Technical University of Crete is one of the seven higher education institutions that have joined forces to create a strong and unique European University in the field of Responsible Consumption and Production (RCP): EURECA-PRO. The partner Univerisities are:
- Montanuniversität Leoben (University of Leoben), Ausrtria
- TU Bergakademie Freiberg (Freiberg University of Mining and Technology), Germany
- Universitatea din Petroșani, (University of Petrosani), Romania
- Univerdad de León (University of León), Spain
- Πολυτεχνείο Κρήτης (Technical University of Crete), Greece
- Politechnika Śląska (The Silecian University of Technology), Poland
- Hochschule Mittweida (Mittweida University of Applied Sciences), Germany
European Universities are transnational alliances that will become the universities of the future, promoting European values and identity, and revolutionising the quality and competitiveness of European higher education. In order to achieve this major step forward, the European Commission is testing different cooperation models for European Universities with two calls for proposals under the Erasmus+ programme.
The Alliance EURECA-PRO has a two-fold societal and planetary mission. On the one hand, it holistically contributes to the highly topical issue of RCP under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12, and on the other hand, it effectively contributes to the transformation of the European Higher Education Area complimentarily to SDG 4.
Innovation is the key to reaching the targeted CO2 reduction and associated sustainability practices of the EU Green Deal until 2050. Its realisation is based on new technologies and processes that integrate material and resource flows of in the sense of the Circular Economy and on responsible consumption behaviours that are aligned with societal expectations concerning the fight against climate change. Inclusive, borderless and integrated Education supports more competent and skilled graduates that can contribute to this grand European societal challenge.
By 2040 EURECA-PRO has to become the global educational core hub and interdisciplinary research and innovation leader in qualitative environmental and social framework development for RCP of resources and goods. This comprises technological, ecological, policy, economic and societal aspects and their transfer into society and industry. Staff and future graduates will have sustainable, interdisciplinary, intercultural and systemic thinking engrained in their natural way of operation, fostering a prosperous societal development and a healthy economy while at the same time relieving environmental pressures. With four technical, two comprehensive universities and one university of applied sciences, located in six different EU member states, this Alliance is a unique mix of top-level cross-disciplinary education and research that enables students and staff to focus on many different fields from different perspectives. Additionally, it is supported by 24 different associated partners. We believe that an engineer who understands the legal framework, an economist who understands consumer behaviour and a sociologist who understands the technical challenges will have an advantage as researchers and employees on the European and global labour market.
