In diesem Podcast erzählt Daniel Fruhwirt vom Institut für Thermodynamik und nachhaltige Antriebssysteme über seine Leidenschaft für internationale Hochschullehre. Er berichtet, wie er im Rahmen des Unite!-Netzwerks gemeinsam mit Partneruniversitäten aus Turin, Barcelona, Wrocław, Darmstadt und Stockholm mehrere innovative Lehrveranstaltungen zu Verkehrssicherheit und Nachhaltigkeit entwickelt hat. Daniel erklärt, warum projektbasiertes, interdisziplinäres Arbeiten in kleinen, internationalen Gruppen Studierende optimal auf die Berufswelt vorbereitet, und schildert, wie sein hybrides Format nicht nur Fachwissen, sondern auch interkulturelle Soft Skills vermittelt. Außerdem gibt er praktische Tipps für Lehrende, die internationale Lehrprojekte starten möchten, und gewährt einen Ausblick auf kommende Vorhaben.
Our report titled „Streamlining course catalogue metadata amongst European university alliances. An overview of existing standards, developments, perspectives and challenges (Technical Report)“ is now online available:
The digital transformation of higher education has created new opportunities and challenges for European university alliances aiming to foster seamless collaboration across institutions. Unite!, a leading European University Alliance focused on technology and engineering, has initiated the Cm.2 Digital Campus work package to develop an integrated digital learning environment. A key component of this initiative is the establishment of course catalogues that facilitate student and staff mobility within the alliance. However, the lack of standardised metadata models and the diverse approaches of partner universities to course cataloguing present significant obstacles to interoperability. This report presents the work of the Unite! Metadata Standards Working Group, established within the Cm.2 “Digital Campus” framework to address these challenges. The purpose of this document is to present a clear, coherent view of the metadata for a course catalogue of a European university alliance. Because the subject matter involves many interrelated topics and dependencies, the needed linear presentation does obscure the logical connections between them. The goal was the identification of sustainable and scalable approaches to course catalogue integration. The report outlines several entry points. Nevertheless, it is designed to bring colleagues on board who are not yet familiar with the background and the various use cases for course catalogues. Consequently, it opens with a basic introduction to the essentials of virtual mobility, the recognition of study achievements using the ECTS users’ guide (EC DG EAC, 2015) and highlights the difficulties of international / multilingual domain vocabulary and other basic issues (chapter 2). As described, we then presented the various access points from multiple perspectives: existing metadata standards (chapter 3), the (potential) role of national standards (chapter 4), two examples from other European university alliances (ENHANCE and YUFE, chapter 5), and results of an exploratory analysis of attributions in university course catalogues (chapter 6). Findings from the analysis of some Unite! partners‘ course catalogues highlighted inconsistencies in metadata usage, challenges related to terminology, and gaps in machine readability. Chapter 7 then summarises challenges surrounding metadata for joint course catalogues and finally, chapter 8 describes strategies for a common course catalogue in university alliances and provides a draft on how to develop and decide upon a course catalogue. This report aims to serve as a foundation for future discussions and technical developments within Unite! and other European alliances seeking to establish interoperable course catalogues. By addressing the challenges of metadata fragmentation and system integration, university alliances can enhance the accessibility and effectiveness of digital learning infrastructures, ultimately improving mobility and collaboration across higher education institutions.
Recommended Citation: Kubik, T., Schön, S., Bertonasco, R., Alcober, J., Diard, J., Ebner, M., Francisco, A., Gasplmayr, K., Hoppe, C., Koschutnig-Ebner, M., Krysiak, J., Martikainen, J., Petersson, J., Szymanska-Kwiecien, A. & Taraghi, B. (2025). Streamlining course catalogue metadata amongst European university alliances. An overview of existing standards, developments, perspectives and challenges (Technical Report). Graz University of Technology. DOI: 10.3217/0xewj-6mb92
Our report about „Implementing the European Student Card within the European university alliance Unite!. A technical report on status, developments, and plans of Unite! universities“ is online available:
This report describes the implementation of the European Student Card Initiative (ESCI), launched by the European Commission in 2022 and comprising Erasmus Without Paper (EWP), the European Student Card (ESC), and the ERASMUS+ App, within the Unite! alliance. The first part focuses specifically on the ESC, drawing on the actions taken and the information gathered within the framework of the initiative. The Unite! alliance, comprising nine universities (Aalto University, Grenoble INP graduate school of engineering and management, University Grenoble Alpes, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Graz University of Technology, Universidade de Lisboa, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya/BarcelonaTech, Technical University of Darmstadt, and Wroclaw University of Science and Technology), aims to promote the concept of a European campus. The report outlines the nature of this initiative, the strategy adopted since 2023, and the current state of implementation within the Unite! alliance (as of August 2025). It presents two solutions for establishing ESCs within the alliance, including internally developed software solutions, such as a virtual student card application created by Politecnico di Torino, and options involving external service providers, such as Capmonetique in France at UGA (as part of the Unite! partner INP-UGA). The report also highlights potential improvements and broader implications of implementing the ESC, with the objective of supporting and informing other universities about the available solutions.
Recommended Citation: Bertonasco, R., Diard, J., Landfahrer Berglez, K., Schön, S., Alcober, J., Büttner, W., Cruz, L., Ebner, M., Espadas, C., Ferrian, C., Fink, J., Gasplmayr, K., Hoppe, C., Järvelä, H., Krysiak, J., Oller, M., Petersson, J., Reignier Tayar, N., Schmidt, A., Sessler, C., Szymanska-Kwiecien, A. & Tadaszak, R. (2025). Implementing European Student Card amongst the European university alliance Unite!: A technical report on status, developments, and plans of Unite! universities (Technical Report). Graz University of Technology. DOI: 10.3217/nzz7b-vam63
Abstract: In today’s rapidly evolving educational landscape, European universities are increasingly relying on digital technologies for collaboration and learning. European Universities, as transnational alliances, aim to reshape higher education by fostering academic exchange and innovation across borders. With over 40 alliances in existence, enhancing virtual mobility and exchange through interconnected learning infrastructures has become imperative. This paper provides insights into Learning Management System (LMS) adoption within European alliances, focusing on the Unite! alliance as a case study. While Unite! demonstrates successful implementation of Moodle as its central LMS, challenges persist in achieving uniformity across all partners. A desktop analysis of European alliances reveals that Moodle might be the most often used LMS in February 2023. A description of the LMS implementation within the Unite! analysis shows as well that a majority uses Moodle – at least as a second LMS. So, although the decision for a federated LMS based on Moodle might be the right one, these results as well indicate the need for tailored technical solutions for future developments for some partners and disparities in lecturers‘ and students‘ concerning a Moodle so that pre-emptive measures to ensure equitable participation are important. Despite these challenges, Unite!’s experience underscores the potential of Moodle as a widely adopted platform, prompting further exploration into solutions like LTI integration.
Citation: Ebner, M., Schön, S., Alcober, J., Bertonasco, R., Herczak-Ciara, A., Hoppe, C., Martikainen, J., Muchitsch, M., Petersson, J. and da Silva, F.M. (2024) ‘Usage of (federated) Learning Management Systems in European University Alliances’, Ubiquity Proceedings, 4(1), p. 37. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5334/uproc.159.
After more than one year of exciting work in our community we are a little bit proud to present our first technical report about „Aligning IT infrastructures for digital learning amongst the European university alliance Unite! – The Unite! digital campus framework and requirements„:
The European university alliance „Unite!“ has embarked on a mission to bring together their higher education landscape. As part of this ambitious endeavour, the Erasmus+ Work Package 2, called “Community 2 Digital Campus” or „Cm.2“ for short, was established to shape and implement a cutting-edge digital campus framework within the alliance. The purpose of the present requirement analysis is to collect and list all the key technological, organizational, and legal needs and requirements for an up-to-date European digital campus. This analysis is built upon desk research, utilizing additional methods such as an online survey and stakeholder discussions within the entire Unite! alliance. The requirements analysis results are provided against the background of a short introduction (chapter 1), an overview of platforms for learning management in European university alliances (chapter 2), and a description of the analysis’ procedures, which are the development of descriptions of digital learning and teaching infrastructures of all partners, a survey of the status quo concerning European Student Card Initiative, a survey amongst e-learning support teams, an interactive event for stakeholders and literature and projects desk research (chapter 3). Chapter 4 introduces the federated infrastructures of the Unite! alliance, especially the Metacampus as a federated learning management system based on Moodle. Chapter 5 provides detailed descriptions (including visualizations) of all partners’ digital infrastructures for learning and teaching. Chapter 6 then shares the status quo of the European Student Card Initiative implementation by all partners. Chapter 7 presents five core requirements identified through the analysis, which are the requirements of (a) interoperability between the digital infrastructures of partners and with European standards, (b) the implementation of decision-making concerning IT infrastructure for the digital campus: the Technical Commission, (c) the strategic support for the effective utilization of existing IT systems, especially the Metacampus, (d) clarifying future (learning) scenarios, mobility, and other issues relating to development of the IT infrastructure, and (e) budgetary considerations for the development and maintenance of federated systems. Finally, chapter 8 sketches the next steps and the future of Community 2 Digital Campus and its tasks, and presents (a) the work plan and organisational structure for Community 2 Digital Campus, (b) further development of Metacampus support and resources (T2.3), (c) update of Metacampus and organisational development of support requests, (d) ESCI: improvement of service, (e) eduGAIN maintenance and further development (T2.6), (f) piloting of LTI and integration of MOOCs (T2.6), (g) implementation of meta-data standards for course description (T2.5, T2.6), and (h) support of openness and innovation (T2.1).
Furthermore find here some few slides acting as a kind of summary:
Reference: Ebner, M., Schön, S., Alcober, J., Bertonasco, R., Bonani, F., Cruz, L., Espadas, C., Filgueira Xavier, V., Franco, M., Gasplmayr, K., Giralt, J., Hoppe, C., Koschutnig-Ebner, M., Langevin, E., Laurent, R., Leitner, P., Martikainen, J., Matias, J., Muchitsch, M., … Würz, A. (2024). Aligning IT infrastructures for digital learning amongst the European university alliance Unite! – The Unite! digital campus framework and requirements (1.0). Unite! Community 2 Digital Campus, Graz University of Technology. https://doi.org/10.3217/36yen-0wy21
Since the early descriptions in the Greek chronicles, the foundational myths of Europe as a cultural and civilizational entity have been reshaped throughout medieval, modern, colonial and contemporary history. The mental borders framing European-ness inform discourses around typical European and non-European cultures, which have deeply influenced the socio-politics of inclusion and exclusion within and across European countries. This has led to advances in policies and attitudes that promote and value cultural diversity, but also to the recent resurgence in populist, far-right activity documented in many countries across Europe and beyond. Consequently, the MOOC explores the advantages of asserting and defending hegemonic cultural notions of European identity from different geographical perspectives. In doing so, it seeks to inform contemporary debate on diversity and contribute to developing inclusive European identities which are truly open to the world. The course is made up of four units, each of which has been designed to provide a multidisciplinary approach to the topic. Over four weeks, you will be introduced to the challenge of narrating Europe from different angles; you will learn more about the concepts of citizenship in relation to identity and border and about the complex idea of a “humanitarian border”. You will also approach, from the perspective of international relations, the role of the European Union as a global player.
The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) has increased the reach and clout of the EU beyond its borders into the immediate vicinity. Yet, the EU vs. non-EU discrepancies at the economic and political level are still very much visible in the eastern borderlands of the EU which comprise areas of land under the jurisdiction of both the EU and the Eastern Partnership (EaP) states. Thus, in line with the 2015 ENP Review and the subsequent 2016 Global Strategy for the EU’s Foreign and Security Policy (EUGS), which both emphasised the urgent need for reconsideration of the EU’s neighbourhood and external instruments, the role of borderland regions has also been seen as prominent for enhancing cooperation between Eastern European EU and non-EU members and for strengthening regional stability and security. This course addresses all students interested to enhance their knowledge in issues ranging from the EU’s actorness, the ENP and the EaP to cross-border cooperation. This MOOC aims at equipping students, young professionals, civil society representatives, public servants, etc. with basic knowledge and practical experience in the (geo)political, economic and social processes occurring in European Union (EU)’s eastern neighbourhood.
As usual the participation is completly free, so just register and have fun with this online course.
Togehter with Sebastian and Sandra I wrote a short vision paper for Open Educational Resources in Hihger Education for the year 2030. Our contribution was submitted to the Joint Research Centre of the European Comission. We would love to her your opinion 🙂 .
Vision:
Worst and best case scenarios in the year 2030 are the two antipodes for the future development of open educational resources (OER) in higher education (HE). As additional (realistic) vision we develop guidelines for centres for academic instruction, aiming at a systematic implementation and distribution of OER related to HE.
Here you can find the full publication [Link] Reference: Ebner, M.; Kelle, S.; Schön, S. (2013) Open Educational Resources on the Road to the Best Case Scenario – Guidelines for Centres for Academic Instruction. in: Open Education 2030 / Higher Education. p.94-99
