For some years now, Hochschule Bremen (HSB) has been working together with eight other international universities to shape a joint European university: STARS EU – short for Strategic Alliance for Regional Transition European University.
The concept of strategic networking and systematically interlinked cooperation formats in teaching, research, and science transfer is already having a tangible impact, contributing to the sustainable transformation of the respective regions and thus of Europe as a whole. The commitment of the STARS EU Alliance is now being rewarded: the EU is funding STARS EU with 12.4 million euros over a period of four years as part of the Erasmus+ call 2023 "European Universities". The network will further deepen its existing cooperation to advance the transformation process in higher education towards a fully-fledged "European University".
"I am extremely pleased that the EU Commission has positively evaluated the jointly submitted proposal and selected it for funding," says HSB President Prof. Dr. Karin Luckey. "The European Union thus confirms that the development of innovative, flexible and diverse educational offers for a new generation of students is the right way to increase and consolidate the visibility of HSB and its eight partner universities in the European Higher Education Area over the long term. International curricular cooperation within the STARS-EU consortium is – especially for HSB with its strong international orientation – key to building strategic partnerships that can now be sustainably consolidated thanks to the EU funding. With this concept, HSB, as a transformation laboratory, contributes to the future success of the state of Bremen and the surrounding region. Many teachers and students at HSB have already been actively involved in the STARS EU network for several years, and more are always very welcome.”
In addition to HSB, Hanzehogeschool Groningen (Netherlands), Polytechnic Institute of Braganca (Portugal), University of La Laguna Tenerife (Spain), Silesian University in Opava (Czech Republic), University West in Trollhättan (Sweden), Cracow University of Technology (Poland), University of Franche-Comté (France) and the Aleksandër Moisiu University of Durrës (Albania) are also involved.
STARS EU coordinator Dick Pouwels from Hanzehogeschool Groningen: "All universities that are part of the STARS EU Alliance are enthusiastic and willing to learn from each other to improve the quality of their education and research and to contribute together towards strengthening European unity. Moreover, the funding will take us further in our ambition to change the world we live in and to tackle societal challenges together. It is a great day for the Alliance, but most of all for our students, our partners and for Europe as a whole."
In 2019, HSB's oldest partner university, Hanzehogeschool Groningen in the Netherlands, launched STARS EU. HSB has been involved ever since the beginning. Since then, under the slogan "Transforming regions. Empowering people" a successful cooperation between the partner universities has been established. It has led to new cooperation structures, innovative tools, degree programmes and work placements in which students, teachers and researchers can participate.
STARS EU has brought together academic staff from different disciplines and universities in thematic interest groups (TIGs). Engaged external stakeholders were also invited to the STARS EU Regional Transition Accelerator to help the regions of the participating universities accelerate the transition towards a more digital and sustainable society.
The European Commission has awarded funding to 30 alliances across Europe as part of the Erasmus+ 2023 European Universities Call for Proposals.
