First annual conference of the COLOURS University Alliance in Osijek, Croatia
The COLOURS university all iance is sending out a strong signal for the future of the university landscape and opening up new paths for innovation and modernisation. At the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek in Croatia, around 150 researchers, students and staff from the nine partner universities came together at the end of October for a three-day conference to jointly promote strategies and initiatives for the advancement of higher education. The conference, which was organised in close cooperation with the COLOURS Coordination and Support Office at Paderborn University, marks a decisive step towards strengthening cooperation in the European Higher Education Area. Further information is available at: First COLOURS Annual Conference - Colours - European University Alliance
The meeting focussed on the further development of innovative learning and teaching formats. Participants also explored topics such as open education, entrepreneurship and well-being in various workshops. Ramazan Cem Mahanoglu, a student of Electrical Engineering at Paderborn University, led a sewing workshop, for example, which encouraged participants to reflect on their own consumer behaviour and the sustainable use of resources.
The conference also offered the opportunity to enter into targeted collaborations with regional players from the IT sector, politics and society. Researchers, students and staff from the partner universities were able to explore the start-up scene in the region and network with two start-up founders. The participants exchanged experiences and good practices with representatives from three other European university alliances - Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE), European University for Smart Urban Coastal Sustainability (EU-CONEXUS) and European Digital UniverCity (EDUC). The focus was on answering the question of the active participation of students in the design of the alliance activities. In addition, external consultants contributed to topics such as "Open Universities" and "Responsible Research".
About COLOURS
Paderborn University coordinates the COLOURS university alliance, which is funded by the European Commission with around 14 million euros. The aim is to strengthen cooperation in research, teaching and transfer in the long term, increase international visibility and promote the mobility of students and sponsors within Europe. COLOURS stands for "COLlaborative innOvative sUstainable Regional univerSities". The core themes of "open innovation", "challenge-based teaching", "challenge-based learning" and "impact-driven research" are combined with regional "smart specialisation goals". In this way, the initiative aims to get social and technological innovations rolling for citizens across Europe and drive them forward through strategic cooperation.
In addition to Paderborn University as the coordinating institution, the alliance includes the University of Le Mans (France), the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), the University of Ferrara (Italy), the University of Kristianstad (Sweden), the Jan Długosz University in Częstochowa (Poland), the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek (Croatia), the Ventspils University of Applied Sciences (Latvia) and the University of St Kliment Ohridski Bitola (North Macedonia). Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University (Ukraine) is an associated partner of the alliance.
This text has been translated automatically.
