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EUt+ Celebrates Five Years of Progress and Accelerates Integration during Riga Week 2025

Published on December 9, 2025 – Updated on December 9, 2025
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on the December 5, 2025

The European University of Technology (EUt+) successfully concluded its latest working week in Riga, hosted by Riga Technical University (RTU) from December 1 – 5. Bringing together over 100 representatives from nine European technological universities, the gathering marked a pivotal moment for the alliance, coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the alliance’s first contract signing with the European Commission. This week was mainly a working forum, advancing the alliance’s mission to create a unified, human-centred model of technological higher education and research.

The European University of Technology (EUt+) successfully concluded its latest working week in Riga, hosted by Riga Technical University (RTU) from December 1 – 5. Bringing together over 100 representatives from nine European technological universities, the gathering marked a pivotal moment for the alliance, coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the alliance’s first contract signing with the European Commission.

This week was mainly a working forum, advancing the alliance’s mission to create a unified, human-centred model of technological higher education and research.
 

Harmonising Education to Meet Europe’s STEM Needs

Addressing the critical shortage of two million STEM professionals in the EU, highlighted by Secretary General Timothee Toury in the opening session, the alliance prioritised curriculum convergence during the Riga sessions. Working groups in fields such as Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Telecommunications advanced the framework for a future European Degree, focusing on harmonised learning outcomes that ensure seamless mobility for students without academic setbacks. This drive for unification extends beyond the classroom to the research ecosystem; the alliance also reported more than 150 papers published under the collective EUt+ common affiliation in the past year, further consolidating Europe's competitive standing in global innovation.
 

Innovating Pedagogy for a Human-Centred Education

The alliance was also dedicated to a three-day programme co-organised with the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI). Pr. Shannon Chance and Dr Sarah Hitt led over 30 professors and lecturers in a series of intensive workshops designed to challenge traditional teaching methods. The sessions focused on integrating ethics toolkits and sustainability goals directly into the engineering curricula, ensuring that the newly harmonised modules produce graduates who possess not only technical expertise but also a strong, responsible, human-centred perspective.
 

Student-Centred Innovation

Active student involvement remained a cornerstone of the Riga gathering, with the Student Board engaging directly with the Rectors’ Board and Curriculum Development groups to drive specific initiatives:

  • Building Community: The presentation of a student-managed digital platform being developed to facilitate peer-to-peer communication and practical information sharing across the nine campuses.
  • Improving Mobility: Feedback sessions with other work groups regarding the "Mobility Map" tool, aimed at streamlining the user experience to ensure students can navigate study abroad options without academic setbacks.
  • Fostering Culture: A proposal for an alliance-wide sports championship, utilising athletic competition as a vehicle to bring teams to host campuses and inspire future student mobility.

Looking Ahead

The strategic discussions held in Riga served to bridge the gap between nine distinct national systems, laying the necessary groundwork for the future of European Higher Education in Engineering. As EUt+ progresses deeper, the focus is shifting from theoretical alignment to tangible implementation. After this last week, the alliance is still strongly dedicated to building a single, cohesive European educational model into a reality for students, staff, and researchers.
 

Background

The EUt+ university alliance is one of around 65 alliances of this kind funded by the European Union as part of the European Universities Initiative. The EUT+ alliance includes nine universities from nine EU countries with a total of 110,000 students:

Date of update 09 December 2025