image: ENHANCE - European Universities of Technology Alliance view more
Credit: Politecnico di Milano
Milan, 14 July 2020 - "ENHANCE - European Universities of Technology Alliance" will receive funding from the European Commission to strategically develop its cooperation. The alliance, of which TU Berlin is the speaker, is one of the universities in the second call of the European University Initiative to be awarded 5 million euros over the coming three years. The seven partner universities of technology of "ENHANCE - European Universities of Technology Alliance" are Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), RWTH Aachen University and Technische Universität Berlin (Germany), Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain), and Warsaw University of Technology (Poland).
The networks formed through the initiative are intended to enhance the quality and attractiveness of European higher education and boost cooperation between institutions, their students and staff. The proposal of the seven ENHANCE universities pursues a joint strategy and promotes European values and identity.
The initiative is designed to significantly strengthen mobility of students and staff and foster the inclusiveness of higher education in Europe. More flexible study and research offers and fewer bureaucratic hurdles will make it easier for students, doctoral candidates, researchers, and staff to pursue their educational and career paths. The current health crisis, in particular, has shown how important cooperation and coordinated action are and what a great difference sharing innovative and creative ideas and solutions can make.
"We have had a dream for many years: sharing people, competences, resources and infrastructures with our key partners in Europe overcoming national borders. ENHANCE will make this dream true. Even more, not expected before, joining forces with other technical universities in this crucial period will contribute to sustain the European recovery after Covid-19", says Professor Stefano Ronchi, Rector's delegate for international affairs at Politecnico di Milano.
Overall, the seven partners have approximately 245.000 students and have exchanged more than 4.400 students and staff over the last five years.
With a vision to "drive responsible societal transformation by enhancing a strong alliance of European Universities of Technology, empowering people to develop and use science and technology responsibly and turn global challenges into opportunities", the ENHANCE partner universities aim to use the three-year funding period to lay the foundation for structures which enable the seamless mobility of students, researchers, and employees of the universities.
The envisioned instruments will first be tested in selected bachelor's and master's programs. The implementation of innovative teaching and learning formats will enable all students to profit from international ENHANCE offerings, such as online courses, virtual student communities, or projects, workshops and summer schools.
Value-based teaching offered in collaboration with societal stakeholders will ensure that students learn to think critically and develop and apply knowledge and technologies for the benefit of society. As an alliance of universities of technology, an important focus of ENHANCE is also on sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship.
The second round of the European Universities initiative attracted applications from 62 university alliances. ENHANCE is one of 24 university networks comprising on average seven higher education institutions that was selected in the second call for creating a European Education Area by 2025.
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More about ENHANCE: https://enhanceuniversity.eu/
More about the initiative: https://ec.europa.eu/education/education-in-the-eu/european-education-area/european-universities-initiative_en