On 17 April 2026, Aurora was represented at the European University Association (EUA) Annual Conference in Istanbul, where Rector Silja Bára R. Ómarsdóttir of the University of Iceland spoke in a plenary session on the future of international cooperation in higher education. The discussion brought together university leaders to reflect on how alliances contribute to long‑term collaboration and institutional transformation.
From left to right: Amanda Crowfoot (European University Association), Silja Bára R. Ómarsdóttir (University of Iceland), and Pedro Azeres (University of Minho)
Deepening International Cooperation Through Aurora
Rector Ómarsdóttir drew on the University of Iceland (UI)’s long-standing involvement in Aurora to show how the alliance has evolved over time. She highlighted the shift from Aurora’s beginnings as a high‑trust network in 2016 to its role as a European university alliance from 2020 onwards. This development has strengthened cooperation across partner universities and expanded opportunities for students and staff.
“The value created by Aurora is moving beyond traditional student and staff exchange programmes toward deep, high‑trust internationalisation of education and research,” said Rector Ómarsdóttir. “Through our participation in Aurora, we prioritise institutional transformation that embeds internationalisation into our core structures rather than treating it as an add‑on.”
She noted that Aurora has increased access to transdisciplinary courses, and supported staff development and research cooperation. For UI, this has translated into a multiplication of student interest and participation in short-term mobility, while providing staff with robust frameworks for pedagogical development and research collaboration. This approach positions Aurora as a space where universities can test new ideas, streamline processes, and work collectively towards a more connected European academic landscape.
Leadership and Institutional Alignment
A key theme of the session was the role of leadership in ensuring that alliance engagement is firmly embedded within universities. Rector Ómarsdóttir explained how her university integrates Aurora into its governance structures. As Rector, she sits on the Aurora Board and General Council, providing strategic direction along with other Aurora universities’ presidents and rectors. Furthermore, two Vice-rectors participate in the respective Vice-rector bodies for Education and Research, ensuring that alliance initiatives are directly integrated into UI’s core academic mission.
A primary goal for UI is also to embed the Aurora mission more deeply into the university’s new institutional strategy. The university’s participation in Aurora is a central pillar of its identity and internationalisation priorities.
She also addressed the challenges created by national regulatory and funding frameworks. In Iceland, universities involved in European alliances have joined forces to advocate for more supportive conditions for internationalisation. By collaborating on high-level discussions with the Ministry of Higher Education, they have successfully highlighted the friction between their international ambitions and the current financial model. This coordinated approach has contributed to constructive dialogue with national authorities.
Alliances as Platforms for Future‑Oriented Cooperation
The plenary explored whether alliances are becoming a central model for international cooperation or one tool among many. As a laboratory of change, Aurora’s experience shows how alliances can act as platforms for experimentation, balancing deep integration with wider global engagement.
“I see great advantages in European degrees and access to micro-credentials that students can bring back into their study programmes at home,” said Rector Ómarsdóttir. “We cannot offer all the specialisations that we know our students want to get access to. Short term exchanges and international courses open the doors to more diverse study programmes and expand our students’ horizons, and those of our staff as well!”
Rector Ómarsdóttir emphasised that sustaining this level of cooperation requires trust, shared purpose, and long‑term commitment — all essential for building resilient partnerships across Europe.
In March 2026, Aurora’s vision of matching academic excellence with societal impact came together during the Aurora Executive Committee hosted by the Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC). Over two intensive days, members of the Aurora Central Office and Institutional Coordinators from all nine Aurora universities exchanged on governance, educational strategy and sustainability.
From left to right: Thomas Baumgartner, Joan Miquel Canals, Bruno Catalanotti, Jordi Serra Calvó, Anna Savostina, Alexander Lindemans, Chiara Cardigliano, Esmee Paques, Niels Hexspoor, Maria José Montaña Correa, Ivona Barešová, Petra Günther, Pasquale Sellitto, Anne-Karen Hüske, Dejan Lukovic, Fanney Karlsdottir, Svandís Halldórsdóttir, Julia Tackenberg, Tomasz Walicko, Selma Porobic, and Martin Schwell
Governance and Strategic Vision
The starting point that kicked off the meeting focused on the current governance and long-term strategic vision for Aurora. From governing, managing, to executing operations, Institutional Coordinators (ICs) reflected on the Aurora organisational structure, and the roles and responsibilities of each layer within.
In three working groups, the ICs clarified the embeddedness of their universities in Aurora, the engagement of key leadership roles, and the process of decision-making across the alliance. They further discussed about the position and purpose of external boards.
The thought-provoking exchange on governance set the scene for the sessions that followed on the overall Aurora strategy and in particular, educational strategy. ICs reiterated the importance of institutional alignment in addition to existing alliance-level alignment when it comes to meeting research and education objectives together.
Aurora Central Office members, Institutional Coordinators, and university representatives reflected on key topics over two days of meetings, presentations and workshops
Charting the Way Forward
A broader discussion ensued, touching on the feedback from the Aurora 2030 progamme mid-term evaluation. Members of the Aurora Central Office and ICs highlighted major progress in the first half of the programme, and spoke about the developments yet to be achieved by the end of the funding period in November 2027.
The conversation then turned toward preparations for the future Erasmus+ call that can offer Aurora the possibility of a two-year extension of its programme under the framework of the European Universities Initiative. To better anticipate the writing of the proposal, the group agreed on the creation of a coordination committee where target stakeholders actively participate and have specific responsibilities pertaining to their expertise.
The Aurora Executive Committee meeting closed with a presentation of the Aurora Annual Conference 2026. The in-person conference is scheduled to take place from 18 to 20 May at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) campuses, and gathers over 200 academics, staff, students, and external stakeholders from across Europe. A space to debate ideas, exchange perspectives, share best practices, and chart the way forward as one.
Ramon Puras, Aurora Secretary General, meets 2026 with a message focused on major achievements in Aurora, future developments and gratitude to the Aurora community.
Looking back on 2025, Aurora continues to be a shared space to experiment, learn, and rethink how higher education institutions serve society.
As we move into 2026, we aim to build on this momentum to:
Further develop our Aurora 2030 alliance projects
Sharpen our educational roadmap
Expand collaboration with like-minded networks, such as the City Science Initiative
Deepen our work with the University of Sussex, made even stronger by the renewed academic collaboration between the UK and the European Union.
Most of all, we would like to express gratitude to the Aurora community.
To our universities’ visionary Presidents and Vice-Rectors.
To our fantastic Institutional Coordinators.
To our Aurora Student Council, who keeps us abreast of our students’ needs.
To our Aurora Central Office team, the motor of Aurora.
To all academics, staff and students involved in Aurora.
Their commitment and energy make Aurora what it is.
Our 10 years together in Aurora is coming up! We will be marking this moment during the Aurora Annual Conference 2026 at the University of Duisburg-Essen from 19 to 22 May.
Ramon Puras
Aurora Secretary General
With our universities: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam), University of Iceland, University of Duisburg-Essen, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Universität Innsbruck, Università Federico II of Naples, Palacký University Olomouc, Université Paris-Est Créteil, Copenhagen Business School, Simon Fraser University, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, South-West University “Neofit Rilski”, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice and University of Tetova.
Micro-credentials are rapidly transforming higher education in Europe. As certified, small-scale learning units with clearly documented and assessed learning outcomes, they offer a flexible, inclusive, and responsive way for learners to acquire relevant competences. Within Aurora, micro-credentials play a vital role in shaping the inter-university campus of the future – one that is modular, transdisciplinary, and accessible across borders.
Christina Raab from Universität Innsbruck presents the Aurora Guidelines for Micro-credentials
The newly developed Aurora Guidelines for Micro-credentials provide a shared framework for designing, issuing, and recognising these qualifications across partner universities. Grounded in the European Council’s Recommendations and driven by Aurora’s mission for societal impact, these guidelines aim to harmonise practices and strengthen collaboration throughout the alliance.
A European Approach for a Changing Learning Landscape
Micro-credentials have emerged as important instruments to support lifelong learning, upskilling, and mobility within the European Higher Education Area. They allow learners to engage in small-scale learning experiences while ensuring that the acquired competences and knowledge are quality-assured, portable, transparent and stackable.
For Aurora, micro-credentials are more than just short courses. They are building blocks for a European inter-university campus:
Gateways to flexible participation across institutions
Tools for harmonising recognition and mobility
Foundations for socially impactful, transdisciplinary education.
The alliance’s decision to develop shared guidelines stems from the need to remove structural and technical barriers, align institutional practices, and ensure that learners can benefit from high-quality, jointly recognised opportunities – regardless of where they begin their studies.
Designing Micro-Credentials for Quality, Transparency, and Impact
Aurora micro-credentials follow a set of shared principles to ensure comparability and quality across universities:
Learning outcomes-based design: Each micro-credential integrates subject-specific and transversal competences, drawing on frameworks such as the Aurora Competence Framework, LOUIS, BEVI, and seizmic
Standardised size and structure: Typically 3 to 10 ECTS credits, documented according to the standard elements defined by the European Council Recommendation
Quality assurance: Each issuing university applies its institutional QA processes, guided by ESG standards and national regulations
Together, these principles ensure that every Aurora micro-credential is robust, comparable, and recognised across the alliance and beyond.
Aurora Academic Matchmaking Retreat where the Aurora Guidelines for Micro-credentials were presented
Collaboration Across Borders: How Joint Micro-Credentials Are Built
Joint micro-credentials are co-designed within Aurora’s Educational Hubs, where academics collaboratively develop content, align learning outcomes, and agree on assessment methods. “Joint” may also simply refer to the fact that participating students can come from all Aurora universities. While co-creation in the development process is the intended goal, it is not an absolute requirement for every joint micro-credential. Each participating university quality-assures the components it teaches, while one or more designated universities act as the official issuers. Because not every partner institution is equally positioned or technically equipped to issue micro-credentials, issuing responsibilities are assigned based on regulatory and technical feasibility. This collaborative model – anchored in mutual trust and transparent procedures – allows learners to combine learning units across institutions and receive a single, high-quality, jointly recognised credential.
To ensure consistency and support continuous development, Aurora’s Micro-Credential Coordination Committee (Aurora-MCC) – formally established in November 2025 – serves as a central body for coordination, expertise, and peer learning. Rather than enforcing compliance, the committee fosters a shared ecosystem, promoting visibility, interoperability, and alignment across work packages.
Digital Solutions for a Seamless Learning Experience
Technology is central to Aurora’s micro-credential ecosystem. The Aurora Virtual Campus serves as the central platform for publishing, accessing, and promoting Aurora micro-credentials. The corresponding courses will be displayed in the Aurora Joint Course Catalogue, enhancing visibility, transparency, and open participation for Aurora students and staff.
Aurora universities currently issue micro-credentials in two primary formats:
Digitally signed (e-sealed) PDF certificates, and
Secure digital badges, compliant with EU interoperability and data protection standards.
Looking ahead, the alliance aims to adopt European Digital Credentials (EDC) and digital wallets, enabling learners to securely store, manage, and share their achievements across Europe.
These digital solutions reinforce learner ownership, transparency, and employability -supporting a truly borderless learning experience.
Next Steps: Harmonisation, Visibility, and Future Readiness
Implementation of the guidelines will progress through several key actions:
Mapping existing micro-credentials and aligning them with Aurora standards
Increasing visibility through the Aurora Virtual Campus and shared catalogue
Developing shared workflows for issuing, recognition, and interoperability
Establishing a regular review and peer-learning cycle under the Aurora-MCC.
By 2030, micro-credentials are expected to become a core element of Aurora’s inter-university campus model. They will support personalised learning pathways, enable digital and physical mobility, and strengthen the alliance’s mission to foster research-driven, socially impactful education across Europe. Aurora also plans to expand micro-credentials into non-formal learning spaces and diverse learner communities, promoting access, inclusion, and lifelong learning.
Reflections: Opportunities and Challenges Ahead
The movement toward micro-credentials brings immense promise. They empower learners to design their own pathways, support cross-institutional collaboration, and encourage institutions to adopt more flexible, outcome-based approaches to teaching, learning and recognition. They also help connect formal and non-formallearning in more seamless ways.
Yet challenges persist. Aligning institutional regulations, recognition procedures, and digital infrastructures remains complex. Equally important are the cultural aspects: varying understandings of learning, hesitations around new practices, and the natural pull toward familiar institutional traditions.
Overcoming these challenges requires openness, trust, and a shared commitment to innovation. For Aurora, the path forward is clear: building a flexible, interoperable, and learner-centred ecosystem that supports Higher Education’s transformation in an era of continuous change.
Aurora joined more than 35 European Universities Alliances to exhibit at the EAIE 2025, the 35th annual conference and exhibition organised by the European Association for International Education (EAIE). Held in Gothenburg, Sweden, from 9 to 12 September, representatives from Aurora universities took part in the conference sessions, and welcomed more than 50 visitors at the Aurora booth.
Representatives from Aurora universities gathered at the Aurora booth at the EAIE 2025
European Universities Unite for Collaboration and Innovation
Under the theme “Go-Create”, the EAIE 2025 showcased how collaboration and innovation between higher education institutions are redefining the landscape of higher education across Europe.
This was especially evident during the World Café session entitled “European Universities Alliances & FOREU4ALL: Creating Value for the Wider Higher Education Sector”. Organised by FOREU4ALL and the European Commission, the session facilitated exchanges about sharing knowledge, expertise and tools developed by the Alliances. Participants also talked about emerging developments like new models of partnerships, joint degrees and micro-credentials, among others.
Through open dialogue between higher education institutions and their stakeholders, this session offered practical pathways for universities, policy makers and quality assurance bodies to tap into a broader ecosystem of cross-institutional innovation and collaboration.
Representatives from European Universities Alliances in the FOREU4ALL World Café session at EAIE 2025
Leadership and Governance in European Universities
One of the key highlight sessions included a roundtable discussion featuring speakers from three European Universities Alliances: Anna Stina Sinisalo from Una Europa, Sabine Sainte-Rose from ENGAGE-EU, and Martin Schwell from Aurora.
Entitled “Who is Driving Your EUI Alliance? Perspectives on Co-creating Shared Leadership”, the discussion explored the complexities of shared governance and leadership structures within European universities. Speakers emphasised the need for co-creation and sustainable collaboration to mitigate the risk of dependency on single individuals or institutions.
Robust shared governance models must have built-in clarity on the roles and responsibilities of each alliance member university, to ensure that decision-making is well-distributed, transparent and inclusive. Such governance models also consider sustainable processes and practices that can sustain the test of time and turnover in personnel or institutional priorities.
Leadership in European Universities Alliances is an evolving ecosystem, in which member universities play a critical part in steering the vision, navigating through challenges, and adjusting the course whenever necessary.
From left to right: Anna Stina Sinisalo (Una Europa), Martin Schwell (Aurora), and Sabine Sainte-Rose (ENGAGE-EU)
Digital Mobility and the European Student Card Initiative (ESCI)
Enabling European mobility opportunities for students is one of the advantages of the European Universities Initiative (EUI) launched by the European Commission in 2019. This topic engaged an insightful panel session “Shaping the future of the European Student Card Initiative” with speakers Victor Aguilar Mendez of the DG EAC at the European Commission, Robert Willems from KU Leuven, and Aurora representative Nanna Teitsdóttir from the University of Iceland.
During the panel, speakers discussed next steps for the European Student Card Initiative (ESCI), zooming in on its digital infrastructure, complementary Erasmus Without Paper (EWP), and real-world experiences of universities – such as the University of Iceland – that have begun implementing these tools.
Continuity of infrastructure and the consolidation of processes between higher education institutions will help move the cursor toward digital transformation in student mobility and transnational collaboration.
Nanna Teitsdóttir (University of Iceland) shares the implementation of the digital infrastructure to support student mobility
The booth was also a space for Aurora member universities to gather and meet with their institutional partners beyond the Aurora network. Over warm cups of coffee and national sweet treats brought in by Aurora representatives, the meet-ups were valuable in-person networking moments to foster tangible relationships for future cooperation.
Reflecting on the event, global collaboration, co-created innovation, and inclusive practices are key to addressing the rising challenges in higher education. As European Universities Alliances look ahead to EAIE 2026 in Glasgow, Scotland, they reaffirmed a shared vision: building a stronger, more connected future for European and international education.
On 29 October 2025 in Vancouver, Canada, Aurora officially welcomed Simon Fraser University (SFU) as Global Member, marking a key step in Aurora’s growth as a global network of universities dedicated to societal impact through academic excellence.
From left to right: Veronika Sexl, Aurora President and Rector of Universität Innsbruck; Dugan O’Neil, SFU Vice-President Research and Innovation; and Ramon Puras, Aurora Secretary General
Transatlantic Collaboration Engaged To Global Societal Impact
SFU’s membership strengthens Canadian–European collaboration in higher education and research. In times of global uncertainty, this partnership reflects a shared commitment to academic cooperation, democratic values, and societal engagement. Together, Aurora and SFU will advance work on sustainability, equity-driven inclusion, and educational innovation, connecting regional strengths with global impact.
“Strengthening our relationship with SFU is a major milestone in expanding our global partner network,” said Veronika Sexl, Aurora President and Rector of Universität Innsbruck. “We share not only values and visions but also many thematic intersections and opportunities for growth. United by our mission to build bridges and positively shape societal change, we are reinforcing transatlantic cooperation during challenging times.”
“SFU is committed to collaboration across borders as we help build solutions to the global challenges affecting us all,” said SFU President Joy Johnson. “Membership in the Aurora European Universities network allows us to pursue exciting partnerships with leading institutions in Europe. I look forward to strengthening our international engagement while furthering our research and innovation impact.”
Celebrating transatlantic collaboration and commitment to societal impact between Aurora and Simon Fraser University
The Connection Agreement, signed on 29 October 2025 at SFU’s Burnaby campus, formalises the partnership between SFU and Aurora. The signing took place in the presence of Aurora President Veronika Sexl, SFU Vice-President, Research and Innovation Dugan O’Neil, and Aurora Secretary General Ramon Puras.
“This agreement marks an important milestone for Aurora’s global development,” said Ramon Puras, Aurora Secretary General. “It opens new opportunities for transatlantic collaboration and for turning shared values into meaningful societal impact.”
Collaboration and open exchange are central to progress in European higher education. Opportunities for alliances to share experiences, both nationally and internationally, help strengthen their collective impact. Engaging with governmental bodies together also enables more constructive and aligned dialogue about the future of education and research in Europe.
Representing Aurora, Marie Jadrnickova, Aurora Research Officer from Palacký University Olomouc was asked to present the alliance’s strong commitment to supporting scientific and research collaboration. Pleased with the recognition for Aurora’s contribution to research and innovation, Marie shared, “It was a pleasure to present Aurora’s best practices and achievements in research collaboration with colleagues from across the Czech Republic and European university alliances.”
Czech governmental representatives — including the Ministry of Education and Youth and the National Accreditation Agency — emphasised the vital role of European university alliances as drivers of change. They also reaffirmed their continued support for these initiatives at both national and European levels.
During the closing panel, representatives agreed that “the European university alliances are changing the perception of international cooperation in the Czech academic sphere — thanks to alliances, for example, there is growing demand for support for joint study programmes, greater flexibility within standard study programmes, and innovative approaches to teaching.”
Events like this conference show the power of shared learning and joint engagement with policymakers. By presenting a unified voice and exchanging practical insights, alliances such as Aurora help shape a more connected, innovative, and forward-looking European higher education area.
On 17 October 2025, during the “Dies Academicus” celebration at Universität Innsbruck, Professor Dr. Jón Atli Benediktsson, former Rector of the University of Iceland, was awarded the title of Honorary Senator. The distinction recognises his outstanding contributions to academic cooperation and his strong commitment to Aurora.
Beyond his remarkable academic career, Professor Benediktsson has been a leading voice in shaping the European Higher Education Area. As President of the Aurora network (2020–2024), he played a pivotal role in defining the alliance’s strategic direction. During his presidency, Universität Innsbruck joined the Aurora alliance, greatly enhancing its European and international visibility.
Born in Reykjavik in 1960, Professor Benediktsson earned his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University (USA) in 1990. He began his career at the University of Iceland in 1991 and became Full Professor in 1996. From 2009 until his appointment as Rector in 2015, he served as Pro-Rector for Science and Academic Affairs.
One of Iceland’s most productive researchers, Professor Benediktsson has published over 400 scientific papers in the fields of remote sensing, image analysis, pattern recognition, machine learning, and biomedical signal processing. He is a Fellow of the IEEE (since 2004) and SPIE (since 2013) and has received numerous awards, including the IEEE Millennium Medal and the Highest Impact Paper Award of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society.
Driving Force Behind Collaborative Initiatives in Aurora
Within Aurora, he has been a driving force behind the creation of joint European teaching and study programs, collaborative research initiatives, and higher education policy positions. Under his leadership, the University of Iceland took on the consortium leadership of Aurora 2030 funded by the European Commission with approximately €15 million, and led the Horizon Europe project Aurora Research & Innovation.
A memorable moment in his collaboration with Universität Innsbruck was his participation in the Aurora Spring Biannual 2022, held in Innsbruck from 10 to 12 May 2022. Together with the then Rector of Innsbruck, he opened the event that brought together over 200 participants from across Europe to shape the future of the alliance.
During his presidency, he also championed Aurora’s solidarity with Ukraine, notably with V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. He played a central role in a fundraising campaign that raised €51,000 to support the continuation of the university’s operations during the war and in establishing the Aurora Karazin University Peace Hub – a platform for peace education and conflict transformation.
This collaboration culminated in the Aurora International Peace Conference, hosted by Universität Innsbruck in February 2025. The high-level event gathered international experts from academia, politics, and civil society to advance dialogue on peacebuilding and further strengthened Innsbruck’s international profile.
From 4 to 6 September, Aurora Student Council President Simona Gibalová from Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, represented Aurora during the EUSAF 2025 meeting at Warsaw SGH School of Economics.
EUSAF 2025 gathering of student representatives from European Universities Alliances across Europe
EUSAF (European Universities Student Ambassador Forum) meetings are all about connection and collaboration. They bring together students, alumni, and young professionals from across Europe to swap ideas, share experiences, and spark new projects. More than just formal sessions, these gatherings create a lively space for networking, learning, and building friendships that last well beyond the event.
Each European Universities alliance sends one representative to share good practices with students who may experience the same issues and create solutions to the problems that alliances may face together. By enabling students to create a unique space to exchange different perspectives, these in-person meetings are vital moments in ensuring a better collaboration on a European level.
Setting the Stage on International Student Engagement
EUSAF sessions were opened by the following engaging keynote speakers:
Constance Chevalier-Govers, Erasmus Project Coordinator from EUC Voices
Katarzyna Aleksy, Director of Higher Education Programmes Department from National Agency for the Erasmus+ and ESC Programmes
Malgorzara Chromy, Director of SGH International Centre.
They brought the students a professional perspective on international student engagement and how these roles function from the perspective of national agencies.
EUSAF 2025 poster pitch session and presentation
During the workshop, the first session focused on students’ journey from election to action and about what it means for student council members to represent their peers. The workshop zoomed in on the organisation of activities on a local level, and how to make such opportunities attractive for a large pool of students. They also discussed collaboration with stakeholders and how student representation can lead to meaningful partnerships.
Overall, these few days sparked many new ideas, which will continue to fruition during this year’s follow-up EUSAF meetings. Furthermore, these ideas will be brought to life through the Aurora Student Council Board.
Sustainability and social responsibility are essential priorities for higher education institutions. In this insightful conversation, Lorenzo Rieg, Zuzana Hunkova and Lolita Rubens shared their perspectives on what sustainable and socially responsible campuses look like today, the challenges that must be addressed, and their expectations for the future.
From Strategy to Impact: Institutional Approaches to Sustainability in Aurora
Lorenzo: Zuzana, maybe you can start by telling us a bit about yourself, how you ended up in your current role in sustainability development at your university, and also what you are doing within Aurora.
Zuzana: At the Palacký University Olomouc, I’ve been doing coordination for sustainable development for four years. I oversee the sustainable development strategy of the university, and ensure that I undertake all the actions connected with this. We have a team of four people working part-time on sustainability. Our strategy has 15 goals; we work on the basis of a two-year action plan that we follow very closely, and we change our goals every two years.
Lorenzo: Lolita, you’re Vice-president for Social Responsibility. I think it’s unusual to have this role at the Vice-president level of the university. Tell us a bit about what you do at UPEC, and also within Aurora.
Lolita: In France, we have a certification label for higher education institutions, called “Sustainability and Social Responsibility”. In UPEC especially, we have this project or objective to be a committed university, a civic university with social and societal impact. So, it was important for the President of UPEC to show that social responsibility is also central to our mandate. We also have a Sustainability and Social Responsibility team working here in UPEC, which I’m part of. Through our work in UPEC and in Aurora, we try to be inspired by all the measures taken to reduce carbon footprint, and attempt to include those elements in the plan that we voted for last year.
Social responsibility is about the impact that we can have on the regional territories, students and society. For instance, we work on equal opportunities where every student should have the same chances to succeed. Students that we have may face challenges, like they may work while studying, so they might not have as much time as other students to study properly. In this case, solutions could be some financial aid, or additional classes to help them succeed.
It’s also about the impact that we can have on employees and their well-being. Within research, this could be the social impact of research. UPEC being Lead in the Aurora 2030 Work Package on social impact of research, we’re working on another way of measuring the social impact that research can have. This is the same for teaching as well; trying to teach our students to become unique citizens and yet be part of the world, and society.
From left to right: Lorenzo Rieg, Lolita Rubens and Zuzanna Hunkova speaking at the Aurora Sustainability Summit 2025
Sustainability Challenges: From Awareness to Action
Lorenzo: Sustainability is now, I would say, very well established. A lot has been going on in the last ten years or even a bit more with individuals, but especially companies, also public institutions being very aware and paying much more attention to being more sustainable. We talk a lot about sustainability, but we still see that many things are not happening. What do you think are the reasons for that?
Zuzana: Sustainability has become such an important topic, and I think that’s the first thing that had to happen. We talked about it a lot, but it also very often just stops there. We talk about it, we prepare plans, strategies and goals. But what I very often see, especially in the Czech Republic, is that we’re missing the concrete actions to reach those goals. We have strategies for everything, but maybe we are now postponing to achieve them. That’s the core problem that we should press on further. Because we’re really losing time by just talking in the Czech Republic. We’re still sometimes coming back to the question if sustainability is important! I see this as a waste of time. We could already focus on what can we do without. So I would suggest maybe to take more actions, and less on preparing strategies and goals.
Lorenzo: It’s the case that people have a very good idea of what would be needed, but then for some reason it doesn’t happen. So do you think that’s because people are afraid of changes or because that it’s actually about money?
Zuzanna: I think that people in general are lazy, but in a good sense. First of all, it’s hard for us to change, and we don’t want to change so much because we are comfortable with our lives right now. In Europe especially, we have everything: we can go to the shops and buy anything we want, we can order whatever we want online, and we can have everything at home in 30 minutes. But we don’t realise the consequences of all this comfort: how much it costs not only in terms of money, but also in terms of the harmful emissions that we produce.
We need to change people’s behaviour, and that’s really hard to do. This is the hard goal. Changing behaviour doesn’t take one year; it takes decades, maybe even 100 years. Now, we’re already starting to realise. A basic example in the Czech Republic, where we’re really good in sorting waste, but it took us 20 years to get there. We needed time to realise that we shouldn’t waste water. I think we’re doing good, but I’m just afraid we’re not as fast as we should be right now.
Lorenzo: Lolita, your work with communities is a nice way to bring action to maybe not the whole world, but to your area, to your group of people, which you might be able to influence. Can you comment on this?
Lolita: I agree that it’s difficult to change for individuals, but I think one of the obstacles that we have is that the issues are so complex that it’s not only one element that we have to change. We have to consider this question about partnerships and other actors. Many things don’t depend only on the university. We have to speak with communities, cities and partners outside of the university. Of course, working all together could be difficult and could take a long time, especially in big public institutions, where we can have difficulty to go forward quickly.
For example, we have a project to encourage people to take public transportation, or use their bicycles. We can help them by ensuring that their bicycles are safely parked in the university. But the problem is that, this project will not work if they’re not allowed to ride their bicycles around the university. So, for this to work, we’ll have to speak with the cities, especially Creteil or the surrounding cities to make sure that these cities allow bicycles to circulate safely. We must ensure that it’s not only what we do in the university, but also outside, like we can be in touch with associations that help repair bicycles, for instance. But we have to think about all the actions, and speak with many people, to try to coordinate ourselves. This is where the difficulty lies sometimes.
Educating for a Sustainable Future: The Role of Universities
Lorenzo: That’s a nice way of leading to my next question about what universities should do, or focus on, not just as individual universities, but in the Aurora network as well. As you said, we cannot influence everything. I think universities also educate students, and do research. There’s a lot we can contribute to the discussion, in actually setting certain goals, and pursuing certain actions. What do you think about what universities should do to be more sustainable, and bring that into the communities and into the world, so to say?
Zuzanna: Universities, first of all, should focus on what their core is, which is educating right. I think education and sustainability are really the basic foundations. I’ve been working in this topic for five years, and the most important thing I see is, when we have young people educated and we try to involve them in all subjects because, often it happens to me that when I talk with people in the faculty of medicine, they tell me “Sustainability is not our topic”. I respond with: “That’s not true. Sustainability is everywhere”. We should also try to involve sustainability topics in teaching, in every subject we have. For example, I think it would be great if we could have a base education in sustainability for all faculties, for all university students, such as a core course over a semester.
Secondly, I believe that universities in general work as a good example for a society. So we should be leading in the sustainability topic, to show companies, political parties, and organisations how we should approach sustainability goals.
Lorenzo: Lolita, would you like to add your perspective?
Lolita: Teaching is important. In France, starting next year, every student in their first year will have a mandatory module on those topics. This is the idea of trying to teach everyone and not only those with a specialty in sustainability. It’s really important because many careers will appear in the next year, so we’re educating, teaching people who will have a professional life where they will have to maybe change their career, and adapt their jobs to the situation. They have to be aware of these topics. I think we should also be able to show the research and knowledge that we have in the university, to disseminate and speak about these topics.
Finally, in France especially, we have to spend public money well. We try to be an example as a university and to think about every aspect of our spending. To have an impact, we have to choose the people we work with, and choose who we give our money to. So, this has to be reflected upon as well and really thought about.
Lorenzo: Teaching or reaching students and keeping students with the skills relevant for the future, relevant for sustainability, and making it more accessible or bringing more into society are really important, not only to inform people, but maybe also to help companies and other institutions. Where we spend money or how we run operations is something universities actually often struggle with. It’s partly because of monetary or other constraints. It can be that we can change things and it doesn’t cost us much, but it can also be very expensive.
In my view, sustainability is now well-known. We already talked about that, but it’s not so strongly embedded in our daily life or also in the structures of public institutions like universities, where we will go in the years ahead. What do you think will happen in the future with sustainability at universities?
Lolita: It could be difficult to know what will happen because we know some other aspects, and especially political aspects, or aspects outside of the university, may have an impact. Either the situation is worse and maybe people will have to consider those elements more clearly because we will see the consequences more and more. So we have to change, but maybe not in the right way: it will be something that we’re not committed to, but that we will have to do. It’s not good when we have to change when it’s something that is mandatory.
Or we could be optimistic as well. I think that the students that we have are quite committed to the situation. In France especially, they speak about sustainability from primary school. So it has been a long time, and they can be quite bored with the subject or find that it’s not something joyful. We have to help them see something joyful, and maybe change the stories we tell, the things that we present, and the way we present them. With this module that I spoke about earlier, we try to make students act by trying to do things on their campuses, trying to make them change things, and see the results and consequences of what they are doing. This is something that we need to continue and involve everyone in these changes, and not limit it only to the people deciding for universities. With the deliberative assemblies that we have in UPEC and in Aurora, I see more people involved and more people working for the communities, for the society and for the universities.
Lorenzo: Zuzanna, how do you see sustainability developing?
Zuzana: I agree with Lolita that there are always two scenarios. In the years I’ve been in sustainability, I’m starting to worry because, with the latest changes in the European Union and among world leaders, we see that sustainability has become very important, and yet, I’m afraid it’s falling behind a little bit. Being a life optimist, I still believe we will take the the right path.
Research says that students are the next generation. The current students or even younger kids are very into sustainability. For them, it’s natural. They have been educated about this since elementary school, and they don’t consider it as something new. They consider it ingrained into themselves. For them it’s a core part of their values. They no longer choose their university according to the best rankings, but also how sustainable the university is.
Aurora universities come together during the Aurora Annual Conference and Sustainability Summit.
From left to right: Ramon Rispoli and Benedetta Toledo from Università Federico II of Naples, Zuzanna Hunkova from Palacky University Olomouc, Marjolein Zweekhorst from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and Lorenzo Rieg from Universität Innsbruck.
Aurora as an Enabler of Sustainable Partnerships and Community Networks
Lorenzo: It’s also my experience that students are actually so much further in how they see sustainability, how they also act more than most older people. Before we wrap up this conversation, I would like to give you the opportunity to say something which I didn’t ask or which you want to bring in as your final statement.
Lolita: To go back to Aurora, I think that what is very good is to be able to speak with other universities and feel reassured that we have the same challenges. We find support, and also exchange best practises to be inspired with and by other universities. We also have more strength together to implement things that we don’t yet have, but know how it was implemented in other universities. So it is very good to see other universities with the same values that are really connected to those of sustainability, equality or fight against inequality.
Zuzana: I would say that it was really important for engaging the sustainability topic in my university. Partnerships are good examples, as we learn a lot from our partner universities. It also gives us the strength when we argue for sustainability at the university and we can show best practices from, say, UPEC, on the actions already taken and the way they have managed it. This helps me in my job.
We also have a partnership through the Czech universities. Four years ago when I started, we were maybe two or three universities out of 26 that were doing something for sustainability. But now, we have managed to bring together all 26 universities to work on a sustainability strategy. So you can see how partnerships and the community of the universities can really help push the topic forward.
Lorenzo: I can only agree that this exchange is quite important. It’s essential to highlight successes, and through best practises, underline good examples for other universities within the Aurora network and beyond.
This conversation is part of a series called “A Conversation With…” undertaken within the framework of the Aurora 2030 programme supported by the European Commission. It is an interview format that focuses on a specific topic and is meant to inspire its readers to reflect on and catalyse positive impact. The exchange is available in its original format on the Aurora YouTube channel.
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From left to right: Lorenzo Rieg, Lolita Rubens and Zuzanna Hunkova speaking at the Aurora Sustainability Summit 2025