Universidad
Politécnica de Madrid

The European Commission has today ratified EELISA, the European Engineering Learning Innovation and Science Alliance, led by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), and supports its continuity with 1.400.000 euros to develop its second phase within the European Universities Initiative in the next four years.

With a score of 85 out of 100, this evaluation is a further acknowledgement of the work and achievements of the Alliance in the last three years, consolidating the leadership of the UPM as the only university in Madrid at the head of one of the 50 consortia that are transforming higher education in Europe, and which currently brings together more than 18,000 teachers, 194,000 students and 12,000 members of the administrative and service staff.

In the words of UPM Rector Guillermo Cisneros: "We are proud that our Erasmus+ proposal has received such a positive evaluation. From this moment on, all EELISA institutions start to work in order to officially initiate the second phase of the project on November 1, 2023."

Towards the consolidation of the European Research Area

EELISA aims to transform engineering education through the creation of a common European engineering degree committed to society, inclusiveness and multidisciplinarity, enabling students to pursue their studies and enjoy long-term mobilities at any of the institutions in the alliance.

With an expanded scope, size, diversity, and ambition, in this new phase, EELISA aims to deepen collaboration in line with the six dimensions of the European Education Area: quality, inclusion and gender, green and digital transitions, teachers and trainers, higher education, and the geopolitical dimension. The Alliance also seeks to contribute to the consolidation of the European Research Area and its vision of creating a unified and unrestricted market for research, innovation, and technology across the European Union.

In the next years, EELISA will further advance the long-term vision of the European Universities Initiative to transform institutional cooperation among higher education institutions through long-term structural, strategic and sustainable collaboration.
Engineering, at the heart of EELISA's global and interdisciplinary strategy

As reflected in the EELISA 2.0 mission statement, in the new period “engineering will remain the core strength of EELISA but will be integrated into a global, interdisciplinary strategy that encourages cross-learning of methods and best practices”. It will act as an interface between science, technology, and society, contributing to ecological and digital transitions in Europe. Some of the key strategic goals for this new phase will be transforming education and training towards challenge-based learning and creating an innovative education ecosystem built around research and innovation.

In addition to the UPM, EELISA brings together three technical universities from Budapest (Budapesti Muszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem, BME), Bucharest (Universitatea Politehnica din București, UPB) and Istambul (Istanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, ITU),  the École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) and the Université Paris Sciences & Lettres (PSL) in France, the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) in Germany, the Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS) and Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (SSSA) in Italy, and the Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften (ZHAW) in Switzerland, in partnership with ENAEE (European Network for Accreditation of Engineering Education), the organization that brings together the European associations that certify university engineering programs and degrees according to the required standards of professional competencies.

• Read the EELISA 2.0 Mission Statement.
• Read the European Commission press release: Erasmus : New funding for European Universities alliances boosts cooperation in higher education.
• Read the EELISA Office press release.