Lots of productive results from the Évora Staff Week 

The EU GREEN alliance has started its journey towards cross-border education with the selection of the first three pilot joint degrees that students from the nine universities will be able to pursue. The choice was made during the WP2 Staff Week held at the University of Évora from 25th to 27th of June.

The selected proposals are: "Sciences and Technologies for the Ecological Transition of Agricultural and Urban Ecosystems" from UNIPR, UEx, UPWr, UÉ and UA; "Green Energy for Sustainability and Resilience" from UEx, ATU, HiG, UO, OvGU and "Sustainability, Innovation, Entrepreneurship in Intelligent Rural Territories" from UEx, ATU, UÉ, UA and UO. The selection of three pilot joint degrees marked a significant milestone in the EU GREEN Alliance’s efforts to promote collaborative, cross-border education.

Staff Week

The Staff Week was organized by the University of Évora and gathered about 80 participants, including WP2 members, members of others WPs, Vice-Rectors, Student Council members and students engaged in the EU GREEN activities. All three days of the meeting were dedicated to advancing sustainability in higher education through a series of workshops, presentations, and cultural activities.

The first day started with inaugural session and with presentation of State of the Art of WP2 Implementation Teams and of the Students Council. But the highlight of the day was the presentation of 8 proposals of Joint Study Programs, and following session of the Selection Committee which successfully chose three pilot joint degrees of the 8 proposals presented earlier this day.

This initial session set a positive tone for the collaborative efforts that followed for other participants. Throughout the day, attendees engaged in various interactive workshops, including «Cinema for Sustainability» session, which aim was to raise awareness about environmental issues. Additionally, the «Portuguese 101 Survival Workshop» helped participants gain a basic understanding of the local language and culture, fostering a sense of community and cultural integration. Evening discussions focused on intercultural competence, emphasizing the importance of cultural understanding in creating a collaborative academic environment.

On the second day, session on the «Minor for Sustainability» and workshops on aligning curricular units with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) provided valuable insights and sparked new initiatives among the attendees. A highlight of the day however was the keynote address by Filipe Rocha, Local Coordinator of the European Campus of City Universities (EC2U). Rocha’s talk on the challenges and solutions for implementing joint European degrees inspired participants to see from more practical perspective the challenges to be faced by the EU GREEN Alliance.

The day concluded with an astonishing musical performance by the CORUÉ choir from the University of Évora. In the evening participants could make a visit to the vibrant local festival "Feira de São João", blending education with entertainment.

The final day featured presentations of action plans for 2025 by each implementation team and the Student Council. These presentations showcased detailed strategies for integrating sustainability into curricula and institutional practices, setting the stage for future progress. In the afternoon an educational trip to Alqueva and Monsaraz provided participants with real-world examples of sustainability practices, deepening their commitment to environmental stewardship. The event concluded with a dinner at Monsaraz Restaurant, where attendees reflected on the week’s achievements and discussed future collaborations.

The WP2 Staff Week fostered a robust exchange of ideas and best practices for sustainability in higher education. Workshops on SDG alignment and intercultural competence were particularly important for their practical relevance and engaging content. Attendees praised the event for the opportunity to engage in meaningful discussions. The WP2 Staff Week in Évora was a transformative experience, providing valuable insights and fostering connections that will drive our sustainability initiatives forward. Building on the success of the WP2 Staff Week, the EU GREEN Alliance plans to implement the action plans presented during the event and continue supporting the development of joint degrees and other sustainability-focused educational projects.

Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences launches carbon saving campaign

The Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences is launching an email inbox cleaning campaign to reduce its carbon footprint. Under the EU GREEN initiative to develop activities that promote sustainable development goals, this initiative aims to reduce the energy consumption of institutions.

The IT sector currently consumes about 7% of global electricity. By 2030, this share will increase to 13%. What does this mean in practice? Each Google search generates as much carbon dioxide as brewing half a cup of coffee. Every minute, 188 million emails are sent, and using just the two most popular messengers in the world, we send over 40 million messages. We download nearly 400,000 apps from app stores. Data centers have the fastest-growing carbon footprint in the entire ICT sector, consuming an average of 13,684 MWh of electricity annually – the same amount used by over 25,000 households.

A few years ago, the British Medical Journal described the story of St George’s Hospital in London. When a new helicopter landing pad was launched, an email containing a photo of various staff members involved in the project was sent daily for 30 days. The email, ranging from 40 kB to 115 kB in size, was received by over 13,240 employees in total. It is generally accepted that a large email generates 50 grams of carbon dioxide. The British example shows that nearly 20 tons of carbon dioxide were generated in one month, while the average Briton emits 15 tons annually.

“Research clearly indicates that storing unnecessary emails in data centers contributes to significant energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions”, says Dr. Wojciech Kilian from the Department of Construction at the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, the initiator of the campaign. – Every email, even if not opened, requires resources for storage and management, adding to the energy infrastructure burden. Regularly deleting unnecessary messages from our mailboxes can significantly reduce this impact, hence the entire initiative. It’s a simple step that each of us can take to help reduce the global carbon footprint and protect the environment.

The Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, like all public institutions and companies, also generates a carbon footprint from emails. Since the EU GREEN alliance has included actions related to achieving Sustainable Development Goals in its strategy, the idea arose for all universities in this consortium to conduct a mailbox cleaning campaign, thereby reducing energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. This is one of the simplest ways to save energy resources and protect the environment, while implementing a straightforward strategy – acting locally to influence global changes in line with green digital solutions.

Clearing email inboxes (both employees’ and students’) before the holidays will not only increase server efficiency for the new academic year but also reduce the negative impact of our daily actions on the environment.

European Universities alliances unite to create a joint Community of Practice

European Universities alliances are joining forces in a project called FOR-EU4All. The project brings together all current and future European Universities alliances—numbering over 60—into a unified, cohesive structure. The goal is to foster a collaborative and supportive environment where best practices and experiences can be shared not only among the alliances themselves but also with the broader European Higher Education (HE) sector.

As flagships of the European Education Area (EEA) and the European Research Area (ERA), European Universities alliances are leading the way in developing new and innovative concepts for deep transnational institutional cooperation to stimulate long-lasting transformation of European higher education as a whole.

Evolution of the FOR-EU Network

The informal alliance network FORum of European Universities (FOR-EU) has been in place since the start of the European Universities initiative (EUI). Alliance experts have been brought together across countries and institutions to form active communities on strategic topics, such as education cooperation, governance, research & innovation dimension of alliances, or student engagement. FOR-EU has currently 20+ subgroups in place and different parallel fora where the coordinators and alliances’ experts meet. Due to the increasingly large-scale nature and impact of the EUI, a merger of all FOR-EU groups is now necessary, and dedicated resources are required.

Formalising Collaboration

FOR-EU4All will reflect the fruitful collaboration and related extensive expertise that exists in FOR-EU. It will merge, formalise, and scale up the informal processes and structures that naturally developed over the past four years, and focus on supporting efficient administration, coordination, communication and dissemination. Moreover, FOR-EU4All will strongly focus on linkages with the wider HE sector, collaboration with existing networks and stakeholder representatives, as well as engagement with decision-makers on both achievements and challenges related to the EUI. This is also reflected in the project name, we simply are stronger together. Outreach activities and the dissemination of good practices and learnings are expected to help bringing transnational cooperation in HE in Europe to the next level.

Commitment to EEA and ERA Objectives

European Universities alliances are committed to contributing to the realisation of both the EEA and ERA policy objectives. In collaboration with stakeholders, this project will furthermore focus on addressing challenges to transnational collaboration that persist in the EHEA to date – ranging from joint educational provision to mobility as well as digital and R&I collaboration. With FOR-EU4All, alliances are committed to working together with each other, with relevant stakeholders and policy-makers to overcome obstacles to transnational collaboration and to realise the long-lasting transformation of European higher education.

The FOR-EU4All project has been awarded 1.8 million euros by the European Commission and should last 48 months, starting on the 1^st of November 2024. The European University Association – EUA, the European Students’ Union – ESU, the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education – ENQA, the European Association of Institutions in Higher Education – EURASHE and the Erasmus Student Network – ESN are associated partner of the project.

Invitation to all members of the EU GREEN Alliance

On June 20 from 13:00 - 14:00, Atlantic Technological University is hosting a masterclass on "Digital Transformation in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education" as part of EU GREEN Education. The speakers Gary Comiskey from EY, Dr. Damian Dalton from University College Dublin and Dr. Carina Ginty from Atlantic Technological University will give insights into:

• Digital transformation in higher education and how staff and faculty can drive the digital transformation of your university.
• Digital transformation and sustainability in higher education
• Approaches to building teaching and learning skills in the EU GREEN Alliance with the knowledge platform DigitalEd.ie

The Masterclass is open to all staff of the 9 universities in the EU GREEN Alliance. You are welcome to register at: MASTERCLASS

 Copyright © Freep!k

OVGU is in great shape! - Around the world in 21 days

The Kiplin Challenge has come to a successful end at the end of April. OVGU had set itself the goal of walking 7,823 km - a distance that connects the campuses of all partner universities in the EU-GREEN Alliance. After just one week, the staff and students had already achieved this goal. Almost 400 members of OVGU collected so many steps within three weeks that they covered more than five times the distance of all our partner universities! Together they walked 42,801 km, with the 2,490 participants from the other 6 participating universities even 279,398 km.

The winners of the Kiplin Challenge were announced at the ABC Bicycle Challenge kick-off event on June 3. The team "Die laufenden Nasen" (The Runny Noses) took first place with flying colors. "GREEN TEAM WP Achterbahn" also made it onto the podium with a close second place and team "Irgendwas mit Digitalisierung" (Something about Digitalization) in third place.

Thank you very much for everyone's commitment and the great performance of all participants!

Copyright © Jana Dünnhaupt, OVGU Magdeburg