Democritus University of Thrace: Member of the European University EMERGE

The Democritio University of Thrace (DUTH) has become a member of the European University EMERGE, which is a great academic distinction as it will now participate in the group of European university alliances.

The European Strategy looks forward to the creation of 60 European University Alliances with the participation of at least 500 universities by mid-2024.

The European Commission announced the approval of the European University EMERGE (Empowering the Margins of Europe through Regional and Global Engagement) with funding of 14.5 million euros for the next four years, in which the Democritus University of Thrace participates as a key partner.
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With the results announced on Friday 28/6/2024, 14 new European University Alliances were approved. They are added to the 50 existing ones, which have emerged in the last three years.

“The greatest academic distinction to date of our university, which is changing levels by joining the closed group of European alliances! Congratulations to the team of colleagues who have worked systematically since 2022 for the success of our proposal, led by Professor Maria Michalopoulou, member of the Board of Governors, Vice President of Study in Greece”, said the Rector of DUTH, Fotios Maris.

The alliances of European Universities and their importance

The results mark a milestone for the European Higher Education Area and for the Democritus University, as the goal of the European University Strategy was to create at least 60 European University Alliances, including at least 500 universities by mid-2024.
European Universities are an institution of European higher education and involve alliances that intend to become the universities of the future, enhancing the quality of higher education and its connection to Research, Innovation, and Society.

The distinction of TUTH

With the announcement of the result, the Rector of DUTH, Professor Fotios Maris, expressed his great satisfaction as after 50 years of operation, DUTH sees new paths opening up, which will determine its future course. “The approval of the EMERGE Alliance is a great success for the universities that are partners in it, and will determine the future course in the now competitive field of higher education. The hard and concerted work of the members of the DUT has been rewarded, and there is particular enthusiasm for this success. The university community at the DUT is committed to building on its regional advantage to foster flexible and innovative approaches to knowledge co-creation and human capital development. Through collaborative efforts, the goal is to bridge regional and national development with global connectivity. The path, which is opening up today represents a great challenge and opportunity for the DTI and for the partners in EMERGE.

Professor Maria Michalopoulou, former Vice Rector and current member of the Management Board of DUTH, is the coordinator and scientific leader of the effort made by the DUTH working group together with the EMERGE partners for the preparation and submission, in February 2024, of an excellent proposal that was selected for funding among 56 proposals”, said the Rector.

Ms Michalopoulou announced the success of the proposal, stating that “this is a crucial success for DUTH as it has secured for the University a place among the Universities of the future of Europe. In total, more than 130,000 students attend the nine universities of the Alliance. There are different cultures, languages and educational contexts and the aim is to build and implement a long-term common strategy, with a bottom-up approach, which will influence and support all activities of our University, from teaching and learning to research and innovation, as well as new forms of student and staff mobility.”

Regarding EMERGE’s mission, which is rooted in social engagement, Dr Michalopoulou underlined that “it is the driving force behind the efforts of all its partners who have formally joined forces since 2022. At the heart of EMERGE, social and regional progress guides the research, educational and operational frameworks.”

What are the systemic changes that are about to take place

“The aim is to change the way universities, departments and laboratories collaborate and operate, for the benefit of students, faculty and researchers, local communities and stakeholders in the regions where the nine Alliance universities are based,” Dr Michalopoulou begins to say, to add: “These changes require a lot of work and have brought enthusiasm for the prospect that has been created. EMERGE activities will be officially launched in the autumn, now where the emphasis will be on informing the whole academic community and especially the students making them fellow travellers of the core of people who worked at the DUTH for the success of this proposal”.

The composition of the European University EMERGE

The coordinator of the European University EMERGE is the Irish University of Limerick and together with the TIF, the Universities Universidade da Coruña (Spain), Université Rennes 2 (France), Université Bretagne Sud (France), Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (Norway), Univerzita Mateja Bela v Banskej Bystrici (Slovakia), Europa-Universität Flensburg (Germany), Neapolis University Pafos (Cyprus) participate as Partners.

It is recalled that the partners met recently in Alexandroupolis in a very warm climate. The meeting of the representatives of the Alliance partners was hosted by the DTH.
At the DUTH-EMERGE staff week, the 29 representatives from the 8 Universities as well as many faculty and staff of the DUTH who participated had, among other things, the opportunity to plan and coordinate the implementation of the actions foreseen by the “work packages” of the funding application, in case it would be successful, and thus the announcement of the successful outcome found them prepared.

It is worth noting that at the last Rectors’ Meeting of the Greek Universities organized by the DUTH in Alexandroupolis in April 2024, internationalization was a key topic of the plenary session of the meeting, in which the guest of the DUTH, Vice-President of the EU Mr. Margaritis Schinas presented to the rectors and vice-rectors the Commission’s plan for the “European Degree”, to which the European University Alliances will make a major contribution.

The European University Alliances will make a major contribution.

The coordinator of the EMERGE Partnership, Professor Nigel Healey, was visibly pleased with the European Commission’s securing of €14.5 million in funding for the European University Partnership. The money is to be used to strengthen staffing and infrastructure to support the purpose of the new university.
As he noted, the nine EMERGE members are already working as a dynamic European alliance since 2021 as they have built relationships through joint projects, Erasmus+ programmes, organised workshops, seminars and joint educational activities, which aim at inclusion, solidarity, multilingualism and cultural differences, thus promoting the European way of life.

He made the following statement:

On behalf of the Steering Committee of EMERGE, I am pleased to announce that on 28th June 2024, our application for financial support under the European University Initiative was formally approved by the European Commission. The EMERGE European University Alliance has been awarded €14.5m over the next 48 months.

The nine members of EMERGE have been functioning as a dynamic European University Alliance since 2021, cooperating on a wide range of joint Erasmus+ projects and organising regular workshops, seminars and joint educational activities focused on inclusion, solidarity, multilingualism and cultural diversity and the promotion of the European way of life.

The award of the €14.5m Erasmus+ grant will enable EMERGE to invest in the dedicated staffing and organisational infrastructure necessary to deepen our institutional cooperation and fulfil our mission of empowering our marginalised territories and communities to help build a more equitable, sustainable and prosperous Europe for all.

Professor Nigel Healey
Vice President Global and Community Engagement
University of Limerick / Coordinator of EMERGE

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