Aalto University: Graz University of Technology and Wroclaw University of Science and Technology join the Unite! alliance
Aalto University and other Unite! partners are pleased to welcome two new partners to the alliance – Graz University of Technology (Austria) and Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (Poland). Together the nine partners will have more than 200,000 students and annually more than 40,000 graduates. “With this new configuration of nine full partners in the future, Unite! will be able to deepen and broaden its path to success. The new Erasmus+ call also gives us the opportunity to define this path ahead of us,” stated The President of Unite! Prof. Dr. Tanja Brühl.
Engineering, science, and technology in a social context
The Unite! network was founded in 2019 as a result of the European Commission’s initiative to transform the European Higher Education Area by 2025. European Universities are consortia of universities within the Union that contribute to increasing the international competitiveness of HEI’s in Europe
The founding members of Unite! are seven leading European technical and comprehensive universities – The University of Grenoble (INP UGA) in France, the University of Lisbon in Portugal, KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, Aalto University in Finland, the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany, the Polytechnic University of Turin in Italy and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Barcelona Tech) in Spain.
Unite! strives to develop a new model for European university education by development of unique joint programs, that combine multidisciplinary, multilingual and multicultural elements into common curricula and flexible study pathways.
In the future, the aim is also to create study paths in which students can combine studies in different European countries leading to a joint degree, or a European degree. A strong emphasis is on the development of more flexible, short-term mobilities, as well as blended and hybrid models for virtual exchange. A key element is to develop educational offers with mobilities that are accessible to all students. Study options will be designed to allow for the fluid and flexible combination of a wide range of disciplines, combining and embedding natural sciences, engineering, technology, business, art and design as well as humanities for increasing the social context of the future of our graduates in line with European values.
Excellence in Teaching and Learning is the foundation on which Unite! builds all of its actions and activities, extending to degree-seeking students at all levels, to non-traditional students, and life-long learners. Our educational mission is also the driver for our actions in involvement with industry and entrepreneurship ecosystems. Accordingly, academic staff and faculty work together with pedagogical expert teams to constantly incorporate innovative approaches to enable deep learning. A heavy emphasis is on sharing best practices and development of methodologies for delivering the most pedagogically sound approaches in the physical, virtual and blended mode. Creative physical and virtual spaces are being developed jointly, by using most sophisticated technologies. In order to create a joint virtual campus, the partners have developed a prototype through a Metacampus concept, which will be expanded in the coming years, to provide access to all joint educational offers, as well as supporting the development of digital mobility.
Information on the new partners
Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) is one of the five universities in Styria, Austria. This public university currently comprises seven faculties, 97 institutes and three campuses. It covers all disciplines of technology and natural sciences with 19 undergraduate programs; 34 master’s programs (of which 17 in English); doctoral programs in 14 doctoral schools (all in English) and 9 postgraduate programs. Doctoral programs are organized in 14 English-speaking institutes. The university has more than 13,000 students, approximately 2,000 students graduate each year and a staff of 3,850 (1,877 academic staff). Visit Graz website.
Located in Wroclaw, Poland, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology currently has 24,268 students, 377 doctoral students and 499 students in the Doctoral School pursuing their degree programs under the supervision of nearly 2,100 academic professors in the 13 faculties. It also has 1,028 foreign students from more than 60 countries around the world. Students can choose from 60 different fields of study in undergraduate and graduate degree programs, many of which are taught in English. The university maintains contacts with a number of teaching and research institutions around the world to secure programs that allow for dual degrees. Currently, cooperation agreements include 205 partners from 49 countries. Visit Wroclaw website.