Aliança europea: EduCare 5.0

The objective of the University Alliance, coordinated by the Hochschule Bielefeld (HSBI), is the promotion of sustainable and inclusive development of European regions with a focus on health and care.

As a participating university in the European Alliance EduCare 5.0, UIC Barcelona, together with eight partner universities, was awarded the Seal of Excellence by the European Commission in June 2024. The University Alliance received the seal for its participation in 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.

New cooperation formats in research, teaching and knowledge transfer

“Through the Alliance, the collaboration between the participants is deepened, developing new formats of cooperation in research, teaching and transfer. Receiving the Seal of Excellence shows us that we are on the right track, and we will continue on this path, participating in the next call for proposals for the European University Initiative in 2026” said Dr. Eduardo Mirpuri, Vice-Rector for International Relations.

Since the decisions of the 2024 call were published, the European Educare 5.0 alliance has continued to work together on different calls for European projects. In December 2024 they presented the DigiCare project as part of the EIT HEI Initiative. This plan focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship in institutions of higher education. During 2025, they will continue to work on the new Horizon Widera Call, which they will present in November. This action is also part of the European Excellence Initiative. This action aims to raise the overall level of excellence of the research carried out in higher education institutions in widening countries; European countries that have had little participation in Horizon 2020 and FP7 projects up to now.

In addition to Hochschule Bielefeld, EduCare 5.0 comprises the following universities: 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).

Support for the development of medicine and nursing

“Educare 5.0 represents a valuable opportunity for UIC Barcelona to continue working on internationalisation within areas that are strategic for the University, such as research and transfer.” Dr. Eduardo Mirpuri, vice-rector for International Relations.

The nine partner universities have set themselves the goal of supporting sustainable and inclusive development of their regions in the field of medicine and nursing through international and multilateral cooperation. To this end, current regional challenges are shared within the network and tackled jointly through innovative formats of teaching, research and exchange. The work is based on the complementary expertise of the universities and their regional partners in the field of health and care.

In this context, the University Alliance will also promote the international mobility of its students, teachers, researchers and staff. Accordingly, numerous low-threshold formats will be offered to enable as many members of the universities as possible to acquire personalised experience abroad in Europe.