective countries since we are all key actors in our regional innovation systems. This is a core dimension of our intention to build a single bridge between our academic worlds and all our regional players (users, entrepreneurs, political leaders).
EUTOPIA will thus be a facilitating university, a good (εὖ) place (topos) in which to design the future, integrating the societal and political changes of the contemporary world in a pragmatic, transparent and collaborative structure.
V.3 Dissemination: Describe the dissemination plan of the results and good practices put in place. Describe the human and financial resources, activities, tools and communication channels, including through the use of social media to ensure that results and benefits will be shared openly and effectively to a wide range of stakeholders during and after the project's lifetime. (max.1000 words)
Dissemination is a rigorous planned process designed to provide information, good practice and the results of EUTOPIA development to key actors. It also implies communicating activity results, methods
European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 155 of 157 and values, from the beginning and through the evolution of the project, permitting us to assess the overall impact of the project, both through the EUTOPIA community and beyond, at European and international levels. Advertising our results will have impact on other universities and institutions, and develop the capacity of EUTOPIA to act as a role model.
EUTOPIA is designed to have a wide reach, and is configured to capture processes as well as to produce high quality tools. Dissemination of results and good practices are planned in order to reach the various stakeholders. We will rely in particular on the respective networks of our universities and on European and global associations that can participate in the outreach of our project, such as YERUN, The Guild, and UBIAS. At least one of our universities is a member of each of these networks. Each phase of the project has outputs that will be of interest to both specific groups of stakeholders and also to the wider public. The dissemination plan will therefore provide all outputs through an electronic media strategy; and different stakeholders of EUTOPIA will contribute to the dissemination by activating their extensive networks of communication.
EUTOPIA believes in the necessity of having a creative and innovative communication/dissemination plan so as to rethink the traditional tools of dissemination. Therefore the EUTOPIA website will not simply be a replication of those already employed by the partners. Instead, it will be an interactive tool, designed and maintained to not only spread information about our activities, but to be a crossroad for multiple actors (staff, students, researchers) and a locus for a common culture. Videothons and Youtube challenges staged via influencers will complete this new and complementary approach to dissemination.
The website will be conceived as a collaborative platform and translated into partner languages in order to provide maximum access to information about EUTOPIA activities and to ensure a complete transparency of the results. An intranet (with a restricted access for EUTOPIA members) will be dedicated to administrative reports, fora for discussion, work in progress and papers etc. This will encourage the widest involvement of our communities. Video case studies will also be used in order to engage students and lecturers. We will naturally ensure ethical procedures and safeguarding issues are adhered to in these forms of promulgation of the project.
All outputs during and after the project’s lifetime will be made available electronically as the European University delivers them. These include inter alia the collaborative platform website, a twitter feed, an Instagram and Youtube channel.
A dedicated communication team comprising a Communication Leader and a Communication Coordinator will take charge of the methodology and then of the communication and dissemination of the good practices and results. They will act at three levels: among the Alliance members making sure that the dissemination plan of each work package is aligned with the EUTOPIA strategy; for EUTOPIA stakeholders involved in different Work Packages; at the levels of general society and internationally. To effectively disseminate results, an appropriate communication plan will be designed at the beginning of the project (why, what, how, when, to whom and where disseminating results will take place both during and after the project period).
During the project lifetime, mapping of good practices will be disseminated among members, and interactive dissemination will be put in place on specific areas through storyboards. Relying on digital tools and videos, we will sustain open access for outputs such as texts, articles, publications, and other elements resulting from EUTOPIA work that may be re-used by our communities.
To involve all communities (students, staff, academic and researchers) as well as regional stakeholders, seminars and training workshops will be regularly held. These seminars will involve the sharing of results and good practice.
Common marketing tools, with a common identity, will be designed and printed in order to be addressed to all public targets described in the Dissemination WP. We shall equally exploit attendant marketing European Universities Transforming to an Open, Inclusive Academy for 2050 / EUTOPIA Page 156 of 157 and communication devices such as factsheets, brochures, flyers, etc., to be distributed in a variety of contexts, such as seminars, conferences, or educational fairs.
In order to achieve the goals of the dissemination plan, in addition to the human resources (dedicated team), additional resources will be released as needed to create a collaborative platform, acquire the marketing tools, create digital tools and videos, and organise seminars, conferences and fairs.
The EUTOPIA challenge for dissemination is therefore to create a common culture involving our communities, to set up a new brand, to stimulate common values, and ultimately to generate a powerful collective response to core societal issues.
V.4. Open Educational and Open Science and Citizen Science resources: If relevant, and within the limits of existing national and European legal frameworks, describe how data, materials, documents, audiovisual and social media activity will be made available to make data searchable, accessible, interoperable, and re-usable (FAIR) to other higher education institutions and European Universities in Europe. (max 500 words) The EUTOPIA Alliance is fundamentally committed to the practices and ethos of openness. We will therefore use a dual track policy to making our materials available to all.
Firstly, a DATA Management Plan (DMP) will be adopted, that will define general guidelines and responsibilities for each involved partner, concerning all of the activities performed in the different work packages. Research Data Management (RDM) will include in our project all actions that organise, store, preserve and share data collected during the project’s lifetime. This concerns everyday management as well as long-term decisions. DMP templates are already available at each of our institutions. It will be the responsibility of the first work package to set up and implement a DMP. However, we intend to go further than mere compliance with the bare RDM policy. We shall thus equally develop a joint RDM policy for all the research performed at the six partner universities.
Secondly, there will be a policy of actively sharing our experiences with other higher education institutions and European universities in Europe. The project here submitted is much more than a research project as such: it is an exercise in transforming universities and in establishing the European University. We thus see it as fundamental to share our experiences of this game-changing change- management phase with other higher education institutions, and especially with the other European Universities pilots. Work package 7 gives the appropriate details of our intentions in this regard.
In addition, we will follow and uphold the Open Access philosophy in relation to all scholarly outputs related to our project. Thus we shall adhere in dissemination activity to the principles of the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities adopted on 23 October 2003.
Finally, we stress that should our project be selected as one of the initial European Universities pilots, we are thoroughly and enthusiastically committed to sharing our experiences with the other selected pilots. We are certain that the different consortia, with their own models and ambitions, can only benefit from sharing their experiences. We therefore very much welcome regular exchange between the different European Universities pilots. We assume that the European Commission will initiate and facilitate moves in this regard; but if not, we are willing independently to approach the other selected pilots and work towards organising communication between the different pilots. Equally, we should wish to give advice if readily accepted to any future consortia that aim to set up their own European Universities initiative. EUTOPIA’s transformative goals are designed to effect a step-change in the nature and reach of the European university. To this end, it is logical and fulfilling for us to share all efforts to reach such a noble and liberating goal.
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