Aurora Regional
Hub at South-West
University

The SWU Regional Hub initiative (R-HUB SWU) is part of the commitment of South-West University “Neofit Rilski”, Blagoevgrad, as an Associate Partner in the AURORA Alliance under the European universities Initiative.

The Universities in the Aurora Alliance work together towards the long-term vision of building the universities of the future. Aurora universities are continuously pushing boundaries to improve their academic excellence and to match it with the societal relevance. A part of this mission is advancing research and innovation collaborations that support overcoming the most pressing societal challenges and cater to the citizen’s needs.

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Aurora and its universities engage in research and innovation activities on three different levels:

Research and Innovation for Societal Impact focusing Sustainable Development Goals 2030
Research and support collaboration in 4 pilot domains:
- Sustainability & Climate Change;
- Digital Society & Global Citizenship;
- Health & Well-being; and
- Culture: Diversity & Identity
Research and innovation representation in Brussels

An essential part of Aurora is the Aurora Alliance Capacity Development Support Programme (CDS).

The Programme is specially designed to help reduce the disparities between the research-leading and research-emerging countries in Europe by assisting universities in Central-Eastern Europe and Neighboring Countries to develop their institutional capacity for academic excellence and societal relevance.

The expected outcomes are to spread the Aurora Alliance principles, values, skills, working processes and practical learnings to some 30 target universities in Europe and beyond.

To this end, Aurora CDS Network is being set up, with the purpose to articulate and strengthen the collaboration in supporting universities that are interested in the same objectives as Aurora Alliance member universities:

in equipping diverse student populations with the skills and mind-set to address societal challenges as social entrepreneurs and innovators;
in engaging with students and stakeholders at regional, national, European and global level;
in making our universities sustainable organizations.

The Aurora CDS Network of Universities
currently consists of:

Ten Aurora Alliance member universities:

1. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands);
2. University of Iceland (Iceland);
3. University of East Anglia (United Kingdom);
4. University Duisburg-Essen (Germany);
5. University of Frederico II of Naples (Italy);
6. Universitat Rovira I Virgilli (Spain);
7. University of Innsbruck (Austria)
8. Palacky University Olomouc (Czech Republic);
9. Copenhagen Business School (Denmark);
10. Universite Paris-Est Creteil (France);

Four Associate Partner universities

11. Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice (Slovakia);
12. South-West University “Neofit Rilski” (Bulgaria);
13. University of Tetova (North Macedonia);
14. V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (Ukraine);

As an associate member of AURORA Universities Alliance, the South-West University “Neofit Rilski” works towards:

Raising awareness for implementing the SDGs in the field of education, economics and ecological and social responsibility;
Applying and implementing research and education projects with Aurora partners (e.g. by using the AURORA mini-grants);
Establishing new international cooperation horizons with the core Aurora members Universities, as new Erasmus+ agreements and HORIZON (SWAFs) 2020 in mutually advantageous fields;
Singning Multilateral agreements in mobility and Research areas as well as Bilateral Memoranda of Understanding (incl. joint doctoral mentorship, shared research and education infrastructure);
Internationalising our education and research programmes

Mission

The mission of R-HUB SWU is related to building a network of like-minded universities for exchanging best practices and experience towards improving Euroepan strategic cooperation in the higher education sector and increasing the quality of scientific research outputs. By its design, it has an open non-binding character, aimed at universities in the CEE and SEE regions, and broader.

The Aurora Regional Hub is a variation on the strategic alliance partnership concept within Aurora Alliance. The AR-HUB initiative was launched to provide new international cooperation horizons, across the Aurora CDS members.

The AR-HUB also has the ambition to offer ambassadorial duties for partnerships outside of the Aurora Alliance outreach scope (especially connecting to partners in Central and East Asia as well).

Vision

The vision of the Regional Hub at South-West University “Neofit Rilski” (AR-HUB SWU) is related to its establishment as an “scientific forum” uniting teachers, students, doctoral students and other research staff. AR-HUB is a linking platform offering wider scientific research and cooperation opportunities.

Goals

The goals that R-HUB sets are related to

– Informing about the benefits and opportunities that resource pools in AURORA Alliance offer.
– Enabling shared scientific infrastructure and collaborations within AURORA.
– Providing network connections toward project developments with and between Aurora Alliance partners.
– Capacitating institutional research outputs through targeted skills training of research managers and academicians.

AR-HUB initiative aims to became one of the key research connection networks in Balkans focusing scientific capacity building portfolio.

The AR-HUB team of experts have been well trained to identify the potential requirement and provide the best solutions to the need of its partners and contractors.