The jury decided to give two awards for Co-Creation. The first award went to a group of students from Frankfurt UAS Department of Social Work and Health for their outstanding contributions as co-creators in U!REKA Lab Intensive Programmes and U!REKA joint education.

The nominated students of Frankfurt UAS, department of Social Work and Health, have in an exemplary manner forwarded the U!REKA Labs ‘Urban Commons’ and ‘Co-Creativity in Social Arts’. They have shown commitment that went far beyond what is expected of participants and student assistants through their bold actions in BIP programs, such as co-designing the programs, taking over responsibility and the floor in guiding international groups of students and teachers, bringing in student perspectives, interviewing participants,  working hard in the post-production (editing, translation, etc.)

The second Award for Co-creation, granted to staff behind the Erasmus Blended Intensive Programme ‘Planning Resilient Cities for the Future’, who have repeatedly brought U!REKA institutions together at VSB-TUO through a powerful co-creative learning experience.

As part of a trilateral exchange between students and lecturers from Helsinki, Frankfurt, and Ostrava, a joint workshop in Ostrava was preceded by three structured online meetings. The workshop itself offered a rich, interdisciplinary experience with a creative kick-off led by an improvisation theatre group and a visit to MAPPA, Ostrava’s urban planning studio.

The students developed visions and strategic proposals addressing ecological and social challenges. The week concluded with a strong sense of accomplishment, intercultural learning, and a shared commitment to sustainable urban transformation. 

U!REKA Award for Boldness

The cross-institutional team of teachers from U!REKA partners Metropolia, HOGENT, Napier University, VSB Ostrava and IPL Lisbon, and coordinated by Riitta Lehtinen and Leigh-Anne Rauhala from Metropolia UAS, bravely developed joint teaching material on Sustainability in the Urban European Context, pushing institutional boundaries to create a future-embedded component. Sofie Van Holle (HOGENT) participated in the project: “We first met in Ostrava, at U!REKA Connects, rather by coincidence. There we developed a first draft of the learning module. We had the courage and guts to further shape our idea afterwards which we refined last week in Helsinki. The fact that we are now receiving an award for these efforts shows that our work is highly appreciated.”

U!REKA Award for Inclusion

Project managers Tiina Piipponen and Carla van den Heuvel for leading the groups of dedicated experts, the ICI core teams, from Amsterdam UAS and Metropolia UAS at the heart of the Inclusive Comprehensive Internationalisation (ICI) project.

A special thanks went to Eva Haug from Amsterdam UAS for organizing trainings for U!REKA staff on COILs and internationalization of curricula for several years already.

These awards reflect the passion, creativity, and collaborative strength that make U!REKA such a unique alliance. Let’s keep building the future of European higher education – together.