The aim of the Educare 5.0 project is to promote the sustainable and inclusive development of European regions with a focus on health and care. 9 European universities are working together in this project as a university consortium.
As the coordinating university of EduCare 5.0, Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences - together with eight partner universities, including Salzburg University of Applied Sciences - received the European Commission's Seal of Excellence in June 2024. This was awarded to the University Alliance for its application as part of the European University Initiative. The overarching goal of the university alliance is to promote the sustainable and inclusive development of European regions with a focus on health and care.
The EduCare 5.0 Alliance submitted its project proposal to the EU initiative European Universities (Erasmus+) in February 2024. The ‘Seal of Excellence’ award now granted by the European Commission confirms the outstanding quality of the application. The EduCare 5.0 Alliance will have to manage without financial support from the EU for the time being solely due to a lack of sufficient funding.
New cooperation formats in research, teaching and transfer
‘The collaboration during the application phase was exciting and challenging, but also very rewarding. Receiving the Seal of Excellence shows us that we are on the right track and we will continue along this path. We will continue to deepen our partnerships and develop new cooperation formats in research, teaching and transfer. Another EU call for proposals for the European University Initiative is planned for 2026 and we will apply again,’ says Dr Sandra Jansen, European University Initiative Officer at the International Office of the coordinating university HSBI.
In addition to Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, EduCare 5. 0 consists of FH Salzburg (Austria), Klaipedos Valstybine Kolegija (Lithuania), Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (Spain), Univerzity Jana Evangelisty Purkyne V Usti Nad Labem (Czech Republic), Uniwersytet Medyczny W Lublinie (Poland), CESPU Cooperativa de Ensino Superior Politécnico e Universitário (Portugal), Universitatea de Medicina si Farmacie Grigore T Popa din Iasi (Romania) and Egas Moniz Cooperativa de Ensino Superior (Portugal).
Supporting medical and nursing development
The nine partner universities have set themselves the goal of supporting the sustainable and inclusive medical and nursing development of their regions through international and multilateral cooperation. To this end, current regional challenges are shared within the network and tackled jointly through innovative teaching, research and exchange formats. The work is based on the complementary expertise of the universities and their regional partners in the field of health and care.
‘Under the motto ‘innovative, digital, multidisciplinary and socially integrated’, we have formed a unique alliance that makes a valuable European contribution to education, research and transfer in the field of care and health. The application process was a team effort in which many people were involved and contributed to this fantastic result,’ says Prof. Dr Ulrich Schäfermeier, Vice-President for Internationalisation and Digitalisation.
In this context, the University Alliance will also promote the international mobility of its students, lecturers, researchers and staff. To this end, numerous low-threshold formats will be offered to enable as many university members as possible to gain customised experience abroad in Europe.
What is the Seal of Excellence?
The Seal of Excellence is a quality label first introduced during Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation framework programme (2014-2020). It has gradually become a key instrument to create synergies. The Seal of Excellence is awarded to project proposals submitted under a Horizon Europe call for proposals and ranked above a predefined quality thresholds but were not funded by Horizon Europe due to budgetary constraints. https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/seal-excellence_en