Go-ahead for deeper collaboration in research and teaching

The main focus was on one central goal of the alliance: to combine forces in research and thus raise joint scientific work to a new European level. Since the launch of EUt+ in November 2020, this has already been impressively achieved - around 10 million euros in funding has been jointly raised, including around 1.8 million euros from h_da. The Hessian Minister for Sciences and the Arts, Angela Dorn, met on Friday with the presidium of the h_da and central representatives of EUt+. She reaffirmed her support for the initiative: "The establishment of a European University is something completely new and therefore also presents us with new regulatory tasks. As a ministry, we are ready to be available as a contact partner for this and also to break new ground."

The vision of the initiative, with its motto "European Values Empowering Technology," is implemented through research across locations and disciplines on technology-oriented topics with a simultaneous, strong focus on interdisciplinarity, sustainable development and humanistic values. So far, five EUt+ research institutes have already been established, including the "European Culture and Technology Lab" (ECT Lab+), which addresses questions about the relationship between European culture and technology from a European perspective. Other examples include institutes on the topics of sustainability and data science. At the next workshops in Darmstadt on November 2-5, the eight presidia plan to sign an agreement on this.
The working meeting also gave the starting signal for the project "EXperimentation to Transform Research Activities and Steering" (EUt+ EXTRAS) with the aim of establishing a roadmap for joint research and innovation at EUt+ level. Through the emerging scientific working teams, this will develop how common goals, coordinated research and innovation, new models of collaboration, and long-term joint strategies can advance research and education for Europe.
 

Next steps towards a common European degree

At the conference, the partners also moved a step closer to the ambitious goal of a common, European degree - a first in the education landscape. Teachers and study program planning experts identified so-called "clusters." These are areas of study in which the eight partners see the greatest commonalities in their curricula. These include civil engineering, mechanical engineering and telecommunications and networks. Continuing education courses and offerings are also to be realized at the European level. This would be the basis for one of the alliance's central goals: to enable students to learn seamlessly at different locations throughout Europe.