The University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) was officially created in 1982, as a result of the political autonomy and collective desire shown by Castilla-La Mancha Society which was shared by our Regional Government. From its first days, UCLM has been an element for cohesion whose clear aim was to act as a fundamental key for educational, economic, social, cultural and technological development for our Region, providing solutions for its current and future needs while nurturing excellence and satisfying specific demands of an ever-changing globalized society, as well as committed to Innovation, research and knowledge transfer. Consequently, as evidence of our commitment UCLM was awarded with the Human Resources Strategy for Researchers seal (HRS4R) which ensure research´s and human resources´ quality thereby helping to enhance its attractiveness to talented national and international researchers. Currently, UCLM is a modern, international, competitive and dynamic institution with almost 30,000 students, over 2,000 research professors and over 1,000 administration staff. Furthermore, it offers a wide academic offering of more than 40 degrees, master´s degrees, PhD and post-graduate programmes. Overall, it is a high education institution that boots the sense of belonging to our region throughout its campuses located in Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca and Toledo and university sites in Almaden and Talavera de la Reina.
Created in 1977, Le Mans University is a multidisciplinary institution with 12 000 students, 16% of whom are international, spread over two campuses, the main one in Le Mans and one in Laval. The University employs 1 100 staff members out of which 390 professors and research professors. With 3 faculties, 2 technological schools, an engineering school (ENSIM) and 15 research laboratories, it offers training and research activities of internationally recognized expertise in science and technology, literature and languages, law, economics, management, humanities and social sciences. The University trains high-level graduates destined to enter business, training, public and private research sectors. It has adopted an approach aimed at lifelong personal and professional fulfillment for everyone with an ongoing commitment to the use of state-of-the-art individually-tailored pedagogical tools: distance learning, on-line resources, projects, one-on-one tutoring. As part of its core strategy, Le Mans University has created thematic and interdisciplinary institutes aimed at fostering a three-pronged synergy: research, training and innovation (scientific and pedagogical). Our research topics are varied: acoustics, computer science, languages and literatures, molecules and materials, risk and insurance, management, law, social and human sciences, biology, sports and health. A major actor in social and professional integration and in research and innovation, Le Mans University is an active participant in the economic, social and cultural development of the region, thus reinforcing the University’s influence and attractiveness.
Founded in 1972, Paderborn University is organised in five faculties and currently has about 20,000 students and 260 professors. With its mission statement “University for the Information Society”, Paderborn University embodies the concept of a modern profile university. The university promotes scientific and tech-nological developments for the Information Society while at the same time accounting for on-going cultural changes and encouraging critical reflections. Its mis-sion is implemented through strongly interlinked departments, institutes and centres and by university-wide key research areas (Intelligent Technical Systems, Optoelectronics and Photonics, Lightweight Design with Hybrid Systems, Digital Humanities, and Transformation and Education). Thirteen interdisciplinary re-search institutes and the close cooperation with two Fraunhofer institutes complete the current research profile. Several joint ventures funded by university and industrial partners have been established to date. Paderborn University offers a sustainable base for excellent research and education with ideal conditions for researchers, students and industrial cooperation. The university’s philosophy is underpinned by a strong focus on interdisciplinarity and internationality, which is embedded in and supported by local, regional, and international networks and partners.
Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa has been present on the Polish academic scene for nearly 50 years. It comprises 6 faculties, offering over 50 fields of study. Today’s campus does not only educate students and doctoral candidates, but also constitutes an outstanding research centre that boosts economic and social development for the city of Czestochowa and its region. The huge number of projects executed within the University’s units in collaboration with different centres of science and research worldwide grows systematically, as the amount of funding allocated for them. The academics introduce new systems of education such as dual studies, where learning takes place at the university and at a company with paid practical training, modern teaching & learning approaches (tutoring system or online learning). Educating for the modern labour market, JDU realises the potential of technology in education, providing a perfect blended learning environment. The learning process offered by selected e-courses within given JDU Faculties takes place partly or fully via the Internet away from the University, usually in the comfort of the student’s home. International cooperation is one of the greatest challenges JDU has taken up. A crucial element of international exchange are over 170 bilateral agreements Jan Dlugosz University has signed so far, including the ones within the Erasmus+. The University’s grants for internationalisation are received through participation in projects and programmes of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the National Centre for Research and Development, and the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA).
Internationalisation and industrial co-production are fully integrated in the core activities of MDH. Together with the partners in the iERU alliance, MDH aims to make a significant contribution to a stronger collaboration within research, education and innovation in Europe. The broad scope of the project will create new opportunities for the majority of MDH’s staff and students, as well as MDH’s industrial partners who will establish new international networks through MDH’s academic partners. The collaboration in this alliance will also require that MDH revises and updates its internal policies and strategy documents and intensify internal collaboration between different schools and disciplines of the university.
The University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” was established in 1991 and began its activity on November 1st 1992. With its 16 departments located in 5 territorial areas between Naples and Caserta, it promotes a vocational training offer integrated with the territory, supports quality research, and fosters the creation of business initiatives from research groups, in a constant perspective of internationalization. The emphasize on cultural heritage mirrors in UCLV buildings, which were once monasteries, convents, abbeys with cloisters from the eighteenth-nineteenth century. Alongside the two fundamental objectives of teaching and research, it also has among its tasks the development of the so-called “Third Mission”, meant as an opening towards the socio-economic context, through the enhancement and transfer of knowledge, with a contribution to the civil, social and economic development of the country.