Aalto University becomes a member of the UNITE! alliance

The European Commission has granted funding to the UNITE! alliance which includes seven European technical universities.

More than 300 universities participated in the 54 applications for the pilot search and 17 alliances were selected as pilots to enhance the quality, attractiveness and cooperation of European higher education.

The UNITE! (University Network for Innovation, Technology and Engineering) alliance is one of the pilots that were granted funding by the European Commission for 2019–2022. The seven partner universities aim to use the alliance to create a European inter-university campus for students and scientists while at the same time incorporating regions and companies. UNITE!, which ranges from Finland to Portugal, will receive up to five million euros in the coming three years after which pilots may apply for further funding.

‘It is great that Aalto University is part of this pilot alliance. A strong European consortium brings diverse possibilities for developing education and for co-creation in an international setting. This pilot also serves the national goals for the future of higher education in Finland, focusing on for example the development of flexible study paths, continuous learning, pedagogically sound digital learning environments, joint curricula, international doctoral schools and programs, as well as development of a range of new options for student and staff mobility.  UNITE! also pilots new models for university governance in Europe as well as the harmonization of regulation and recognition of studies and degrees,’ says Petri Suomala, Vice President for Education, Aalto University.

TU Darmstadt (Germany) acts as the coordinator and in addition to Aalto University, UNITE! includes the KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), the Grenoble Institute of Technology (France), the Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy), the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Spain) and the University of Lisbon (Portugal). UNITE! is a broad and transdisciplinary platform, which is represented at Aalto by all the technical schools as well as the School of Arts, Design and Architecture and the School of Business.

The partners of UNITE!  are all members of the CLUSTER network (Consortium Linking Universities of Science and Technology for Education and Research) of twelve leading European technical universities. Professor Katrina Nordström, previous Secretary General for Cluster, represents Aalto in the UNITE! project team.

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