Periodic Reporting for period 1 - aUPaEU (A University Partnership for Acceleration of European Universities)
Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31
The ancient Greek agora, a space where citizens exchanged ideas and formed alliances, played a crucial role in historical progress. Today, can we recreate such a forum for higher education? The EU-funded aUPaEU project aims to do just that. Inspired by the ancient Greek concept, aUPaEU seeks to establish a shared space where stakeholders can provide and consume services while contributing their knowledge. This collaborative effort involves five academic institutions from EPiCUR and Unite!, two European alliances under the European Universities Initiative. Together, they aim to integrate acceleration services into a coordinated support system for higher education institutions, networks, alliances, and umbrella organizations.
These five academic institutions, with expertise in modernizing research and innovation (R&I), serve as models for European HEIs, networks, and partnerships. Through their efforts and contributions, they've paved the way for advancement and sought new development routes. Together, they will work towards integrating acceleration services within a coordinated support system.
The primary goal of aUPaEU is to develop methodologies, sustainability plans, coaching services, and digital technologies to establish an accelerated agora. This agora will facilitate integrated, shared, and sustainable R&I transformations for HEIs, university networks, and alliances, focusing on six major areas: capacity, infrastructure, resource sharing, attractiveness of researcher careers, collaboration with R&I ecosystem actors, adoption of open science practices, engagement with societal challenges, and promotion of gender equality.
Embracing the essence of the ancient Greek agora, aUPaEU aims to construct a shared space where stakeholders actively participate by providing and consuming accelerated services while contributing their knowledge and experiences. This agora will be accessible, diverse, and inclusive, aiming to reduce disparities such as economic, gender, and other inequalities. By fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange, aUPaEU will facilitate the transformation of higher education institutions and alliances into dynamic hubs of innovation and excellence.
The aUPaEU project will deliver a functional and evaluated agora, serving as a model for other HEIs, networks, and university alliances. Through user group evaluations within EPiCUR and Unite! alliances, the accelerated agora will be refined and enhanced. By showcasing the benefits and impact of this model, aUPaEU aims to inspire and guide the broader higher education community in Europe, ultimately revitalizing higher education through collaboration, innovation, and societal impact within an inclusive accelerated agora.
The aUPaEU project aims to revive the spirit of the ancient Greek agora in higher education. By embracing collaboration, knowledge exchange, and inclusivity, aUPaEU seeks to establish an accelerated agora where stakeholders drive R&I transformations. Through its comprehensive approach, aUPaEU aims to revolutionize higher education, empowering institutions, networks, and alliances to thrive in a rapidly evolving world.
These five academic institutions, with expertise in modernizing research and innovation (R&I), serve as models for European HEIs, networks, and partnerships. Through their efforts and contributions, they've paved the way for advancement and sought new development routes. Together, they will work towards integrating acceleration services within a coordinated support system.
The primary goal of aUPaEU is to develop methodologies, sustainability plans, coaching services, and digital technologies to establish an accelerated agora. This agora will facilitate integrated, shared, and sustainable R&I transformations for HEIs, university networks, and alliances, focusing on six major areas: capacity, infrastructure, resource sharing, attractiveness of researcher careers, collaboration with R&I ecosystem actors, adoption of open science practices, engagement with societal challenges, and promotion of gender equality.
Embracing the essence of the ancient Greek agora, aUPaEU aims to construct a shared space where stakeholders actively participate by providing and consuming accelerated services while contributing their knowledge and experiences. This agora will be accessible, diverse, and inclusive, aiming to reduce disparities such as economic, gender, and other inequalities. By fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange, aUPaEU will facilitate the transformation of higher education institutions and alliances into dynamic hubs of innovation and excellence.
The aUPaEU project will deliver a functional and evaluated agora, serving as a model for other HEIs, networks, and university alliances. Through user group evaluations within EPiCUR and Unite! alliances, the accelerated agora will be refined and enhanced. By showcasing the benefits and impact of this model, aUPaEU aims to inspire and guide the broader higher education community in Europe, ultimately revitalizing higher education through collaboration, innovation, and societal impact within an inclusive accelerated agora.
The aUPaEU project aims to revive the spirit of the ancient Greek agora in higher education. By embracing collaboration, knowledge exchange, and inclusivity, aUPaEU seeks to establish an accelerated agora where stakeholders drive R&I transformations. Through its comprehensive approach, aUPaEU aims to revolutionize higher education, empowering institutions, networks, and alliances to thrive in a rapidly evolving world.
During the project period, we established collaborative relationships with sister projects CATALISI and Accelerate Future HEI, contributing to joint policy feedback documents. We conducted stakeholder mapping exercises and extensive desk research to understand acceleration services and academia-industry relations. Additionally, we facilitated cooperation between EPICUR-Research and the project, leading to the development of a research infrastructure catalogue. Our achievements include creating guideline documents on acceleration services, developing an inventory of acceleration services, and aggregating valuable knowledge through desk research. We also designed a methodology for testing the agora platform and evaluating users' success in implementing transformation agendas. Furthermore, we developed a comprehensive communication and dissemination strategy, focusing on cooperation with the Unite! and EPiCUR communities, and ongoing collaborative communication activities with sister projects. Additionally, we successfully set up the agora platform with real users, marking a significant advancement in our project's development.
The project made significant strides in collaboration with sister projects and stakeholders, leading to the development of joint policy feedback documents and comprehensive research on acceleration services. Noteworthy outcomes include the creation of guideline documents, an inventory for acceleration services, and successful testing of the agora platform with real users. Additionally, the University alliances found in the agoras of aUPaEU the digital platform plus business processes that allow acceleration in the digital transformation of their HEI. The project identified key gaps in the ERA policy agenda and aims to address them by promoting Open Science, inclusiveness, and research infrastructure strengthening. However, further efforts are needed to provide institutional support and acceleration services in specific domains within universities.