What kind of collaboration we do?
U!REKA European University is a transnational alliance with 30 higher education institutions and other partners involved. Metropolia acts as the lead coordinator of the alliance.
The alliance engages in strategic and long-term cooperation to develop education and research. Our goal is to create a profound shift towards climate neutral, and eventually climate positive, societies, and to educate professionals who are ready and equipped to accelerate this transition.
Together, we aim to contribute to the EU's mission for Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities while collaborating closely with our large cities and local ecosystems.
What we have achieved together?
U!REKA receives funding from the European Commission's Erasmus+ European Universities initiative. The aim of the initiative is to promote European values and identity by increasing European cooperation of a new generation, as well as to inprove the quality, performance and attractiveness of international competitiveness of European higher education. The first funding period (U!REKA SHIFT) covers the years 2024-2027.
Together we have achieved
- 3 joint Centres of Expertise (CoE) for R&I collaboration. Thematically these CoEs focus on three transitions: Climate-Neutral Urban Communities, Transition to Circular Societies, and Innovative Governance Models & Citizen Engagement for Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities.
- 10 joint EU projects for R&I and alliance development
- Over 50 solutions for companies and organisations' real-life challenges
- 50 free courses for our 123,000 students - some of them also open for life-long learners
- a collaboratively designed sustainability course for all our students and staff members
Get involved
U!REKA European University alliance wants to ensure engagement of students, staff and community members in all its activities. Here are some examples of how to get involved and benefit from broad European collaboration.
- Build new international connections to exchange experiences and good practices with researchers and educators.
- Provide input to design and renewal of educational programmes, with learning outcomes based on needs of local stakeholders.
- Exploit broader and bigger pools for talent recruitment.
- Introduce us a challenge and let the European future talents solve it.
- Drive for additional R&I project funding opportunities.
- Contribute to societal impact, accelerating transition to climate-neutral and smart cities.
- Enjoy Erasmus+ exchanges in U!REKA partner universities.
- Choose (online) courses from U!REKA's joint offering.
- Join the Student Council and make an impact.
- Exploit hackathons and other projects and join our incubator programme.
- Experience new in international traineeships.
- Participate in joint staff trainings, information available on the U!REKA website.
- Develop joint education offering.
- Get support from a European approach towards improving quality of education programmes.
- Strengthen your competence and CV with international experience
- Benefit from an increasing pool and attraction of prospective students
- Enjoy opportunities for mobility, networking and knowledge exchange with peers
- Drive for further RDIL funding (Erasmus+, Horizon) with trusted partners
We collaborate across Europe
The main partner universities cover over 123,000 students and over 13,000 staff members:
- Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (Finland)
- Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands)
- Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences (Germany)
- HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Belgium)
- Polytechnic University of Lisbon (Portugal)
- VSB – Technical University of Ostrava (Czech Republic)
In addition, our alliance has over 20 associate partners:
- 5 universities: Edinburgh Napier University, University of Bari, Odessa National Economic University, New Bulgarian University, University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna
- 10 cities: Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Amsterdam, Ostrava, Frankfurt, Ghent, Lisboa, Cascais, Oeiras
- 4 regional organisations: Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council, East Flanders, District of Offenbach, Moravian-Silesian Innovation Centre
- 2 European Networks: EURASHE, ERRIN
- 3 other partners: The POLITEC&ID Value Knowledge Network, Waag FutureLab, Platform Talent voor Technologie/Katapult
We also collaborate with other affiliates such as EIT Climate-KIC.
More information
The U!REKA European University alliance has received funding from the European Commission in the Erasmus+ European Universities Programme under the grant agreement No. 101124308, UREKA SHIFT.
Read more about the U!REKA European University on its own website.
More information about the European Commission’s European University Initiative is available on the EU’s websites.
Contact us
Institutional Coordinator Niina Huovinen
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
niina.huovinen [at] metropolia.fi (niina[dot]huovinen[at]metropolia[dot]fi)
Lead Coordinator of U!REKA European University Mona Roman
Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
mona.roman [at] metropolia.fi (mona[dot]roman[at]metropolia[dot]fi)
