The eight partners of the EDUC Alliance met in Castelló to set the strategy for the consolidation of the alliance

The Jaume I University has closed the transnational meeting of the European Digital UniverCity (EDUC) Alliance in which representatives of the eight universities that make up the consortium, including the public university of Castellón, have addressed for two days the consolidation strategy of this university alliance funded by the European Union.

One of the strategic aims of the project addressed during the meeting has been Education. During the different sessions, which were attended by vice-rectors from the partner universities with responsibility for studies and teaching, the progress achieved in the pilot project was presented, as well as the objectives set for the coming years in this area.

In particular, the strategies that will make it possible to share teaching infrastructures between the EDUC partner universities were discussed, as well as ways of promoting the internationalisation of the curricula at the different universities, including virtual mobility and its recognition and the establishment of double degrees and joint degrees. Work will also be done on the introduction of micro-credentials in the universities' offer and on the expansion of intensive programmes that combine face-to-face and virtual mobility, and also the promotion of students' key competences.

Likewise, another of the main points dealt with in the Education aim was the expansion of the EDUC Virtual Campus, through the incorporation of new partners to the existing infrastructure, and the corresponding planning to include new functionalities to manage the different programmed activities. It should be noted that the expansion of the EDUC Virtual Campus in the field of Studies will be led by the Jaume I University together with the University of Cagliari in Italy.

One of the main novelties of this meeting was the holding of the first face-to-face meeting of student representatives from the different partner universities, an essential group, since the aim of these European alliances is to create networks of universities that allow students to obtain a degree by combining periods of study in several countries, thus contributing to the excellence and international competitiveness of the European higher education system.

To this end, in the different working sessions, the student representatives from each of the partner universities presented the main conclusions of the EDUC Student Think Tank, an event held in virtual format last November with the aim of reflecting and contributing ideas on the development of EDUC. In this way, students have shown their vision of the alliance and their expectations for the next four years.

In this sense, students have expressed their interest in actively participating in the tasks related to education, micro-credentials and internationalisation of study programmes in particular, as well as in the creation of an EDUC internship programme or youth integration programmes.

Short video of the meeting (90 seconds)