UNIC’s Superdiversity Academy is launched!

UNIC’s joint mission is to promote mobility, inclusion, and impact with the aim of fostering a new generation of students who have knowledge and the skills to create societal impact not just within their own university and city but on a European level. 

Within this framework, one of the key objectives of UNIC is establishing the Superdiversity Academy, which will bring together expertise from research and teaching on how to promote inclusion in Higher Education.  

On March 3rd, Superdiversity Academy has been officially launched with “Superdiversity and Inclusion in Higher Education: Concepts and Practices” webinar organized by MiReKoc and hosted renowned academics including Prof. Steven Vertovec (Founding Director of the Max Planck Institute), Prof. Elina Lehtomaki (University of Oulu), and Prof. Dr. Sabine Severiens (Erasmus University Rotterdam), who are experts on the topics of diversity and inclusion in higher education. More than 200 participants from different countries and institutions attended the webinar. You can view the webinar recording here.

A Virtual Pressure Cooker Event From UNIC: Creathon*

UNIC Creathon has brought students, teachers, and partners of 8 UNIC universities together to come up with innovative solutions!

During the Creathon, students from different disciplines worked together in teams to develop responses and solutions to five urban challenges which are:

1. On activating courses and course design: Create your ideal UNIC course related to urban challenges in post-industrial cities.
2. On socialization and interaction between students and universities: Develop the ideal (digital / live) onboarding program or events for UNIC students.
3. On student-engagement: Create an ideal approach to foster interdisciplinarity and to attract the unusual suspects (meaning the students who are less likely to engage) in UNIC courses.
4. On communication and awareness: Design a communication campaign or M&C strategy to raise awareness and extend outreach of UNIC.
5. On the future of CityLabs Festival: Plan an engaging concept for the upcoming international UNIC CityLab Festival involving different actors (city stakeholders, civil society organizations, universities) and sustainable solutions.

Students were also aided by the “Guides on the Side” and had the opportunity to network/work together with UNIC staff and UNIC city stakeholders.

After 24 hours of discussions, the solutions presented by the teams were evaluated by the Creathon Jury formed by Rectors and Vice Rectors from UNIC universities and 1st prize winners awarded a letter of recommendation signed by the UNIC Rector and an invitation to present their idea at the UNIC CityLabs Festival will be held in October 2021, Liege (Belgium).

* A Creathon is a “creative marathon,” a pressure cooker event (24 hours) that brings students from different institutions, countries, and fields of study together to work as teams to come up with realistic project proposals.

Stay in Touch with UNIC 

UNIC’s first bi-annual newsletter includes information about exciting UNIC events, international training and staff mobility opportunities, and seminars has been just published. You can view the newsletter here.