Feb 02, 2018

Strengthening university engagement in the community

Last year, Technische Universität Dresden and the Saxon State Capital Dresden jointly secured funding for an ERASMUS+ project.

The project “Towards a European Framework for Community Engagement of Higher Education” (TEFCE) has been granted funding alongside 16 other project proposals, out of a total of 78 submissions. The call for Forward-Looking Cooperation Projects in Europe is published only once every three years.

The TEFCE project aims to promote the engagement of higher education institutions in the community. TU Dresden’s Vice-Rector for Research, Prof. Dr. Gerhard Rödel, is delighted about this success: “Through the activities within the TEFCE project, the collaboration with the Saxon State Capital Dresden will be intensified even more. Moreover, we expect to create significant added value from the intense cooperation with our partner cities Rijeka, Dublin and Twente.”

The project is accompanied by a team of experts from the universities of the four participating cities. First and foremost, the cities and regions are to receive practical support. In the first year, a so-called toolbox will be developed for university engagement in the community. “We expect this toolbox to provide assistance for both university and civic involvement and we are looking forward to testing it in practice throughout various areas”, states Dirk Hilbert, Lord Mayor of Dresden.

The ways in which university engagement in the community can be strengthened, will be defined by setting different research priorities in the next few months. For this purpose, a local working group will be established. Supported by the team of experts, it will deal with specific topics relating to university engagement in the community.

The project was officially launched on 1^st January 2018 and will hopefully deliver the best possible results on both a local and European level.

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