ABOUT NEOLAiA
NEOLAiA was born as a strategic collaboration initiative of a group of universities from Spain, Germany, Czech Republic and Sweden in May 2019.
The formal establishment of the consortium stems from the previous cooperation that existed for several decades between the founding universities through collaborations in international mobility, research and teaching.
As a consortium of European Universities, the first proposal for an agreement to create the NEOLAiA Alliance was formalized in September 2019. The Alliance has subsequently grown with the active incorporation of full partners from Italy, Lithuania, Romania, France and Cyprus.In addition, in 2022 NEOLAiA received the highly coveted certificate by the European Commission of a High Quality Proposal in a Highly Competitive Evaluation Process with an overall score of 84/100. During these almost four years of sustained and constant academic collaboration, the alliance has launched numerous strategic institutional collaboration activities, covering areas such as:
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- Teaching and Learning: Proposals for double and joint degrees (ERASMUS-EDU-2021-EMJM-DESIGN “NEOTrend Inclusion – degree, competence, mobility”), cross-disciplinary and micro-credential courses, mapping of teaching resources, funding for the implementation of an Erasmus KA2 Strategic Partnerships project (KA220-HED – Cooperation partnerships in higher education “Supporting Academics to Become INTERNATIONAL EDUCATORS through Professional Learning Communities”) with a total grant of 399,670.4€.
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- Research: Implementation of joint research actions aimed at Horizon Europe, mapping of research resources and complementarity of research areas.
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- Inclusion and Diversity: Mapping of inclusion and diversity resources at the universities, presentation of a Joint Project on Inclusion and Diversity in the call for proposals KA226 – Partnerships for Digital Education Readiness (“E-learn for all: Inclusive education through virtual learning environments”).
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- Mobility: Implementation of BIPs within the NEOLAiA Focus Academy initiative.
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- Entrepreneurship and Employability: Joint publications in the field of employability, mapping of entrepreneurship resources.
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In addition, NEOLAiA partners have jointly competed for international calls within Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe. Projects in the field of mobility have also been developed jointly (creation of mobility maps with specific tracks for mobility connected with the Focus Academy, Neotrends, and preparation of mobility windows for researchers and students of future double or joint plans). In 2021, a pilot project has also been launched with specific scholarships for students who will undertake international mobility in the Alliance countries, with an additional financial endowment per mobility scholarship.
NEOLAiA participated in the pilot phase of the 2020 European Universities Call for Proposals, exceeding by far the score corresponding to the quality threshold. In these three years, the own and external funding obtained to finance activities of the Alliance has amounted to 550,000 €, most of it provided by the universities participating in the consortium themselves.
NEOLAiA is the result of a constant and determined commitment of the universities in the consortium and, stemming from this stable commitment, they have established a long-term institutional collaboration strategy that covers the future of the Alliance over the next 7 years. The participation in the European Universities Initiative call is one further initiative of the consortium aimed at strengthening its cooperation strategy, as well as its collaboration structures. This will allow the implementation of the actions included in the Work Packages of the project that will be submitted as a consolidated Alliance.
Our Nature
Most members of the European Union are living in small and medium-sized cities or in the countryside. So, as young universities with the power and commitment to reform, we are the most important drivers of innovation and social change, in our regions.
Global challenges such as climate change, digitalization, demographics, and urbanization are the Global Challenges of our time. They affect metropolises and regions differently. Global Challenges fuel growing populism, worries and the call for authoritarian structures, especially outside capitals. The regions beyond the metropolises are the places where Europe’s future is negotiated on a daily basis as an opportunity and as a challenge.
NEOLAiA makes Europe an experience. Our students are first generation academics, often with a migrant background within their family. They are ambitious, they are diverse, and they are talented. Our societies and the future of the European Union need their potential.
NEOLAiA wants to raise the potential of our regions. Empowering regions means strengthening democracy, preventing populism, fostering inclusion, exploiting the potential of heterogeneity, countering extremism, and making excellent research and teaching an everyday experience.
Meet the people behind NEOLAiA
