European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU), which has Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) among its members, has welcomed a new institution into the Consortium. 1 January 2017, Tampere University of Technology joined the European Consortium of Innovative Universities. Tampere University of Technology (TUT) is one of Finland’s most international universities and is the second largest university when it comes to engineering.
TUT is highly ranked as the university for industry with being on the 11th position in the world, and the 4th in Europe for industry collaboration according to THE rankings.
“We are proud to welcome Tampere University of Technology to ECIU. It is a strong new partner, which perfectly fits into the ECIU profile with having a long track record in student-industry interaction, a strong international profile and sound commitment to implementing new teaching methods and technology. Several of our member universities already have a strong collaboration with TUT and we are happy to intensify this collaboration within ECIU,” says Lluís Tort, current ECIU President.
TUT is located in Tampere, the third largest city in Finland (225.000 inhabitants) and the most important industrial center in Finland. It is one of the leading institutions of higher education and research with 8.300 students and 1.700 employees. Strongest research areas of the university are digital operating environment, energy- and eco-efficiency, health technology and light-based technologies. The university offers a wide-range of study programmes in English.
“TUT is committed to pursue competitive, high-quality research that paves the way for new technologies and operating models. We produce professionals who have the expertise to generate and transfer new knowledge to industry and society and we actively contribute to the creation of new business opportunities, companies and jobs arising from our research. TUT is very delighted to join a strong network of like-minded universities,” states Mika Hannula, the President of TUT.
ECIU will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2017. With the new Finnish member joining the network, the member institutions have a combined total of 250,000 students and around 33,000 employees. Currently, the consortium has 10 European members and one associate member in Mexico. Membership is by invitation only. Recently, the ECIU Board took the strategic decision to look for strong new partners in France and Italy (one per country).
The ECIU member universities are all unified by a shared profile of being young, entrepreneurial, and a key stakeholder in the regional innovation system. The consortium of research universities focuses on collaboration in innovative teaching and learning, enhancement of university–society interaction, internationalization of the student and staff experience, and active engagement in EU policy development. Innovation and challenging conventional thinking is central to the shared ethos of the member institutions, whether in pedagogic and curriculum development; knowledge and technology exchange; and economic regeneration and links with industry, business and the public sector in their respective regions, leading the innovation towards knowledge-based economy.
KTU has joined the Consortium in 2016. It is the only Lithuanian institution among ECIU members.
