Our Consortium

The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is one of the world’s intellectual hubs, a modern comprehensive research university with a long and rich history dating back to 1632. As a leading global university in a multicultural European capital, the UvA plays a pioneering role in developing an international study and work culture. It considers awareness raising amongst students and staff about responsible digital competences an indispensable component in its academic programmes. The UvA’s Strategic Plan ‘Inspiring Generations’ sets out the strategic direction and objectives for the university in the next five years. Participation in HYBRID-E fits well with the key objectives in the area of teaching & learning, which are as follows: Additional funding, portfolio analysis and vigorous digitalisation will ensure that the degree programmes that we offer remain up-to-date and relevant. There will also be an incentive to innovate from the demand-side, i.e. from students and society. The student population is becoming ever more diverse. We want to ensure that our degree programmes reflect this diversity and the world around us. This includes giving graduates from all disciplines the opportunity to participate in lifelong learning. Teaching and research at the UvA are organized in seven faculties: Economics and Business, Humanities, Law, Social Sciences, Science, Medicine and Dentistry. They are located in four open city campuses. With 6,000 staff members, 40,000 students, including nearly 12,000 international students representing a hundred different nationalities, UvA is connected to thousands of researchers and hundreds of public and private institutions in the Netherlands and around the world. Academic culture The UvA’s educational ambitions are reflected in a culture characterised by motivation, drive, and a commitment to the study programme. This ambitious academic culture is based on the UvA’s expectations of its students and the study programmes’ dedication to bringing out their best qualities. The UvA expects its students to have fully familiarised themselves with the nature of an academic education during their prior studies, to devote sufficient time to their studies, to take an active interest in the various activities organised by the University, and to participate in a spirit of shared responsibility. This ambitious academic culture is further strengthened by means of reliable and realistic information regarding the study programmes, sufficient contact hours, intensive student counselling, and a strong culture of professionalism amongst lecturers. From the first year of the Bachelor’s phase onwards, the emphasis is on academic development, which centres on critical and analytical thinking. An education at the University of Amsterdam prepares students for a career in today’s knowledge-based society, while teaching them to develop a goal-oriented and reflective mindset and pose critical questions. Key elements of academic development include the following core critical thinking skills: interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and selfregulation. Blended learning At the end of 2015 the publication of the report Blend IT & Share IT marked the start of a strategic development of initiatives in the context of blended learning and educational innovation across the University of Amsterdam. Following the presentation of that report, the Centre for Innovation in Learning & Teaching (CILT) as well as faculty-based staff positions for teaching quality and innovation officers have been established. Recently the activities of CILT have been merged into the new structure of Teaching & Learning Centres (TLC’s) at institutional and faculty levels. The main aim of the TLC is to support lecturers in the field of educational innovation, teaching staff development, and knowledge sharing.

The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – AUTh (https://www.auth.gr/en), is the largest public University in Greece. The University’s particular triptych is specified as Interdisciplinarity, Internationalist and Intercultural Education. AUTh is one of the largest universities in South Eastern Europe and has more than 70.000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, 4.000 are international. AUTh has almost 2000 members of Academic Staff and 1015 members of all the other staff categories. It comprises 42 schools covering all scientific fields. According to recent International Rankings, AUTh is the first university in Greece. AUTh is a member of different networks and has 105 signed inter-university agreements with universities all over Europe, USA, Canada Australia and Asia. AUTh has bilateral agreements with 600 European Universities. In the university, there are also 2 active UNESCO Chairs, one on Education for Human Rights and Peace and the other on International Network of Water Environment Centers of the Balkans. The general research performance reveals that AUTh has active participation in 48 research networks with the collaboration in 1705 research projects, 350 of which are related to water resources issues. Over the last five years the AUTh has implemented more than 4500 Research and Technological Development Projects, covering mainly the scientific areas of the environment, information technology, communications, industrial technologies, transport, biotechnology, biomedical technology and health, agriculture, forestry, fishing, education / language, history, heritage archaeology and social / economic sciences. Finally, AUTh is a founding member of the EPICUR Alliance, which leads the actions for the creation of the first European University.

UCD is one of Europe’s leading research-intensive universities; an environment where undergraduate education, masters and PhD training, research, innovation and community engagement form a dynamic spectrum of activity. Since its foundation, the University has made a unique contribution to the creation of modern Ireland, based on successful engagement with Irish society on every level and across every sphere of activity. The international standing of UCD has grown in recent years; it is currently ranked within the top 1% of higher education institutions world-wide. UCD is also Ireland’s most globally engaged university with over 30,000 students drawn from 136 countries, including almost 4,000 students based at locations outside of Ireland. UCD employs 1,727 academic staff and 1,920 professional services staff. As Ireland’s largest university, with its great strength and diversity of disciplines, UCD embraces its role to contribute to the flourishing of Ireland through the study of people, society, business, economy, culture, languages and the creative arts, as well as through research and innovation. The University’s Strategy 2020-2024 Rising to the Future outlines the objectives and major strategic initiatives set in place in order to accomplish UCD’s vision for this era. Tackling Global Challenges: The spectrum of research and innovation at UCD encompasses individual scholars, research groups, startup companies and large-scale collaborations with industry and other partners. Research is conducted within each of the University’s extensive range of disciplines, and in multidisciplinary research programmes addressing challenges of global scale. In 2018/19 UCD researchers secured €153 million in research grants from national and international funding agencies, companies and foundations. Since 2009/10 UCD researchers have secured over €1 billion in such grants. UCD has had nationally-leading success in many of the most prestigious European awards, including European Research Council and Marie Sklodowska-Curie schemes. As Ireland’s leader in innovation, technology transfer and commercialisation, UCD’s commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship recognises the importance of active participation and collaboration to exploit leading-edge research and development outputs. Supports for innovation include NovaUCD – the Centre for New Ventures and Entrepreneurs and NexusUCD – the Industry Partnership Centre. Defining Educational Excellence: UCD is Ireland’s University of first choice, leading in first-preference applications in Ireland year after year. The first year retention rate is 94%. For the last three years UCD has ranked number one in Ireland for Graduate Employability (QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2018, 2019,2020). UCD is globally recognised for its excellence in teaching and learning–14 subjects are ranked in the top 100 in the world (QS World University Ranking by Subject 2019). UCD is ranked number one university in Ireland in the US News & World Report’s Best Global University Rankings and is Sunday Times University of the Year 2020. UCD is also Ireland’s leader in graduate education with over 9,500 graduate students; almost 20% of whom are graduate research students. 1,611 PhD students benefit from a structured PhD programme and the research-led education culture at UCD. Engaging Globally: As the number one ‘university of destination’ for international students coming to Ireland, UCD’s 8,428 international students make up 29% of the student body, while international academics make up 30% of UCD’s faculty. With 400 partner universities for student exchange, UCD offers extensive global study opportunities and is engaged in partnerships including such networks as Universitas 21, the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), UNICA and the EUA.

Since its founding in 1827, KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (Sweden) has grown to become one of Europe’s leading technical and engineering universities. Currently there are about 5,044 employees, the equivalent of 3,760 full time positions, of which 1,492 are women and 2,268 are men. Among the employees, there are 317 professors, including visiting and adjunct professors, 287 associate professors, 72 women and 216 men, including assistant professors. KTH is the lead partner in five program areas with the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT): EIT InnoEnergy, EIT digital, EIT Health, IET Raw Materials and EIT Urban Mobility. KTH has primary responsibility for five national strategic research areas: E-science, IT and mobile communication, Transport Research, Product engineering and Science for Life Laboratory. Among the educational activities, KTH offers: Master of Architecture and 15 Master of Science in Engineering programmes (5-year programmes), Master of Science in Engineering combined with Degree in Education, 9 Bachelor of Science in Engineering programs, Bridging Teacher Education Programme, Master’s programmes, Further education etc. Currently, there are 13.514 full time students (34%-women and 66%-men). There are also 1.665 active research students. KTH’s activities are separated into five different schools, each of these is heading a number of departments, centers of excellence and undergraduate study programmes. The KTH schools are responsible for education and research activities at KTH. At the different KTH Competence Centres activities of a varied nature are conducted; these often pertain to new research areas and often involve joint efforts with business life and the community.