Pol Bracke 
Koen Goethals, president of HOGENT, takes over the chairmanship of the U!REKA Steering Committee from Riita Konkola of Metropolia University of Applied Sciences for the next two years.
Despite the war, Ukrainian universities continue to function and try to adapt to the difficult conditions, introducing innovative educational approaches, and strengthening international cooperation. Even during war, Ukraine’s higher education system remains resilient. One of the institutions is Odessa National Economic University, partner of the U!REKA University Alliance. At the start of the new academic year, they are facing another hard period. We asked some lecturers and students how they cope with this.
The importance of European higher education collaboration was highlighted at Metropolia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki on 21–22 May. U!REKA Connects, the annual flagship event of the U!REKA University Alliance gathered nearly 400 participants from across Europe.
At U!REKA Connects 2025, people and projects that bring the alliance to life were celebrated with the U!REKA Awards. These recognize exceptional contributions to co-creation, boldness, and inclusion – the core values of U!REKA.
In an open letter the European University Alliances, of which U!REKA is one, call for the EU and its member states to play an active role in supporting the current Ukrainian needs in the higher education sector and more particularly for the displaced universities.
Looking ahead to the next EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) (2028-2034), The U!REKA University Alliance delegation met representatives of the European Commission and the Parliament on 9th-10th April in Brussels. The alliance emphasized the need for increased funding for research, development, innovation and education to strengthen European economic growth and competitiveness, while safeguarding social fairness and societal resilience. The discussions focused on the following key U!REKA messages.
The HOGENT International Days, which took place from 26-28 March, welcomed over 120 participants from more than 20 higher education institutions from the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Switzerland, Albania, Finland, Poland, Vietnam and others. U!REKA Staff Trainings were included in the programme.
The geopolitical situation in Europe has changed and future developments are difficult to predict. This situation challenges European actors to reflect on their role and influence. At their recent meeting on the 10th & 11th of March, the rectors of U!REKA considered the role U!REKA can play in this current political situation and wanted to share their thoughts in an open letter to the colleagues and students of their institutions. You can read the letter here.
U!REKA European University is launching the Staff Training Programme, a set of training sessions for and by partner institutions. The training sessions focus on three competence clusters: digital, green and … Read more
U!REKA European University has a new website. This was needed to adequately reflect and communicate the increased activity within U!REKA. Remarkably, the new website was developed by students from Finnish U!REKA partner Metropolia, who are doing an internship at Valovirta, a spin-off company of the Finnish university of applied sciences.