Official launch of the UNIgreen alliance was given in Modena, Italy

From 6 to 8 March, an opening event of the UNIgreen Alliance was held at the UNIMORE University in Modena – the first “green” European university in agricultural, biotechnological and natural sciences, which brings together eight universities in Europe. About eighty delegates from the partner universities took part in the three-day working meeting: Agricultural University – Plovdiv, UNIMORE University – Italy, Agricultural University – Iceland, University of Almeria – Spain, University of Liège – Belgium, Warsaw University of Life Sciences – Poland, Polytechnic University of Coimbra – Portugal, and the biotechnology university Sup Biotech – France.

For the first time, the bodies of the organizational structure of the Alliance convened in order to establish the rules of operation and future actions. The official opening ceremony in the Aula Magna of the UNIMORE University was attended by the rectors and directors of the eight universities benefiting from EU grant funding, as well as Ana Sofia Coutinho, Project Adviser at the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), and Alessia Ricci, “green” officer at the Erasmus+ National Agency INDIRE. At the end of the ceremony, the eight rectors signed the Declaration on the Establishment of UNIgreen – the “green” European University, the official act that guarantees the establishment of the UNIgreen General Assembly and sets out its main responsibilities and functioning.

The Rector of the Agricultural University, Prof. Dr. Hristina Yancheva, was elected Co-Chair of the General Assembly of the Alliance.

The vision of the UNIgreen Alliance is based on the perception of universities as drivers of ecological transformation, with the aim of promoting local solutions in the field of sustainable agriculture, green biotechnologies and natural sciences, while at the same time addressing global challenges – achieving a climate-neutral and resource-efficient economy.

“UNIgreen represents a new challenge for the future of education and training in Europe, with the ambition to become a leading European university for sustainable agriculture, green biotechnologies and natural sciences,” stated the Rector of UNIMORE, Carlo Adolfo Porro. “Its transnational and interdisciplinary dimension also offers many opportunities for cooperation for the entire academic community. This alliance enables us to establish new and deeper relationships with other leading academic institutions in Europe and worldwide, thereby increasing our capacity to create and transfer knowledge and innovative solutions to address major environmental challenges, and it also allows us to consolidate and enhance our international presence. It is an honour for us on this occasion to host rectors and delegates from countries in different parts of Europe: France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Bulgaria, Belgium and Iceland. This gives us the opportunity to share ideas and best practices in teaching, research and innovation, thus helping to strengthen our capacity to educate students who will then be able to pursue quality careers. We are confident that the UNIgreen Alliance will be an important turning point in promoting sustainable development in Europe and worldwide. As founders, we are ready and determined to make our contribution in this direction.”

The Agricultural University in Plovdiv opened the academic year as a member of the Green European University

The UNIgreen Alliance is the result of serious joint work between the founding universities, which worked intensively to achieve a common goal: to create a proposal for a network that shares a common vision for sustainable development,” added Prof. Alessandro Capra, Delegate for Internationalization. “The work carried out during the two years of preparation produced positive results by testing the teaching staff and the technical and administrative personnel of the participating institutions in order to outline objectives on topics of mutual interest and to define a possible integrated partnership structure. In 2022, the UNIgreen Alliance was approved together with three other alliances out of more than thirty applications, achieving a very high score. The importance of the alliance lies precisely in the possibility of sharing knowledge, experience and good practices among the partner universities, and this multidisciplinary and international cooperation will make it possible to develop innovative solutions to address environmental challenges and promote sustainable development. It is worth mentioning that the proposal is built on the aforementioned “green” themes, but the alliance is between universities; therefore, training, research and other working projects can potentially be developed in all scientific and disciplinary fields.”

The UNIgreen Consortium will have a 48-month phase for the implementation of the project activities.