About the alliance

About the alliance

What is EUTOPIA?

EUTOPIA is a teaching and research community of ten European universities, established to actively participate in creating and renewing a common higher education area. The main objective of EUTOPIA is to test innovative models of European higher education cooperation through pilot projects (EUTOPIA More, EUTOPIA-TRAIN, EUTOPIA-SIF, FLECSLAB), which will serve as a basis for the development of the concept and organisational structure of a new European transnational university.

In addition to the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), the Alliance is composed of the Université Vrije Universiteit de Bruxelles (Belgium), the Université CY Cergy Paris (France), the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), the Université Pompeu Fabra de Barcelona (Spain), the University of Warwick (UK), the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (Portugal), the Università Ca' Foscari (Italy), the Technical University of Dresden (Germany), and the Universitat Babeş-Bolyai (Romania).

Grouped 10 LOGOS

EUTOPIA's most ambitious goal is to develop a long-term strategy that will contribute to the renewal of the European Higher Education Area.

In early 2019, the (then) six-member federation, led by the University of Ljubljana, secured funding to implement a three-year pilot project, EUTOPIA2050, which was followed by the approval of the €14 million EUTOPIA MORE project (European Universities Transforming to an Open Inclusive Academy for 2050 - Making Organisational and Real Evolution). 

By creating the conditions for a rethinking of the role of educational institutions, EUTOPIA MORE promotes and supports the process of transformation of university institutions in a rapidly changing world. 

EUTOPIA MORE aims to achieve three objectives:

  1. To create the conditions for community networking between universities and disciplines, based on the fundamental approach of "Global Community Networking", in order to enable the development of "bottom-up" or "bottom-up" projects addressing the areas of education, research and the remaining global challenges. 
     
  2. Developing educational initiatives to strengthen the curricula of the bachelor, master and doctoral programmes implemented within the future EUTOPIA Joint University. 
     
  3. Integrating initiatives, research and innovation that seek to address the societal challenges of our time and integrating academic communities within the future EUTOPIA International Knowledge Institute.

EUTOPIA projects

Within the framework of development projects of the EUTOPIA alliance, we carry out several pilot activities to increase the transfer of knowledge and good practices within the framework of international cooperation to raise the quality of research and development projects. The pilot project of EUTOPIA is EUTOPIA2050, which took place for the first three years from establishing the alliance (until November 2022). Today, the activities continue in the EUTOPIA MORE project. The other projects created in the first phase of the alliance are EUTOPIA-TRAIN and EUTOPIA-SIF, as well as the RSF national project.

EUTOPIA MORE

EUTOPIA MORE (European Universities Transforming to an Open Inclusive Academy for 2050 - Making Organisational and Real Evolution) is the central project of EUTOPIA, approved by the European Commission, which will run until 2028. The project's mission addresses community networking, with the aim of transforming universities into inclusive, diverse and innovative institutions with a significant impact on society. The project aims to facilitate greater mobility, to strengthen the links between teaching, research and innovation, and above all to enable students to play an active role in identifying and addressing global challenges through innovative and collaborative learning practices.

EUTOPIA-TRAIN

The EUTOPIA Transformation of Research and Innovation project (EUTOPIA-TRAIN) has received Horizon 2020 funding to develop additional activities focused on innovation and research. These activities are mainly related to developing a strategic approach to research and innovation, promoting links between researchers and the commercial sector, open science, training, career development and a joint approach to HR challenges, as well as establishing the EUTOPIA Grants, Legal, and Innovation Office (GLENN) tasked with effective knowledge sharing and supporting activities and staff involved in project work. The main achievements of the project so far include the appointment of the Young Leaders Academy members, carrying out the first research, doctoral and innovation mobility programmes, and connecting young researchers with experienced mentors through the GLENN office.

 

EUTOPIA-SIF

The EUTOPIA Science and Innovation Fellowship Programme (EUTOPIA-SIF) is a joint programme aiming to attract and train a new generation of postdoctoral researchers. During the five-year project, 72 outstanding researchers will be employed at EUTOPIA universities – 8 of them at the University of Ljubljana. The EUTOPIA-SIF programme promotes various types of research mobility within EUTOPIA and focuses on cooperation with the non-academic sector as well. Selected postdoctoral candidates, whose projects follow a bottom-up approach, will strengthen the research power of EUTOPIA and cooperation between its universities. The project will also contribute to the wider EUTOPIA community, as candidates will work closely with research groups from at least two universities, regularly participate in joint training and other events, and transfer knowledge and experience to students.

 

FLECSLAB

The latest project FLECSLAB, acquired under the Erasmus + programme in partnership with EUTOPIA universities and coordinated by the UL, was launched on 1 January, 2022. The project aims to develop a common framework and tools to upgrade transnational learning communities to develop new forms of lifelong learning with a strong international dimension.

EUTOPIA students

The EUTOPIA community starts with the university community. This means that students play a central role in the project, participating in all working groups and management structures. EUTOPIA students have established their own operational structure: the Student Council, composed of the members of each partner university participating in various EUTOPIA governing bodies. In accordance with the rules of procedure of the UL Student Council, the University of Ljubljana is represented by the president or the vice-president. The Strategic Board has one student representative, while the Executive Board has two student representatives. Students also participate in other bodies, such as the Quality Board and the Education Board. In addition, EUTOPIA offers numerous opportunities for students in all partner universities – see the STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES tab for more information.

Skupnost

 

 

Miha, representative of EUTOPIA: "Personally, I also see such opportunities as a place where these activities further motivate second-time students to achieve their own career goals."

Miha is one of the representatives of Eutopia, the European University Student Alliance, which enables young people to go beyond traditional ideas of universities and face new challenges, research and work, opening the door to academic and personal progress.

"As a student representative of the University of Ljubljana on the EUTOPIA Student Council, this was the first time I was faced with the task of working with other students whom you are seeing or even just hearing from a distance for the first time. It is true that we have become used to this way of working during our distance learning studies, but this kind of cooperation brings with it some challenges. In particular, you have to focus on the fact that each agreement requires extra effort and personal motivation to achieve a common goal. This may sound trivial, but it is certainly an experience that we will all encounter in the future. Moving on to the experiences I have had, which are perhaps a little more attractive, I must highlight meeting students from other universities who are actively involved in student organising in their spare time on their university campuses. In such a community there are many opportunities to share good practices and also weaknesses of individual universities, in order to strengthen the development of one's own university towards new goals and improvements. Personally, I also see such opportunities as a place where these activities further motivate other students to achieve their own career goals. The last experience I would like to present is the feeling of connectedness within the Alliance of Universities itself. In the first few meetings with student representatives from other universities, I only had a sense of how different our goals are within our home universities, but now I see that there are only differences in method, but they all lead to a common goal - the development of quality studies and the empowerment of students in academia."


Hana, EUTOPIA representative: "My opinion and knowledge was suddenly heard at conferences, meetings, I had the opportunity to express my ideas that influence the work of the whole Alliance, which in turn reaches a large population of students in Europe". 

Hana is one of the representatives of Eutopia, the student union of European Universities. She shared with us her experience of being part of EUTOPIA. 

"I first came into contact with Eutopia not as an elected representative at the Master's level at the University of Ljubljana, but before that when I applied for a call for financial support for young researchers and students doing fieldwork at one of the universities in the Eutopia Alliance. Most faculties do not have the financial capacity to support their students in this way, so even for those faculties and courses where going abroad or fieldwork is required, they tend to focus more on shorter research or what is mainly theoretical teaching in the discipline. This kind of university alliances and special institutions allow the student population to take a step forward, or rather - a step away from the classroom, away from the textbooks, across borders, somewhere abroad, just to put everything we learn in theory to the test in practice. It is important that Eutopia supports cooperation between universities, also at the level of professors and mentors, so that when you do any research or collaboration, you are welcomed by a professional or an academic who can guide and direct the student towards the goals they have set. When I became a representative on the Eutopia Student Council and, a few months later, Vice President of the Student Council, some doors were opened for me in shaping modern European student policies. Suddenly, my opinion and knowledge was heard at conferences, meetings and I had the opportunity to express my ideas, which have an impact on the functioning of the whole Alliance, which in turn reaches out to a large population of students in Europe. I see Eutopia as a springboard for creating new student opportunities and transforming outdated practices that are no longer improving educational and career opportunities for young creatives and academics."

 

Student Think Tank

EUTOPIA, which aims to build an international and student-centred alliance, has established the EUTOPIA Student Think Tank (EUSTT). The EUSTT - led by students themselves - aims to promote multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary cooperation in an inclusive and student-centred way.

Students of different age groups from different EUTOPIA universities govern the EUSTT. The autonomous structure of the Board allows the EUSTT to be truly student-centred. The EUSTT also includes student representatives who act as ambassadors for the think tank at EUTOPIA universities. EUSTT is a knowledge-sharing platform for students at all levels of study to publish their research with a focus on interdisciplinarity and receive feedback on their research from the editorial board. EUSTT publishes blog posts and academic papers, connects student associations across EUTOPIA, organises thematic events, and bridges the gap between decision-makers and students and the gap between academia and society.

Since October 2021, EUSTT has published a wide range of articles written by students on its website (www.eustt.org), establishing the site as a central platform for sharing student ideas and research.