The Euridice project (EURopean Inclusive education for Digital society, social Innovation and global CitizEnship) is undergoing significant changes that will shape its future direction and development. Palacký University will newly take part in leading the project, which will result in a substantial increase in its budget. The upcoming joint degree programme DIGISOC, whose proposal was approved by the UP Educational Committee in December, is scheduled for final approval by the UP Internal Evaluation Board at the end of April.
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam will step down from its role as coordinator of the Euridice project on 30 March 2025. This change comes in the context of broader reforms in educational policy following political shifts in the Netherlands. As of 1 April 2025, the coordination will be taken over by the University of Naples Federico II, with Palacký University joining the leadership team. These were the main conclusions of the project partners’ meeting hosted in mid-March by Universidade Lusófona in Lisbon.
“Becoming a co-leader of Euridice is a major success and, at the same time, a challenge for UP. Since the project began in early 2024, we have managed to accomplish a tremendous amount of work that has already brought – and will continue to bring – unique opportunities to our students and academics. That’s why I have no doubt that we will continue to fulfil the European Commission’s vision for close cooperation among European universities in research, science, and education, and lead the project to a successful conclusion,” says Michal Malacka, Vice-Rector for Strategy and Regional Affairs at UP and principal investigator of the Euridice project at the university.
Along with leadership changes, the Euridice consortium is expanding to include two new partners: Université Paris-Est Créteil and the company Pangea. The collaboration between universities, research institutions, companies, and other societal stakeholders is a key characteristic of the project and its educational outcomes. Students can look forward to internships and service learning opportunities that will enable them to gain hands-on experience.
“These changes bring a significant increase in funding for Palacký University. The funds will be used for project management, coordination, student scholarships within the joint degree programme, and the furnishing of hybrid teaching spaces, so-called collaboratoria,” explains Markéta Šemberová, the Euridice project coordinator who represented the university at the meeting.
The joint international degree programme DIGISOC, one of the project’s main outcomes, has been successfully accredited at the University of Innsbruck and is already included in its catalogue of study programmes. The accreditation results in Naples are expected at the end of March, and UP plans to complete its internal accreditation process through the UP Internal Evaluation Board by the end of April. The first cohort of students is expected to begin their studies in September 2025, with courses at UP delivered under the auspices of the Faculty of Law in cooperation with the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Arts.
A unique element of the new degree programme will be the Individual Learning Paths module. This will allow students to choose courses according to their interests from the offerings of affiliated partners across Europe (Universidade Lusófona, Université Paris-Est Créteil, and Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice) worth a total of 10 ECTS credits.
The consortium is also preparing lectures, webinars, and workshops for academics, which will be published on the website in the course catalogue and the Expert Lectures section. In addition, intensive training sessions are planned for academic staff who will teach in the DIGISOC programme, focusing on preparing courses for hybrid learning environments.
