Quo Vadis EELISA: An Update in the Third Project Year

The EELISA European University is an EU-funded higher education alliance with the aim of actively shaping the “university of the future”. At its core are joint educational programmes, increased mobility, and close collaboration in research and innovation. The alliance addresses major societal challenges – from the green transition to digitalisation – and deliberately adopts interdisciplinary approaches that combine engineering with the social sciences and humanities.

For ZHAW, EELISA is a key component of its international strategy and strengthens its position within the European higher education landscape in a sustainable way. “With EELISA, ZHAW is actively strengthening its European network in a very concrete way—for its students and staff,” says Rector Regula Jöhl.

EELISA operates along several key lines of action. These include a wide range of mobility formats, from short exchange programmes and longer stays to hybrid formats for students, researchers and staff. In addition, there are joint research projects, collaborations with external partners and industry, and the continuous development of a shared “Educational Roadmap” that explores new ways of teaching and learning.

Since last year, the new EELISA Digital Campus has formed an important foundation for the practical implementation of EELISA. It serves as a central platform to connect students, researchers and staff across Europe within EELISA Communities and to provide streamlined access to current joint offerings.

Building on this, a dense network of activities has emerged in recent years: from Summer Schools – some of them carried out in collaboration with ZHAW entrepreneurship – to concrete research collaborations within joint projects with partner universities (such as the MyoPlus project).

At the same time, partner institutions are developing new educational formats and degree programmes. ZHAW is involved, among other things, in the development of interdisciplinary joint Master’s programmes, double degrees, and a shared PhD programme in the field of quantum technology and nanoscience.

EELISA also serves as a kind of “microcosm” in which innovative teaching and learning formats are initially piloted and, if successful, integrated into the universities’ curricula in the long term. One example is the Generative AI Experience Lab, which was funded and implemented as part of the EELISA Joint Call 5.

“One key objective remains the creation of a viable joint degree framework that enables EELISA students to follow a shared European educational pathway – from their first course to graduation,” says Manuel Dömer, Academic Coordinator of EELISA at ZHAW.

In the area of innovation and entrepreneurship, collaboration is gaining increasing momentum. The incubators of the partner universities are closely connected and create joint initiatives such as the annual EELISA Skill Up Week. With initiatives like the planned Innovate4Europe network, this collaboration is being further deepened and structurally strengthened.

At student level, EELISA has also gained significant traction over the past year. In close cooperation with the student organisation ALIAS, new activities have been launched and existing formats further strengthened. ZHAW students are becoming increasingly active within the alliance – whether through representation in the EELISA Student Council or participation in international formats such as the Scientific Student Competition or the EELISA Student-Led Bootcamp.

At the same time, new local initiatives are emerging: for example, the HSB recently hosted its first EELISA Quiz, helping to raise awareness of the alliance within ZHAW and to connect students both locally and across the European network.

EELISA is also evolving in terms of its thematic focus. It is no longer centred solely on traditional engineering disciplines. New communities are expanding the alliance to include additional fields – such as the recently established EELISArch network, which connects architecture schools across partner institutions and to which ZHAW made a significant contribution.

“There is strong interest in collaboration within the EELISA alliance. This creates valuable opportunities in teaching and socially relevant research, both for students and for ZHAW staff. We see that our researchers encounter committed and motivated partners at EELISA institutions. This is a very positive development,” says Silvio Lorenzetti from the strategic project management of EELISA at the School of Engineering.

With Friederike Bacciarini taking on project leadership, both operational and strategic goals are coming more sharply into focus. In the short term, the priority is to successfully deliver agreed outputs (such as new educational formats, joint programmes or digital platforms) within the alliance and to anchor them sustainably within ZHAW’s structures.

At the same time, ZHAW continues to actively participate in projects led by partner institutions and is taking responsibility for key formats: it will host the EELISA Grand Meeting in 2026, followed by a PhD Symposium in 2027.

Strategically, the main focus lies on the long-term integration of EELISA processes into the organisation. The network is to be further expanded, and collaboration between students, researchers and staff within the alliance intensified.

A particular emphasis is placed on mobility: new formats such as the EELISA Mobility Fair, as well as planned inter-institutional mobility agreements, are intended to further facilitate and promote exchange within the network.

The alliance is currently in its second project phase, EELISA 2.0, in which existing structures are being consolidated, formats further developed, and collaboration within the network deepened.

At the same time, this phase marks a transition towards EELISA 3.0. The aim is to gradually evolve from a project-based initiative into a permanently embedded institutional structure. A central element of this transformation is the planned establishment of a dedicated legal entity, which will serve as the operational and strategic backbone of the alliance.

This will create the conditions for securing EELISA’s activities in the long term, ensuring sustainable impact beyond 2027, and strengthening integration within the participating universities.

“All partners contribute their own cogs to the EELISA machinery. Some combinations generate additional momentum or accelerate the process – sometimes there are still frictions. Our role can now be to inject targeted dynamism into this system,” says Silvio Lorenzetti (School of Engineering).

EELISA bleibt ein dynamisches Projekt mit vielen Entwicklungen auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen. Wer auf dem Laufenden bleiben möchte, findet regelmässige Updates im EELISA@ZHAW-Newsletter. Aktuelle Angebote, Veranstaltungen und Mitmachmöglichkeiten sind zudem jederzeit auf dem Digital Campus verfügbar.