The international study programme Digital Society, Social Innovation, and Global Citizenship, which is being developed within the Euridice project, has successfully started the accreditation process. It will be implemented at UP under the auspices of the Faculty of Law and will be taught in a hybrid way in collaboration with the Universities of Innsbruck and Naples. Members of the project met in September at the Vienna University of Technology, where they also presented an online teaching platform and learning modules with microcertificates.
The joint Master’s programme, taught in English, will equip students with digital competences, legal knowledge, and related civic knowledge. Its graduates are expected to hold senior positions in business, politics, and society and have a comprehensive understanding of digital society. The Euridice project is largely due to the existing network of European universities in the Aurora alliance, specifically its Digital Society and Global Citizenship domain. Its members last met physically in April at Palacký University to discuss the curriculum and the composition of the teaching team. This time, their meeting was hosted by the Vienna University of Technology.
Representatives of the University of Naples Federico II announced the successful launch of the accreditation process of the study programme, which will be joined by the University of Innsbruck and Palacký University Olomouc. The University of Naples is also in charge of setting up the Collaboratorium – the platform on which the teaching will take place. Here, students can find a digital library and a space where they can meet and communicate with each other. At the same time, they are responsible for ensuring that students always have facilities on their campus for hybrid learning as well as for their independent work and projects.
Hybrid learning and the use of digital tools are key features of the project. “ UP students will attend lectures and seminars taught full-time at the law school, and students from Innsbruck and Naples will join these classes online. Other times, the host universities will switch, and Olomouc students will join the classes online, for example in Naples,” explains Markéta Šemberová, Euridice project coordinator, who attended the meeting in Vienna on behalf of UP.
Experts from the field as well as from other host institutions, such as Lusófona University in Portugal and Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia, will contribute to the teaching. The study programme will also be enriched by summer schools, the first of which, the introductory one, will provide networking and familiarisation with the study programme, while the second one, after one year of study, will be dedicated to the choice of a specialisation.
Participants of the Vienna meeting also took part in a workshop on the implementation of hybrid learning organised by University of Barcelona, one of the partners of the project, and discussed the technical and organisational aspects related to the planned publication of a course catalogue, which should offer training modules for students, academics, and professionals on the official Euridice website starting in 2025. The focus will be on the development of digital competences, AI, and digital humanities, and the training will be acknowledged with microcertificates from participating partner institutions.
Michal Malacka, UP Vice-Rector for Strategy and Regional Affairs, is the main investigator of the Euridice project. “The emerging study programme is a huge opportunity for us that we would have missed without the involvement of the Aurora university network. I am delighted with how much work we have managed to do since the launch of the project earlier this year – you can see huge advancements at each of our meetings. It is through these specific results that we are fulfilling all the aims and ambitions of the European university alliance,” he concludes.
The progress of the Euridice project has been covered in the UP Journal here and here. You can also follow it on the euridice.eu website or on LinkedIn.
