The Aurora cooperation has received a glowing review from the European Commission on its midterm report for the Aurora European University Alliance.
Aurora Alliance was awarded a substantial grant from the European Union in 2020 thus becoming one of the so-called European University Alliances intended to encourage cooperation between European universities and make them competitive with universities in other parts of the world. European University Alliances will fundamentally change the way universities in European countries work together. The grant has been used to strengthen research and teaching to benefit the communities in which the universities work, and the University of Iceland has been leading the Aurora Network.
The commission praised the Alliance for making significant progress across all work packages, reaching nearly every milestone, and resulting in significant immediate or potential impact. The report reads: “This alliance has made remarkable progress and can serve as a model of what is possible to achieve as an alliance. This alliance is clearly driving innovation across all partner institutions and collectively as an alliance.”
“All Alliance partners have worked hard and put their best foot forward. Many thanks to the entire Aurora community for their dedication. This evaluation validates the path we’ve taken and will inspire everyone involved in Aurora to keep going in the coming years,” says Jón Atli Benediktsson, Rector of the University of Iceland and President of Aurora.
Work is currently underway on an application for continued funding from the EU for the period 2023-2027, to be submitted in January. Iceland has taken a leading role in that process.
About Aurora
AURORA is a collaborative network of powerful European research universities that works on teaching development and innovation in university activities to meet today's societal challenges. By participating in AURORA, University of Iceland staff gain the opportunity to get to know new teaching methods, participate in events abroad, attract international students to courses and find European partners in research and teaching.