Karlstad University has been granted funding by the EU Commission to join EUNICE, an education and research collaboration with nine other European universities. The idea behind EUNICE is to facilitate student and staff exchanges, as well as creating conditions for close collaboration on research and partnerships with the surrounding community. The project will run over a period of four years and has been granted €14.4 million or 170 SEK . Approximately one tenth of this will be allocated to Karlstad University.
EUNICE, European University for Customised Education, is an alliance between universities from different European countries that work together across disciplines to solve social and economic challenges. Becoming a member means that students will be able to tailor their education with courses from the different universities, and may also contribute to making Karlstad University more competitive in terms of attracting the best researchers. All of the member universities of the EUNICE alliance are mid-sized universities with a strong commitment to the region where they operate. They share similar visions and strategies and have high academic output.
- We are happy about the news from the EU Commission, which means that students and staff will be given the opportunity to study and work abroad and share experiences with the rest of Europe, at the same time as it strengthens the quality of our education, says Margareta Friman, Acting Vice-Chancellor.
EUNICE provides the possibility of:
- increased mobility for students, researchers, teachers and staff at the university.
- increased intercultural awareness and knowledge of foreign languages among both students and staff.
- integrated internationalisation work as a natural part of the university’s education and research.
- developing, supplementing and contributing to the university’s education and research through exchange of experience and close collaboration with other universities.
Karlstad University is entering an ongoing collaboration which has laid the groundwork of EUNICE since 2020. This collaboration will be furthered over the next four years. Guest lectures and other types of short exchanges within various fields of research are already underway at Karlstad University. A selection of our courses will be offered to all students that are part of EUNICE, primarily online courses in the spring semester 2024.
EUNICE is coordinated by the Poznan University of Technology in Poland. The other member universities include Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (Germany), University of Cantabria (Spain), University of Catania (Italy), University of Mons (Belgium), Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France (France), University of Vaasa (Finland), University of the Peloponnese (Greece), and Politécnico de Viseu (Portugal).
