Anyone working at Erasmus University, or any academic environment, will recognise the situation: a complex project with various stakeholders, numerous priorities, and sometimes conflicting perspectives. How do you ensure that all these different voices come together in a common mission? This was precisely the question the Evaluating Societal Impact (ESI) strategic team at EUR faced in 2023 in collaboration with the European university alliance, UNIC.
UNIC is a partnership of ten universities from post-industrial cities across Europe. The alliance has an ambitious mission: to promote inclusion and mobility for millions of citizens. A mission that UNIC had to make more tangible and measurable, both for its partners and funders.
A strategic collaboration for major impact
Last year, UNIC was entering a critical phase of its development with EUR acting as coordinator. The challenge? To create a comprehensive plan for monitoring and evaluation that accommodates the unique contexts of all its partner universities. No small feat, as UNIC aims to make an impact on nearly 30 million people across Europe.
Fortunately, the ESI team knew exactly what was needed. Their expertise lies in developing practical and user-friendly methods for impact evaluation, while keeping the ultimate goal in sight. For UNIC, they adapted the "Theory of Change" model, tailored specifically to the context. This model became the foundation for a series of interviews, workshops, and an idea-generation process that resulted in a clear plan for measuring UNIC’s impact.
Creative tools for collaboration
One of the most remarkable aspects of the process was the 'Journey of Progress' card game, specially designed to bring the various parties together to reflect on what is required to achieve genuine transformative change.
Alexander Leug, a student board member from UNIC at Ruhr University Bochum, expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration: “We started with a nearly utopian vision and worked together towards concrete steps to achieve it. What made it special was that the process energised us rather than feeling like a compromise.”
From theory to practice
The basis for the co-creation process took shape through an online whiteboard, where key insights from interviews with members of the network were gathered. One of the most powerful statements was: “Inclusive and innovative international experiences should be accessible to everyone.” This shared vision became the basis for developing different plans -one powerful idea refracting into multiple pathways - on how UNIC can make these experiences for students and staff a reality.
In December 2023, all the ideas came together in a dynamic workshop at the University of Łódź, Poland. During this session, participants engaged in lively discussions and collaboration to shape the future of UNIC. Jean van Sinderen-Law, Director of European Relations at University College Cork, called it an eye-opener: “The workshop allowed us to zoom out and see the bigger picture, ensuring that every voice in the room was heard.”
A promising future
The collaboration between ESI and UNIC proved to be a great success. A year later, UNIC’s work has not only attracted widespread attention but was also praised by the European Commission as an example of best practice. Thanks to ESI’s participatory approach, UNIC became a model for how complex projects can maintain focus on societal impact and drive effective change.
This partnership demonstrates that with the right tools, creativity, and a shared vision, it is possible the create a shared vision and focus that fosters transdisciplinary collaboration and partnerships, contributing to making a difference for millions of people across Europe.
- More information
You can learn more about the UNIC European University here.