The European Commission has published the results of the second call of the European Universities Initiative under the Erasmus+ programme. Twenty-four new projects, creating transnational alliances of higher education institutions from across the EU, have been selected. Among the approved projects is the ULYSSEUS alliance (“An open to the world, persons-centred and entrepreneurial European University for the citizenship of the future”), of which the Technical University of Košice is a member, as the only technically-oriented university from Slovakia.

The second call was issued on 7 November 2019 with an application deadline of 26 February 2020. The total support is €120 million, representing € 5million per alliance over three years. The European Universities Initiative will be fully reflected in the forthcoming Erasmus 2021-2027 programme.

The Ulysseus Alliance has six members: the University of Seville (Spain, coordinator), the University of Genoa (Italy), Université Cote d’Azur (France), the Management Centre Innsbruck (Austria), the Technical University of Košice (Slovakia) and the Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences (Finland).

The Alliance anticipates a fully engaged community for meeting with relevant partners to co-create joint interdisciplinary, flexible learning and entrepreneurial activities. It will also connect science and research with the transformation of ideas into reality. Part of the effort is to design and create a joint campus for gaining work experience. The incorporated mobility will allow students to move freely from one university to another with automatic credit recognition, gaining experience from internships, and breaking down barriers through social inclusion and participation in active citizen programmes.

About the European Universities Initiative

European Universities are ambitious transnational alliances of higher education institutions which create long-term strategic cooperation. The initiative also aims to promote European values, identity and significantly improve the quality and competitiveness of European higher education.

The EUA (European University Alliance) label or European University is a designation that will resonate significantly across the European Education Area in the future. The aim is to bring together, which in this case should emphasise European values, a common force generated by diversity, multilingualism and a diverse history. These concepts will be linked through education and the creation of a European student-academy-teacher symbiosis, preserving the identity of each member university.