The COLOURS Alliance – “COLlaborative innovative sUstainable Regional univerSities” – had its official launch meeting in late March at Paderborn University in Germany, one of the founding members and where the Alliance’s staff are also based.

“Widely spread across Europe, all members of the COLOURS Alliance are universities with a self-proclaimed identity as regional drivers of innovation, expressed through a strong focus in teaching, research and knowledge transfer,” Annette Klinkert, managing director of the alliance told The PIE News.

“It’s based on a joint effort of partners who joined in the summer of 2021 to co-design a unique application, focusing on regional, mid-sized universities,” she explained.

Now as an official European University Alliance, it has nine partners: University of Castilla-La-Mancha in Spain, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek in Croatia, University St Kliment Ohridski Bitola in North Macedonia, Jan Dlugosz University in Częstochowa, Poland, Sweden’s Kristianstad University, Ventspils University of Applied Sciences in Latvia, Italy’s University of Ferrara and the French Le Mans University.

Klinkert said the “COLOURS approach” is based on a collective awareness that existing tools, policies and education standards within many universities across the continent “no longer meet the expectations and requirements of open science and open innovation which will shape” future European policies.

There is also a lofty goal to achieve a 50% increase in physical and virtual mobility between the partners.

“[Some] 63 CoLab innovation processes will actively involve more than 3,000 students and stakeholders. 27 student Hackathons will foster co-creation, and 90 open internships projects will integrate challenge-based research and education into existing curricula,” explained Klinkert.

Another member of the alliance, Kristianstad, was specifically looking to raise its global visibility – and as a mid-size university, COLOURS came at the right time.

“The attraction was the opportunity to address societal changes such as society’s increasing needs for skill development and to navigate the challenges of digitalisation,” said Martin J Persson, health science professor and leader of COLOURS within Kristianstad, speaking with The PIE.

“[Some] 63 CoLab innovation processes will actively involve more than 3,000 students and stakeholders”

“Kristianstad University expects to improve its global visibility and strengthen its educational and research capacities, benefiting both its community and the alliance members,” he added.

Klinkert argued that a “profound and systemic transformation” of academic institutions would needed to create a “COLOURful, innovative and sustainable European university of the future”.

“To reach this long-term goal we need new criteria for academic excellence, innovative teaching and learning practices, as well as broader qualifications for students, researchers, staff and stakeholders,” Klinkert concluded.