Group: For society

Aurora has published its first consolidated Economic Impact Report, coordinated by Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC) and developed with BiGGAR Economics. The report shows that the nine Aurora member universities generated €21.1 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) and supported 165,000 jobs in Europe in 2024.

A Comprehensive View Of Aurora’s Economic Footprint

The Economic Impact Report was commissioned under the framework of the Aurora 2030 programme within the Holistic and Strategic Approach to Impact task team (TT10.3). The objective is to assess their aggregate contribution to Aurora and to demonstrate the added value of a European university alliance for its member universities. Based on extensive data collection across all nine institutions, the analysis highlights Aurora’s role in strengthening skills development, catalysing innovation, enabling student mobility, and engaging regional ecosystems.

Learning represents the largest share of Aurora’s impact. The 59,880 graduates of 2024 are expected to generate €7.3 billion in lifetime productivity gains, underlining the alliance’s emphasis on research-driven education and professional learning. Internships organised throughout the network accounted for an additional €236 million in GVA, further strengthening employability and collaboration with external partners.

Research valorisation also plays a significant role, contributing €1.1 billion in GVA through  licensing, consultancy, commissioned research, and the creation of around 240 spin-outs and start-ups.. Science parks and incubators hosted by Aurora universities further reinforce regional innovation ecosystems and long-term societal impact.

Students are another key driver of Aurora’s economic footprint. With 274,410 students enrolled across the alliance, their spending and part-time employment delivered €6.0 billion in GVA and supported tens of thousands of jobs across Europe. Volunteering activities add further social value, reinforcing the strong civic engagement of Aurora’s student communities.

Aurora’s operational activities complete the picture. With 33,970 employees, a combined annual income of €3.8 billion, and €901 million spent on goods and services, member universities accounted for €6.2 billion in GVA through their core operations. Tourism linked to university events and visits provided additional economic benefits to regional economies.

“Coordinating this analysis was a real challenge,” said Matthieu Danteny, Deputy Head of the Strategy and Major Projects Unit at UPEC. “Collecting such diverse data from the nine universities required strong collaboration, and we played a central role in supporting this work with BiGGAR Economics. Despite complex timelines, the alliance met its deadlines and the report was successfully delivered.”

Strengthening Aurora’s Long-Term Contribution to Europe

Even though Aurora has been part of the European Universities Initiative for only six years, the report already highlights early signs of added value through shared structures, increased mobility, and collaborative research. These findings provide a foundation for future monitoring and further supports Aurora’s contribution to the European Education Area.

Ilyas Kenadid, Head of the Strategy and Major Projects Unit at UPEC, said: “Members of task team 10.3 are proud to deliver the first-ever economic impact study conducted for a European university alliance. In partnership with BiGGAR Economics, we have spent the past two years designing a robust framework to capture both the economic contribution of Aurora universities and the added value generated by the alliance. While the added value stemming from the Aurora network is already showing initial benefits, this study represents only the first step towards a more holistic and longitudinal assessment of Aurora’s broader impact across all of our activities.”

As the alliance continues to develop, its collective impact is expected to grow further, reinforcing cooperation across institutions and supporting more integrated approaches to education, research, and societal engagement.

The FOREU4ALL Workshop on “Aligning Project Management and Impact” brought together representatives from European Universities Alliances to reflect on how to design, manage, and evaluate impact within  collaborative projects. Matthieu Danteny, Deputy Head of the Strategy and Major Projects Unit at Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC) and Co-lead of the Aurora 2030 Impact team, shared his experience during the two days in Granada. 

Restitution of a collaborative workshop on impact by Matthieu Danteny

Stepping Into A Shared European Space Of Exchange

This event was an opportunity to step outside the day-to-day project environment and engage directly with peers facing similar challenges across Europe. From the very beginning, what struck me was the openness of the discussions. The workshop created a space where participants from different alliances could speak freely about what works, what does not, and what remains difficult when it comes to linking project management with impact.

Rather than formal presentations, many of the exchanges took shape through interactive formats, which made it easier to engage with others and compare approaches in a very direct way. It quickly became clear that, despite institutional differences, many of us are working with similar constraints and trying to answer the same questions.

Learning From Others’ Approaches To Impact

One of the most valuable aspects of the workshop was the opportunity to observe how other alliances approach impact in very practical terms. Discussions on data collection, planning, and reporting revealed a wide variety of tools and methods, some of which offered interesting perspectives for our own work within Aurora.

What stood out to me most was the idea that impact is not only something to be reported at the end of a project, but something that needs to be considered continuously throughout its implementation. This shift in perspective was reinforced through the exchanges with colleagues from other alliances.

Poster session and workshops on project management and impact

Turning Exchange Into Perspective

Beyond the technical discussions, what I took away most from this experience was the value of collective reflection. Being able to discuss openly with peers across Europe made it easier to step back from operational constraints and look at broader patterns in how alliances function.

The workshop also highlighted the importance of combining different types of understanding when working on impact, not only quantitative indicators, but also shared interpretations and qualitative insights.

Tools in impact assessment are also game changers That’s what I learned from various discussion with impact manager from other alliances, and from the poster they made. Thanks to the workshop about this topic, I left the event with new tools, and ideas to improve our own impact assessment.

FOREU4ALL Workshop 2 participants at the Universidad de Granada

Looking Ahead

This experience reinforced my belief that European Universities Alliances are not only cooperation frameworks, but also spaces for learning and transformation. Within Aurora , these exchanges contribute directly to how we think about project management and impact in a more integrated and collaborative way.

Returning from Granada, I left with a stronger sense of the importance of continued dialogue between alliances, and of the value of shared tools and common understanding in strengthening European cooperation in higher education.

Veronika Sexl, Rector of Universität Innsbruck and Aurora President, represented Aurora at the Times Higher Education (THE) Europe Universities Summit in Milan, Italy, from 5 to 7 May 2026, contributing to key discussions on the future of European higher education.

Rector Veronika Sexl at THE Europe Universities Summit 2026. © Times Higher Education Events

The global higher education landscape is undergoing profound transformation. Universities today are no longer assessed solely on academic excellence and research output, but increasingly on their international visibility and ability to contribute to solving global challenges. Against this backdrop, the THE Europe Universities Summit 2026 in Milan brought together leading representatives from universities, research institutions and policymaking bodies across Europe to discuss the future of European higher education.

The summit focused on key questions surrounding the strategic positioning of European universities, the growing importance of international collaboration and the evolving role of higher education institutions in an increasingly interconnected yet highly competitive global environment. Throughout the discussions, one central theme emerged clearly: universities must balance international visibility with regional responsibility while remaining true to their academic mission and public value.

Aurora’s presence at the summit reflected this broader dialogue on collaboration as a driver of academic excellence and societal impact.

© Times Higher Education Events

Rethinking Reputation: Aurora In A Leadership Panel

As part of the wider programme of the summit, one of the panel discussions focused on unearthing institutional competitive edge and building global reputation. This session brought together senior university leaders from across Europe to discuss how institutions can define and strengthen their distinct position in an increasingly competitive global higher education landscape. It explored how institutional reputation is shaped through the interplay of identity, performance, and external perception, and how leadership can ensure that strategy and narrative are closely aligned.

Among the panel participants was Veronika Sexl, Rector of the Universität Innsbruck and Aurora President, who contributed to the discussion on the role of European Universities Alliances (EUAs) in strengthening the global positioning of their member institutions.

Within this context, the Rector’s contribution at the THE Europe Summit in Milan emphasises how EUAs like Aurora serve as a strategic multiplier for the global reputation of universities. She argues that these networks act as a central entry point for international partners, making collaboration opportunities more visible than individual institutional efforts could achieve alone.

As she stated during the discussion: “We must dare to be different and lead with our unique strengths. Within Aurora, this individual uniqueness becomes a collective power: our collaboration acts as a global entry point that amplifies our distinct strengths for partners worldwide.”

By leveraging the collective reputational capital of Aurora, individual members can amplify their unique institutional stories —showcasing their specific strengths and expertise — on a global stage while tackling shared challenges like climate change and digital transformation in a complementary manner.

Two Aurora representatives from the Aurora Central Office and  Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC) attended  the FOREU4ALL Workshop  on “Aligning Project Management and Impact: A Practical and Strategic Dialogue for European University Alliances”. Held from 15 to 17 April 2026 at the Universidad de Granada within the Arqus Alliance, the event brought together more than 140 representatives from across Europe to exchange on the link between project management practices and impact measurement in the context of European cooperation.

From left to right: Alexander Lindemans (Aurora Central Office) and Matthieu Danteny (Université Paris-Est Créteil)

Project Management And Impact Across European Universities Alliances

The first day of the workshop focused on key dimensions of project management and impact, including planning, data collection, communication, and strategic coordination. Through a World Café format, participants shared practices and reflected on common challenges across alliances. These exchanges highlighted the diversity of institutional approaches while also underlining the need for more coherent and aligned frameworks to support collaboration at scale.

A recurring theme throughout the discussions was the growing importance of impact in European projects, alongside the continuing complexity of defining and assessing it across different institutional contexts. Matthieu Danteny, Deputy Head of the Strategy and Major Projects Unit at UPEC, highlighted this convergence of challenges across alliances:

“Thanks to this World Café format, I was able to quickly discuss with people from other alliances and share my vision on the current state of impact assessment in Aurora. I never had the chance to exchange with counterparts about this topic, and I learned that the majority of them has the same issues, questions, and needs for clarification.”

Developing Operational Tools For Measuring And Structuring Impact

The second day of the workshop shifted towards more operational discussions, focusing on tools and methodologies for integrating impact into project management practices.

In the session “Tools for Challenge 1 – Planning for Impact”, participants explored ways to anticipate, structure, and monitor impact across projects. Outcome of the discussions emphasised the need for flexible and adaptable tools capable of supporting both strategic planning and day-to-day implementation across different alliance settings.

A poster session complemented the workshops, enabling participants to compare approaches and share tools already developed within their respective alliances, further strengthening peer learning and exchange of best practices.

Shared Reflections Across Aurora

From Aurora’s perspective, the workshop contributed to broader reflections on the challenge of ensuring coherent and meaningful approaches to impact across alliances, as well as on the need to combine quantitative indicators with qualitative understanding of project outcomes.

Alexander Lindemans from the Aurora Central Office underlined that impact cannot be fully understood through quantitative indicators alone. He said, “At the same time, it became clear that impact is going to be a key element in final reporting, and not an easy one. Measuring it is complex, and there was a shared recognition that numbers alone don’t tell the full story. Qualitative insights are just as important in capturing what projects actually achieve.”

He further stressed on the importance of aligning internal processes with external expectations, a difficulty shared across European university alliances as they continue to develop their cooperation frameworks, particularly in relation to reporting requirements and long-term coordination.

The workshop concluded with the development of a joint roadmap aimed at strengthening data management and improving impact reporting practices across alliances. Informal exchanges throughout the event also played a key role in fostering dialogue, trust, and peer learning among participants.

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.

Aurora Secretary General Ramon Puras, together with Institutional Coordinators Fanney Karlsdóttir (University of Iceland) and Martin Schwell (Université Paris-Est Créteil), represented Aurora at the European Universities Coordinators Meeting held in Brussels. The event brought together close to 200 representatives from European Universities Alliances (EUAs) for a full-day working retreat combining plenary exchanges, thematic breakout sessions and informal networking opportunities.

From left to right: Martin Schwell, Fanney Karlsdóttir, and Ramon Puras

Future Erasmus+ Framework, Mobility And International Cooperation

During the day-long European Universities Coordinators Meeting, discussions focused on the evolving role of EUAs within the European Higher Education Area, with particular attention to research cooperation, education strategies and international mobility frameworks.

The first working session explored the future Erasmus+ funding model in the context of the next programme period, with discussions addressing how to best support European Universities Alliances in the years ahead.

Participants exchanged views on the conditions for student and staff mobility, as well as on the role of alliances in strengthening international cooperation both within Europe and with partner regions beyond the European Union. The exchanges highlighted the need for stable yet flexible frameworks that can sustain long-term collaboration  while responding to evolving institutional needs.

Plenary session on Erasmus+

Workshop session

European Competitiveness, Role Of Alliances And Impact Monitoring

The second working session zoomed in on the contribution of European Universities Alliances to EU competitiveness and to the development of the European Research Area. Exchanges underlined the strategic role of alliances as drivers of cross-border collaboration in education, research and innovation, and as platforms supporting institutional transformation across higher education systems.

The final session addressed performance monitoring and impact reporting. Participants debated how to better capture institutional change and streamline reporting processes, with a shared understanding that effective impact assessment requires combining quantitative indicators with qualitative evidence of transformation.

For Aurora, these discussions also feed into ongoing internal reflections on how to further articulate and monitor the impact of its activities within the broader European framework.

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.