RWTH: ENHANCE Alliance Welcomes Three New Member Universities
The ENHANCE Alliance is delighted to welcome TU Delft University of Technology (Netherlands), Gdańsk University of Technology (Poland), and ETH Zurich (Switzerland) as new members. High-ranked representatives of all three institutions joined the ENHANCE Leadership Meeting, held on Friday, 25 November 2022, at RWTH Aachen University. The ten member universities were handed their signed Memorandums of Understanding, which are the basis for their cooperation.
By expanding its network, ENHANCE will benefit from long lasting institutional relationships between the seven founding universities and the three new members. The excellence in teaching and research of TU Delft, Gdańsk Tech, and ETH Zurich are highly welcomed in the Alliance. Together, the ten member universities will benefit from their joint expertise and knowledge.
The ENHANCE Leadership Meeting has set the stage to finalize the overall strategic direction ENHANCE wishes to take for the years to come.
“The expansion of our Alliance is a true show of commitment for our mission, to develop a strong and sustainable European University. We are proud to have such prestigious institutions join our Alliance, to help us shape the future of Europe”, says Professor Anne Borg, Chair of the ENHANCE Board of Directors and Rector of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
For the coordinating university, Technische Universität Berlin (TUB), President Professor Geraldine Rauch stated: “Welcoming the new members brings new ideas to ENHANCE, to foster a strong European community, which enables research and learning in a peaceful and united Europe. The current developments have shown us that this is more important than ever.”
Each new member brings into the Alliance very unique strengths, to further enhance and diversify the offers and services of the consortium.
TU Delft is the oldest and largest University of Technology in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1842 and will bring more than 27,000 students and more than 6,000 members of staff to the ENHANCE Alliance. Science, engineering, and design are the cornerstones of the university’s research strategy. “We are pleased to be part of this strong alliance where we can combine educational and research capabilities of all partners to create excellent European University experiences for students and staff”, says Professor Tim van der Hagen, Rector and President of TU Delft.
Gdańsk University of Technology is ENHANCE’s second member institution joining from Eastern Europe, it was founded in 1904. It brings together over 15.000 students and around 2,800 staff. In 2017, Gdańsk Tech was recognized by the European Commission as an institution that creates some of the best working and development conditions for researchers in Europe. “We wish to have a tangible contribution to the development of ENHANCE – as a truly integrated and full-featured European University – having meaningful societal impact in the EU and reaching beyond the union to help less favoured regions build their capacities”, says Professor Krzysztof Wilde, Rector of Gdańsk Tech.
ETH Zurich was founded in 1855 and will add nearly 25,000 students and nearly 10,000 staff to the ENHANCE community. Freedom, individual responsibility, entrepreneurial spirit and open-mindedness guide the institution as a centre of innovation and knowledge. “ETH Zurich is pleased to join our peer technical universities within ENHANCE to help shape the European Higher Education Area and develop solutions to common challenges”, says Professor Günther Dissertori, Rector of ETH Zurich.
Within and beyond the scope of the Alliance’s application for the new Erasmus+ Call for the European Universities Initiative, the ten universities will work towards a smooth and deepened integration of all with a clear mission forward that will carry ENHANCE beyond current funding frameworks. “The expansion of our Alliance means a further enrichment of our community. I consider our diversity to be our strength and the power of different perspectives and ways to conduct teaching and research to help us eliminate blind spots and truly impact not just the European Education Area but Europe as a whole”, says Naveed Syed, Secretary General of the ENHANCE Alliance.
ENHANCE
The ENHANCE Alliance was founded in 2019, with the aim to develop one joint European campus, free of physical, administrative, or educational barriers, where students, faculty and staff can move freely to experience the European Education Area. The mission of ENHANCE is to drive responsible societal transformation and to promote the development and utilization of science and technology – for the benefit of society. ENHANCE is participating in the ERASMUS+ program European University Initiative and in the Horizon 2020 program Science with and for Society (SwafS). The Alliance brings together ten member universities: Technische Universität Berlin (Germany), as the Coordinator, Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), TU Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands), ETH Zurich (Switzerland), Gdańsk University of Technology (Poland), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), RWTH Aachen University (Germany), Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain), and Warsaw University of Technology (Poland).