Understand EPICUR’s project and organisation

Our Alliance is involved in multiple projects aiming to pave the way towards an integrated European University., through a focus on structural integration and sustainability.

Our core project involving our governance and all our partner institutions

EPICUR SHAPE-IT, paving the way towards structural integration and sustainability

The EPICUR alliance has won the second call for application of the European Universities Initative by the European Commission and has therefore been tasked to roll out its successful pilot phase. The EPICUR SHAPE-IT projects involves all nine EPICUR partner universities and runs from November 2022 to October 2026 with a potential extension for two more years.
Following a stepwise approach to secure deeper and wider cooperation, EPICUR will move from the pilot project-based management approach (phase 1), to a structural integration of policies and activities (phase 2), paving the way for sustainable long-term cooperation in a whole-of-institution framework (phase 3).
The EPICUR SHAPE-IT work plan has been structured to implement the phase 2 transformation strategy by combining a limited number of work packages closely articulated with EPICUR’s core missions.

A core project structure around 7 work packages.

Drawing on EPICUR’s key pilot phase achievements, the 7 work packages have been designed to achieve:

An agile and inclusive governance integrated with member universities’ bodies and ensuring quality assurance and buy-in within alliance communities (WP1), together with a comprehensive impact assessment policy (WP7)
Support infrastructures and services for digital cooperation (WP3) and mobility (WP2).
A vision articulating purpose, formats and procedures for education (WP4), research- and transfer-oriented training (WP6) and societal engagement (WP5).

EPICUR-Research

Since 2019, we have laid the groundworks to establish a common space for training and research among our universities. EPICUR already created an extensive collaborative infrastructure and has a proven track record of developing and running new learning pathways and formats. These developments come to life in the EPICUR Inter-University Campus and our concept of flipped mobilities, providing a unique space for learning, teaching and researching. Our Model Language Policy has also led the way in turning Europe’s multilingualism and cultural diversity into a strength, nurturing intercultural skills, enhancing the inclusiveness of our academic programmes and helping to develop bi- or multilingual universities within the European Education Area. Moreover, EPICUR has a fully running Student Board with student representatives from all 9 partner universities that organizes its activities on its own, being involved in all alliance’s activities.

An ambitious programme

The first three years of the project corresponded to a pilot phase in the long-term process of creating the European University fully integrated with partner universities. The project consists of six action programmes, each led by a partner university:

Project management, steering the alliance (Strasbourg);
Promote multilingualism and inclusive governance (Amsterdam);
Implement innovative methods of learning and teaching for the European citizens of tomorrow (Freiburg);
Open the way to an interuniversity campus, using a student and staff-centered approach (Aristotle U-Thessaloniki);
Strengthen and connect regions through a European university: development within and between European regions (KIT);
Dissemination and sharing of good practices, sustainable cooperation (Strasbourg).

Projects involving members of the alliance without direct link to our governance

EPIDI

The European Partnership for Innovation in Distant Internships project (2021-2023), co-funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ program, focused on university distance internships, with an emphasis on identifying best practices, general and more specific recommendations, as well as developing e-learning modules on how to conduct a successful distance internship for all targets involved: students, employers, academic advisors and university administrative staff.  It was conducted by University of Strasbourg, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. The results will be disseminated across the 9 partners of the EPICUR University alliance.

FOCI

The FOCI project (Future-proof Criteria for Innovative European Education) – which brings together members of ECIU University, YUFE and EPICUR Alliances – has been selected by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ programme towards exploring and piloting the possible criteria that will be the basis for the future European Degree. The project will run for one year (March 2023 – March 2024) and will enhance the Alliance’s close partnerships and co-creation with diverse higher education stakeholders, including students, labour market representatives, national authorities and quality assurance agencies (from all countries in which partner universities are situated).