Cooperation within EUGLOH goes beyond the exchange of best practices. It reflects a strategic commitment to jointly developing ambitious, forward-looking initiatives that respond to the evolving challenges of higher education. In support of this mission, the EUGLOH Seed Money Program provides targeted funding for educators and institutional experts to design innovative, student-centered, and inclusive joint educational projects. EUGLOH’s internal funding scheme offers exceptional flexibility, covering virtual, blended, and in-person training formats and supporting costs related to planning, implementation, mobility, and training delivery.
In recent years, the University of Szeged has worked closely with several European partners to develop a series of successful project proposals. Through its active involvement in joint master’s programs and intensive online training initiatives, SZTE not only responds to, but actively helps define emerging trends in European higher education innovation.
Public Humanities Master’s Program: A Comprehensive Response to 21st-Century Societal Challenges
One of the collaborations supported by the EUGLOH’s Seed Money Program is the development of a joint master’s program in Public Humanities: an initiative that brings genuine innovation to the fields of humanities and social sciences. Led by the University of Szeged, and jointly designed with the University of Porto, the University of Alcalá, and the University of Novi Sad, the four-semester, multi-country program seeks to cultivate competences grounded in social awareness through a modern, interdisciplinary approach. As part of this collaboration, the international working group responsible for the program met in Szeged in spring 2025 for a project-related workshop.
The master’s program is designed to train professionals who can interpret community-shaping processes, support their long-term sustainability, and act as effective mediators among diverse stakeholder groups. Graduates are equipped to analyze complex social and cultural networks and to engage with them responsibly through creative, well-informed action. To support this objective, the curriculum integrates critical thinking, advanced text analysis, and cultural heritage interpretation with three defining domains of the 21st century: technology, the environment, and the economy.
The program’s structure itself is innovative. The first three semesters offer a range of intensive and diverse learning experiences, while the fourth semester is dedicated to the development of an independent, practice-based project. The curriculum is organized around the triad of technology, the economy, and the environment, examined through core humanities perspectives, including historical, philosophical, ethical, ideological, and anthropological approaches. Through intensive workshops and team-building activities, participants further strengthen their international and highly collaborative professional community.
The program’s academic foundations are provided by the experienced research groups of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at the University of Szeged. Drawing on decades of experience in participatory research, these groups offer a solid basis for defining the program’s practice-oriented components.
International Master’s Program Supporting Mental Health
Another key initiative within the EUGLOH framework is the development of the International Master’s Program in Coaching Psychology and Evidence-Based Interventions. Jointly designed by the University of Porto, the University of Hamburg, and the University of Szeged, this two-year, 120-credit program responds to the growing mental health challenges of the 21st century. It aims to educate professionals capable of promoting mental well-being, strengthening resilience, and contributing to the reduction of social inequalities through scientifically grounded, practice-oriented approaches. The program is fully aligned with EUGLOH’s global health focus and with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being.
The program’s strength lies in its interdisciplinary approach. Students gain a solid understanding of the theoretical and ethical foundations of coaching psychology and its global applications; explore methods for fostering emotional intelligence and effective stress management; examine the neurobiological foundations of human behavior; and develop a broad range of research and methodological skills. Together, resilience-based coaching techniques, strategic thinking, ethical decision-making, and conscious communication strengthen students’ leadership capacities and team-dynamics competences, preparing them to become highly sought-after professionals in the contemporary labor market.
The University of Szeged contributes to the program’s development primarily through its expertise in research methodology, neuropsychology, and mental health-related content areas.
Two Universities, One Model: Applied Physics Modelling COIL
The joint COIL-based (Collaborative Online International Learning) course developed by the University of Szeged and Lund University represents a contemporary international approach to interdisciplinary physical modelling. The initiative aims to harmonize two existing courses – one at each institution – into a unified framework that enables students to engage with the theoretical, experimental, and collaborative dimensions of scientific modelling in an integrated way.
The course is built on two complementary pillars: the University of Szeged’s Problem-Solving Methods for Engineering Physics and Lund University’s Concepts in Quantum Physics. Because the two courses differ in both credit value and class size, aligning them required a purposefully innovative instructional design. At Lund University, larger groups of approximately ten students function as experimental teams, while the University of Szeged’s smaller, more intensive groups of two to three students operate as theoretical units. Working in coordinated pairs, these groups integrate the two core dimensions of scientific practice – conceptual modelling and experimental validation – within a shared international learning environment.
Developing Intercultural Competence: A Shared Knowledge-Building Initiative Across Five Universities
Another educational innovation within the EUGLOH Alliance is the Developing Intercultural Competence SPOC–COIL course, developed through the collaboration of experts from five partner universities: Université Paris-Saclay, the University of Alcalá, the University of Szeged, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, and UiT The Arctic University of Norway. Building on earlier joint initiatives and established intercultural training programs, the partners have created a flexible, virtually accessible learning package designed to support shared knowledge building across institutional and cultural contexts.
Within the framework of the course, students work with structured learning materials, case studies, and simulations that explore real-world intercultural scenarios, preparing them for effective, sensitive, and collaborative communication across cultural contexts. In doing so, they develop a more conscious understanding of both their own and others’ communication, gain insight into the influence of cultural backgrounds, learn to recognize implicit biases, and acquire strategies for navigating situations shaped by cultural differences.
The program fosters critical and reflective thinking alongside intercultural sensitivity – skills that are essential in a globalized labor market and in international cooperation. Open to students from all disciplines and study levels across the partner universities, the course brings together a heterogeneous learning community that further enriches the learning experience.
The projects presented here clearly demonstrate the University of Szeged’s commitment to innovative, internationally embedded educational development. Through jointly designed methodologies, collaborative expert-driven processes, and an approach built on student engagement, these initiatives generate lasting value, enhancing both the academic and societal impact of the participating institutions.
As a founding member of EUGLOH, the University of Szeged acts not only as an active partner institution, but also as an initiator and a driving force within the Alliance, contributing scholarly rigor, an inclusive perspective, and a strong commitment to knowledge sharing.
University of Szeged, Directorate for Academic Affairs
