On January 31, 2023, the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava together with nine strong partners with whom it forms the EULiST alliance, submitted the second project proposal in a row within the European Universities Initiative. STU wants to cooperate with EULiST partners in the field of studies, research, and administration to ensure the vision of a European university.
The connection between society and technology is a key issue in many initiatives around the world. Society and technology are interconnected. Society creates the need for technological change, and technological progress affects the development of society.
The Slovak Technical University in Bratislava perceives this challenge and wants to face it together with nine strong partner universities in Europe, therefore in 2020, it accepted the offer to become part of the EULiST alliance. The aim of the alliance "EULiST - European Universities Linking Society and Technology" is to make Europe tangible for all university members and students. Strong partners and close networks ensure our future viability in international competition.
"EULiST brings many positives to our Slovak University of Technology. The main ones include stable partners for research and education, internationalization of our institution, creation of a sustainable green campus, and sharing of common resources and information. It is also a lot of challenges for our researchers and students given the topic, which is very current," said the vice-rector for propagation and foreign affairs Ľubica Vitková at the EULiST General Assembly in October 2022 in Madrid.
After the successful submission of the project proposal in March 2022, where the alliance did not receive funding but received a high rating from the evaluators (81 points out of a possible 100 points), all partners were determined to deepen their cooperation and improve the project proposal to continue with a persistent and clear vision.
The motivation to maintain the continuity of this cooperation is also evidenced by the signed Cooperation Agreement and the signed multilateral agreement within the Erasmus+ program. The current form of the project proposal was preceded by dozens of meetings at all university levels. The aim of the alliance is a strong "bottom-up" approach, which includes students, administrative workers, scientists, up to the level of vice-rectors, rectors, and also the general public.
"The main goal of this consortium is to strengthen the regions, and I believe that thanks to the EULiST consortium, regions within Europe will be stronger. Creating a base for lifelong learning is also a very important part of it, and raising awareness of the fundamental importance of science and technology for society is also very substantial," states the vice-rector Ľubica Vitková.
The European University Initiative is announced by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ program since 2018. Established European University alliances could prepare their project proposal under the Erasmus+ EUI Call 2023 program until January 31, 2023.
Partners of the EULiST alliance:
Leibniz University Hannover, Germany (main coordinator)
Slovak Technical University in Bratislava, Slovakia
LUT University, Finland
Jönköping University, Sweden
Technical University of Vienna, Austria
National Technical University of Athens, Greece
Technical University in Brno, Czech Republic
Rey Juan Carlos University, Spain
University of L'Aquila, Italy
Institut Mines-Télécom, France
You can find more information at STU EULiST.
Photo: EULiST General Assembly in October 2022, Madrid. Hosted by Rey Juan Carlos University.