In 2019, SZTE submitted an application for the European University Alliance for Global Health (EUGLOH), with the consortium of 4 European universities, the University of Paris-Saclay (France), the University of Lund (Sweden), the University of Porto (Portugal) and Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich (Germany), which was granted a 3-year financial support in the European University Alliance Program. The collaboration will provide mobility for the 210,000 students, 23,000 teachers, researchers and administrators between participating universities. In addition to providing flexible curricula and obtaining a European diploma, they will allow students to personalize their studies: for example, choosing which partner institution and when to pursue their studies.

The aim of the EUGLOH project is to develop education and implement a project that requires deeper and more coordinated cooperation. During the planning process, different work packages were identified, some of which are specifically geared towards educational development, another which implies actions to support students' future careers, and another that coordinates student research and innovation activities. In addition, participating universities are working together on communication and long-term sustainability issues as well as on the idea of joint campus life of the 5 universities.

‘The participation of the University of Szeged in the program is due to several factors’ Prof. Dr. László Rovó, Rector of the University of Szeged emphasized at the opening of the conference. He added that the institute continuously maintains and even improves its position in several leading higher education institutions rankings in the world, making the University of Szeged one of the most renowned and prestigious higher education institutions in Europe, and arguably the best University out of the capital. He emphasized that the project will make the University of Szeged more attractive to Hungarian and foreign students in the future, as the applicants will now be members of a 200,000 student community. This new type of cooperation will, in the long run, help to improve dynamically the quality of education and research at the university as well as to deepen the European dimension of these activities.

‘The slogan on which the consortium stands is global health, namely on the education, student, and research cooperation applying for the concepts of health related issues. We need to go as far as interpreting the legal aspects of healthy food, health care, prevention, medical supply, medical education, pharmaceutical training, health economics and the legal aspects of health care. Therefore, the window should be opened so wide that more fields of education could join the university and in cooperation of the five universities’ said Prof. Dr. Márta Széll, Vice-Rector for Strategic Planning at the University of Szeged. The development of joint training and, in the long term, the award of a joint diploma are key parts of this cooperation. ‘With this, students of the University of Szeged will be students of not only one university, but five universities at a time. Within three years, we must move our efforts towards student mobility. Everything must be done to reach the indicator that we set when we joined, that is, 50% of SZTE student mobility should take place between the five partner universities.’ the Vice-Rector for Strategic Planning explained.

‘The EUGLOH program has been awarded with a grant of 5 million EUR from the Commission, supplemented by 1.3 million EUR and 1 million EUR by the French and German Governments, so that the total budget of the initiative, including the institutions' own resources, exceeds 8.5 million EUR’ said Prof. Dr. Sandrine Lacombe, the leader of the consortium, Vice President for International Relations of Université Paris-Saclay. She also added that at the time of the application, they were looking for European partners with high-quality health education and research, this is why the University of Szeged was selected into the consortium. The infrastructure in the institution and in Szeged, such as the ELI-ALPS laser research centre, provides an excellent basis for effective cooperation, she said.

The European University Alliance is a system of transnational partnerships of higher education institutions across the EU that share a common long-term strategy and promote European values and identity in a way that significantly improves the quality of European higher education, making it more inclusive and competitive. In 2019, the European Union has started supporting 17 European consortia of higher education, with the aim of closely following how participating universities can work together in the objectives and actions pursued in the application over the next 3 years.

SZTEinfo

Fotó: Anna Bobkó