The alliance of universities led by Mondragon Unibertsitatea, chosen to develop the European University project (EU4DUAL), which promotes dual training to resolve European challenges

The alliance of universities led by Mondragon Unibertsitatea, chosen to develop the European University project (EU4DUAL), which promotes dual training to resolve European challenges

The European Commission has selected it along with only three other new partnerships for the European Universities Initiative.

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The European University Consortium for Dual Education, EU4DUAL, (European Dual Studies University), led by Mondragon Unibertsitatea, has been one of the four new European projects chosen by the European Commission to develop the European Universities initiative. The aim is to increase the quality and competitiveness of European higher education by using dual education to solve global challenges.

Out of the 52 applications submitted, the European Commission has selected 16 existing and 4 new partnerships involving 175 higher education institutions from Member States and other Erasmus+ partner countries.

The EU4DUAL European University Alliance in Dual Education, led by Mondragon Unibertsitatea, is composed of nine leading European universities in dual education - Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg (Germany), FH JOANNEUM Gesellschaft mbH (Austria), Savonia UAS (Finland), ESTIA Institute of Technology (France), Neumann János Egyetem (Hungary), PAR University College (Croatia), Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (Malta) and Koszalin University of Technology (Poland) - aiming to launch the world's largest integrated dual education institution, where academic and business levels are seamlessly integrated.

All of them are academic higher education institutions strongly committed to the business environments located in their (highly industrialised) regions, where they have developed their own models of cooperative or dual education in which students combine periods of practical learning in companies and organisations with periods of academic learning.

Together with the Consortium led by Mondragon Unibertsitatea, three other new alliances have been created, involving the University of Extremadura, EU GREEN (European University Alliance for sustainability: responsible GRowth, inclusive Education and ENvironment); the University of Oviedo, INGENIUM (INGENIUM - European University), and the University of Almeria, UNIgreen (The Green European University).

The constitution of the alliance was supported by the Basque Government's Department of Education, and is aligned with the University-Business II strategy of the same department.

Responding to Europe's challenges

The aim of this EU4DUAL alliance led by Mondragon Unibertsitatea is to use dual training to help Europe address its various global challenges including climate change, decarbonisation, digitalisation and healthy ageing, where they all have a lot of experience to contribute.

The EU4Dual alliance will seek to generate knowledge on how to contribute to a more sustainable future and responsible development of society and business through education and RDI activities. To this end, experts will be trained in topics such as:

• Industry 5.0, where humans, machines and augmented reality will work progressively closer, through an interconnected world
• Healthy ageing: empower people for a better life through a combination of greater health, nutrition and technology
• The green economy: supporting the transition towards low carbon economies and efficient resources

Looking towards 2025, the alliance has the following objectives:

1. To establish a cooperative arrangement for collaboration across the boundaries in teaching, research and dissemination of the industry in the context of major social challenges
2. To ensure that the majority of the programmes offered by the dual university include elements of research, teaching or practicals from at least two members of the institution
3. To launch a joint micro-credentials, offering continuous professional develoment associated with the major challenges
4. To launch joint ecosystem research projects that support the achievement of the different objectives
5. To create a learning programme based on transnational work with support from global and local businesses