European University Alliance
The INVEST European University Alliance unites a diverse group of institutions across Europe, each with extensive experience and a shared profile as internationalized entities. This alliance includes the Slovak University of Agriculture (SUA) in Nitra, Slovakia; the University of Agribusiness and Rural Development (UARD) in Plovdiv, Bulgaria; the University of Thessaly (UTH) in Volos, Greece; Karelia University of Applied Sciences in Joensuu, Finland; the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (URCA) in Reims, France; the University of Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB) in Milan, Italy; and the University of Cordoba (UCO) in Cordoba, Spain. Together, these institutions collaborate under the European Commission’s initiative to form and evaluate European Universities, aiming to enhance educational quality and integration across the continent.
Strengthening the link between teaching, research, innovation and knowledge transfer
Led by the idea of strengthening the link between teaching, research, innovation, and knowledge transfer, encouraging mobility, and enhancing the high quality and excellence in education and research, the five European universities unite their efforts based on their previous cooperation in European educational, research and mobility projects to achieve their common goal - to establish a European university alliance, called INnoVations of REgional Sustainability: European UniversiTy Alliance - INVEST, targeting their cooperation for developing joint and innovative education and research study programs and curricula, as well as the implementation of multilingual learning, blended and work-based learning and European mobilities.
3 study cycles - bachelor, master and doctoral
The INVEST alliance will target its activities at students in all 3 study cycles - bachelor, master, and doctoral, together with the academic and non-academic staff of the alliance partners. The alliance builds its essence on the four strategic pillars: (1) Competitive education and valuable learning outcomes, (2) Collective excellent research and innovation, (3) High mobility level beyond Europe, and (4) Networking as the platform for future education and research, covering the three main focus areas - Water, Energy Food and Environment Nexus, Quality of Life and Entrepreneurship. Establishing the Living Labs as innovative platforms for the quadruple helix (research, education, companies/NGO and GO’s) collaboration with the stakeholders from the regions, together with innovative solutions, such as Virtual Campus or the EDUC8EU integrated platform, the INVEST alliance will create perfect conditions to build a modern European University, satisfying needs and requirements of the new generation of Europeans as the leaders of introducing sustainable life in regions across Europe, responding current global challenges determined within the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
