JKU joins Europe-wide university alliance “EC2U”.

2023-11-18 00:21:00

The “European Campus of City-Universities”, or “EC2U” for short, is more than a university network: the home cities and regions of the participating universities also work together. Joining the JKU also opens up new cooperation opportunities for Linz and Upper Austria.

Close academic cooperation is planned, for example in order to network even more internationally on solutions to climate change. “Ultimately it’s about promoting and strengthening our common European values,” says JKU Rector Stefan Koch. The “Erasmus program”, which enables thousands of young people in training to study in other countries every year, is a co-founder of the network. “Future generations should be enthusiastic about the EU so that they can get involved in the European political and social process,” says Koch.

Stefan Koch, Rector of the JKU
Image: Maybach/JKU

In addition to exchange programs, joint master’s degree programs, events and the establishment of “Virtual Institutes” – digitally networked institutes to which researchers from several universities belong – are also planned. The individual universities set priorities: At the JKU it is the “Lifelong Learning” work package, in which a course catalog on the subject of lifelong learning is being developed.

The mayor of Linz, Klaus Luger, welcomes the collaboration: “This alliance is an important step for our city and our university, which advances international research networking.”

State Research Councilor Markus Achleitner (VP) also supports the step: “Internationalization is an important success factor for Upper Austria as a location, both in business and in research.”