On 15 and 16 September, the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano hosted the meeting of Work Package 2 (WP2) of the European SUNRISE Alliance, a network bringing together nine small and medium-sized universities that share a strong regional mission and a focus on STEAM disciplines, integrating science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. The meetings, opened by a welcome address from unibz Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation Professor Tanja Mimmo, brought together more than forty representatives from Portugal, France, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus and Italy. Key topics included the drafting of a shared Charter of Values, new staff training programmes, and a common digital platform for students, academic staff and administrative personnel.

The objective of WP2 is to develop the “SUNRISE Campus”, an integrated environment that will enable partner universities to collaborate more closely through shared services, common digital tools and harmonised processes. During the two-day meeting, participants addressed topics ranging from internationalisation and sustainability to gender equality and the development of shared digital infrastructures.

One of the workshop’s most significant outcomes was the definition of the Alliance’s Charter of Values, a document inspired by the European principles of multilingualism, interculturality and inclusion. The text, drafted by the working group led by Maria Cristina Gatti, Professor at the Faculty of Education, will now be submitted to the rectors of the nine partner universities for review before publication.

“Over these two days, we have taken important steps towards a final version of the Alliance’s Values Charter, a document centred on principles that are essential to us, such as multilingualism, interculturality and inclusion,” says Professor Maria Cristina Gatti. “It will serve as a shared point of reference for the future development of cooperation among the partner universities.”

Alongside the Charter of Values, the workshop also advanced two other strategic pillars of the project: the SUNRISE Staff Academy, which will provide training opportunities for staff at partner universities, and the SUNRISE Platform, which is intended to become the Alliance’s single access point for services available to students, academic staff and administrative personnel.

“The Staff Academy and the SUNRISE Platform are key elements in building practical cooperation among the universities,” explains Johann Gamper, Professor at the Faculty of Engineering and coordinator of Work Package 2. “The goal is to provide shared tools and services that facilitate the exchange of expertise, mobility and collaborative work within the Alliance.”

In addition to the working sessions, the meeting offered participants the opportunity to visit the unibz campus, explore the laboratories of the Faculty of Design and Art, and discover some of South Tyrol’s landmark locations, including the Renon/Ritten plateau.