EGAL-I

Réfugiés Enseignement Supérieur / Refugees Higher Education

Léa Meunier — 2026-04-03T09:09:54Z

Réfugiés Enseignement Supérieur (Refugees Higher Education) (RES) is a non-profit organization committed to supporting access to higher education for people in exile in France, particularly in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. The association supports beneficiaries of international protection (refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection), asylum seekers, and beneficiaries of temporary protection who wish to resume or pursue higher education after arriving in France.

RES works to remove the administrative, linguistic, academic and social barriers that limit access to universities. The organization provides individualized support including the assessment of academic backgrounds, the development of a study plan, assistance with university application procedures, and guidance in the recognition of foreign diplomas. Collective workshops are also organized to help participants prepare university applications, strengthen digital skills, and better understand the French higher education system.

The support provided by RES goes beyond university admission. Through its academic mentoring programme, the association continues to assist students after they enter university by pairing refugee students with student mentors. This programme encourages regular meetings, participation in workshops and training sessions, and guidance on navigating academic life and the university environment.

In addition to supporting access to education, RES develops initiatives that foster academic success and social integration, including socio-cultural activities and language support programmes.

RES's activities are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly:

SDG 4 : Quality Education
SDG 5 : Gender Equality
SDG 8 : Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 10 : Reduced Inequalities

Through its programmes, RES contributes to building a more inclusive society where the skills, knowledge and potential of people in exile are recognized and valued.

University of Hamburg

Léa Meunier — 2026-04-03T09:02:57Z

The University of Hamburg (UHH) is the largest and most diverse research and educational institution in northern Germany. As one of the leading universities in Germany, it offers a broad range of academic programmes combined with excellent research opportunities. With approximately 43,000 students, including 5,000 international students from over 130 countries, the university is characterised by its strong commitment to internationalisation and intercultural exchange. The University of Hamburg offers around 170 degree programmes across six faculties : Law ; Business, Economics, and Social Sciences ; Medicine ; Education, Psychology, and Human Movement ; Humanities ; and Mathematics, Informatics, and Natural Sciences. As part of its internationalisation strategy, the university is an active member of several international higher education networks and has signed the Magna Charta Universitatum, the Erasmus Agreement, and the Code of Conduct for international students. Additionally, it maintains an extensive network of academic collaborations with leading institutions at regional, national, and international levels.

The University of Hamburg is also renowned for its strong research focus, excelling in fundamental and applied research. It has a proven track record of securing external funding for individual and collaborative projects, particularly in interdisciplinary research areas. Some of its key research fields include climate science, multilingualism, and diversity in education, which are closely linked to this project. The university operates under the guiding principle "University for a Sustainable Future", emphasising intercultural and multilingual relationships as well as the ability to navigate diversity as core components of its academic and social activities.

An initiative at the University of Hamburg that exemplifies its commitment to social responsibility and inclusivity is #UHHhilft, a project specifically designed to support refugee students in their academic journey. The project was established to facilitate their inclusion into higher education.

UHHhilft offers a range of support services, including academic counselling, language courses, and mentoring programmes, to help refugees navigate the complexities of the German higher education system. The project connects participants with existing university resources and fosters a welcoming environment through community engagement.

Since the winter semester of 2015/16, the UHHhilft project has been dedicated to supporting refugees interested in pursuing higher education at the University of Hamburg. Through weekly tutorials, advisory services at the coordination centre, and informational events, the programme helps refugees navigate the complexities of the German higher education system. These sessions address essential topics such as study requirements, application processes, financial aid options, German language acquisition, and alternative educational pathways.

In addition to academic guidance, #UHHhilft aims to provide mentoring and networking opportunities, ensuring that participants receive both academic and social support throughout their journey.

UHH is a partner of the Erasmus+ AGILE project (Higher education resilience in refugee crises : forging social inclusion through capacity building, civic engagement and skills recognition, 2022-2025), coordinated by UP8, which is the precursor to the EGAL-I project.

Lviv Polytechnic National University

Léa Meunier — 2026-04-03T08:58:14Z

LPNU, founded in 1816, stands as the largest university in Ukraine. It encompasses 18 institutes and 106 academic departments, serving approximately 34,000 students and 600 Ph.D. candidates. The teaching staff consists of nearly 2,200 members, including 280 full professors (Sc.D. holders) and over 1,200 associate professors (Ph.D. holders).

Since 1961, LPNU has welcomed international students ; by early 2022, the university had over 300 students from 20 different countries. The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is actively applied to support student exchange programmes. The university focuses on educating and training highly qualified researchers and academics while conducting scientific research, developing innovative solutions, and creating research-based products.

LPNU's educational and research successes span various scientific disciplines, integrating engineering, natural sciences, economics, and social sciences. The university is guided by core principles such as excellence, academic freedom, institutional independence, innovation in teaching and research, mutual respect, and fairness. LPNU is a leader in Ukraine in adopting a modern educational approach, focusing on student-centred learning and a competency-based framework for curriculum development and implementation. The university has also introduced an internal quality assurance system with ISO 9001:2015 certification.

Located in Lviv, a city that has remained relatively safe since the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, the university has become a place of refuge for thousands of individuals, including students and faculty members, seeking security. Since 2014, LPNU has been actively involved in assisting refugees and internally displaced persons. In response to the ongoing conflict, the university established a Humanitarian Aid Centre to provide essential supplies and support to displaced persons and the military. Furthermore, from 14 March 2022, students from Ukrainian universities in war-affected areas, where academic operations have been disrupted, have been given the opportunity to continue their studies at LPNU.

The Ukrainian higher education system has been facing severe problems caused by the Russian invasion in eastern Ukraine since 2014. At that time, the concept of "displaced higher education institutions" emerged, as since the beginning of hostilities in the Donbas region, 18 HEIs have been moved from the temporarily ceased territories. The displaced HEIs managed to resume the educational process and now educate over 40,000 students and employ about 3,500 academic staff. However, most of these universities struggle with infrastructure, funding, and human resource problems. LPNU collaborates with many of them and tries to provide help.

In particular, LPNU is coordinating a capacity-building Erasmus+ project called Open Practices, Transparency and Integrity for Modern Academia, which aims to bring Open Science to Ukraine, while focusing on engaging disadvantaged academic communities from displaced Ukrainian universities. Another example is the Crimea-Ukraine Educational Centre, which operates within LPNU and supports people from the temporarily occupied Crimea in entering university. LPNU is the base for the work of the Ukrainian Distance School. Ukrainian schoolchildren abroad can combine studying according to the programmes of the country of temporary residence with studying according to Ukrainian standards.

Since 2022, LPNU, in particular the Department of Social Communications and Information Activities, has been an active partner in Erasmus+ educational projects such as :

AGILE : Higher education resilience in refugee crises : forging social inclusion through capacity building, civic engagement and skills recognition
Welcome ! : Preparatory online school for children with a migration background,
Baltics4UA : Supporting Ukraine through citizen engagement at Baltic Universities and
WELLTEENS : Fostering the well-being of teenagers fleeing the war.

LPNU also carries out actions initiated by the academic community and aimed at the successful integration of displaced persons and refugees into its academic community, as well as assistance in crisis situations (https://zenodo.org/records/7994655).
LPNU's participation in EGAL-I will be mainly represented by the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Institute of Law, Psychology and Innovative Education, whose team has expertise in working on EU-funded projects.

Kaunas University of Technology

Léa Meunier — 2026-04-03T08:53:02Z

Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) is a leading Lithuanian university providing a wide range of studies and closely cooperating with business. The University provides studies in engineering, technologies, physical and social sciences, humanities and arts. The research groups working at KTU contribute to global scientific knowledge by conducting cutting-edge interdisciplinary research on the most important questions of the present day. The university has 9 faculties, 8 institutes, 9 research centres, 23 student organisations, 12 dormitories, and 7 art societies. It has a Sports Centre, which offers 20 sports classes, and a publishing house called Technologija. KTU is the founder of two integrated centres for research, studies and business : the Santaka and Nemunas valleys. The KTU National Innovations and Entrepreneurship Centre is responsible for the protection and commercialisation of the University's scientific output.

There are 7,549 students studying at the university : 4,932 of them are undergraduate (bachelor's) and integrated studies students, 2,212 are master's students, 333 are doctoral students, and 1,278 are international students studying at KTU, including students from Ukraine.

KTU has cooperation agreements with more than 350 Higher Education Institutions in 50 countries around the world. Since 2016, KTU has also been a member of ECIU University, a European university where learners and researchers cooperate with cities and businesses to solve real-life challenges. ECIU University will create a new university driven by the demands of society, citizens and industry, enabling us to work together across European borders and come up with solutions for sustainable development goals.

The University provides targeted support to people in crisis, people fleeing war, targeted study places, accommodation, targeted scholarships and other financial and psychological assistance.

Researchers from the Library and the Faculty of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, as well as from other faculties involved, are conducting research on crisis management, citizen engagement and citizen science, refugee crisis management and other issues.
Specifically, KTU Research groups are conducting (or have conducted) research on:

Transnational Collaboration on Bullying
Migration and Integration at School Level (TRIBES)
Developing the Competence of Public Sector Employees in Lithuania and Ukraine through Design Thinking Methodology (PubCom-DT)
Faces of War : Visual Communication of the Conflict in Ukraine in Lithuanian News Media (FACES).

KTU's PROJECTS RELEVANT TO EGAL-I :

Baltics4UA : Supporting Ukraine through citizen engagement at Baltic Universities (2023-2025) ;
AGILE : Higher Education resilience in refugee crises : forging social inclusion through capacity building, civic engagement and skills recognition (2022-2025).

University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

msabbar — 2026-03-31T12:59:49Z

UNIMORE has a longstanding tradition: the first Studium was established in 1175. It stands as a dynamic centre of education and research, with a student population of approximately 26,000, including 3,500 postgraduate students. The university employs around 900 faculty members across a wide range of disciplines, offering numerous academic programmes and advanced research opportunities.

UNIMORE comprises 13 departments, offering a wide range of degree programmes at the undergraduate level, right up to doctoral studies, from the humanities and social sciences to engineering and technology, and from physical and natural sciences to medicine and life sciences.

The Inter-departmental Centre for Research on Digital Humanities (DHMoRe) was founded in 2019. DHMoRe's mission is to engage in cutting-edge research focused on digital preservation and public access to cultural heritage. Specifically, the centre works on cataloguing and digitising both ancient and modern manuscripts, archives, and other critical documents to ensure that they are preserved and made available for public use, reflecting the university's commitment to the intersection of technology, culture, and history. DHMoRe manages projects at the intersection of cultural heritage preservation and peace studies.

UNIMORE is also deeply involved in international cooperation and social responsibility. It is a member of the Italian Network of Universities for Peace (RuniPACE) and the Mediterranean Universities Union (UNIMED), reinforcing its role as a key player in global academic exchanges and peace-building initiatives. Additionally, the university participates in the University Corridors for Refugee Students programme in collaboration with UNHCR through the UNICORE project. UNIMORE has international experience in hosting researchers at risk, supervising scholars from Ukraine through a programme of fellowships provided by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

UNIMORE's projects relevant to EGAL-I :

JERUS-IT-ARTS - Retracing music and arts networks enhancing education and promoting cultural heritage preservation (funded under the NextGeneration EU) traces the artistic dialogue between Italy and Jerusalem, coupling rigorous historical research with contemporary creative practice and the inclusion of artists from the Middle East.
ITHACA - Interconnecting Histories and Archives for Migrant Agency : Entangled Narratives Across Europe and the Mediterranean Region, H2020 project, based on a consortium involving 11 partners from origin, transit and host migration countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, it focuses on migration narratives in the past and present, analysing them in a rigorous historical, interdisciplinary, comparative and transnational framework.
CHILD-UP - Children Hybrid Integration : Learning Dialogue as a way of Upgrading policies of Participation, H2020 project, addressing the integration of children with migrant backgrounds in schools, social services and communities, through the identification of relevant data on children's conditions, policies and best practices, using an interdisciplinary approach.

Web2Learn

msabbar — 2026-03-31T12:59:47Z

Web2Learn (W2L) is a research and development (R&D) partner that offers quality digital learning and professional training solutions and services. The company is located in Thessaloniki, Greece, and the team is composed of eight highly qualified staff members.

The company specialises in : a) Open Innovation as a means to empower Ukrainian academic communities and in b) business-academia engagement for entrepreneurship and inclusion of Ukrainian refugee students.

A) Open Innovation as a means to empower Ukrainian academic communities

Since March 2022, Web2Learn has been actively involved in designing and delivering 7 Erasmus+ projects for Ukraine :

AISTER (AI-enabled Citizen Participation in University-driven Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Safeguarding, https://web2learn.eu/portfolio/aister/) ;
CAELUM (Open science supporting vulnerable communities, https://caelum.ut.ee/) ;
UAnited (Fostering youth empowerment for Ukraine through open innovation, https://uanited.org/) ;
AGILE (Higher education resilience in refugee crises : forging social inclusion through capacity building, civic engagement and skills recognition, https://agileproject-erasmus.eu/) ;
Baltics4UA (Supporting Ukraine through citizen engagement at Baltic Universities, https://baltics4ua.eu/) ;
GROMADA (European universities supporting legal and community capacities for Ukraine's environmental recovery, https://gromada-erasmus.eu/) ;
Welcome ! (Preparatory online school for children with migration background,https://web2learn.eu/portfolio/welcome/).

B) Business-academia engagement for entrepreneurship and inclusion of Ukrainian refugee students

Web2Learn is the co-designer of EU-funded projects that bring academia and the business sector together to advance entrepreneurship skills and opportunities for Ukrainian refugee students. Specifically, in the AGILE and Baltics4UA projects, Web2Learn carried out studies (cf. Zourou, Boichenko & Oikonomou, 2024, https://zenodo.org/records/11047732) and activities (AGILE hackathon Challenge, crowdsourcing students' sprint) in which leading Ukrainian innovators, such as HATA Hub, and start-ups from EU countries were actively engaged as mentors.

Since 2014, Web2Learn has designed and successfully implemented over 55 EU-funded projects. Web2Learn has participated in four editions (2020, 2021, 2023, 2024) of the EU Commission-endorsed DigiEduHack competition (https://digieduhack.com/about).

University Paris 8

msabbar — 2026-03-31T12:59:45Z

The University Paris 8 (UP8) - University of Creations is a Higher Education Institution and a Research Centre specialising in the fields of Humanities, Social Sciences, Arts, Computer Sciences and Economic Sciences. The education offered at UP8 mainly falls into five fields : the arts, philosophy and aesthetics ; law, economics and management ; literature and languages ; human and social sciences ; and science and technology.

UP8 was originally created in 1969 with the Experimental Centre of Vincennes. It resulted from the intellectual and pedagogical effervescence that followed the movement of May 68. Since then, it has been driven by a spirit of democratisation of access to knowledge and the production of knowledge rooted in the challenges of the contemporary world. Since its creation and relocation to Saint-Denis in 1980, UP8 has been a central teaching and research centre in the Île-de-France region. UP8 embodies the values of success and social promotion, experimentation and criticism, and democratic life.

UP8 is involved in developing social responsibility and inclusiveness, and it is particularly active towards disadvantaged or socially excluded groups (see below). With over 30% of its 22,000 students being international students, UP8 is the most international of French universities.

Since November 2020, UP8 has been the lead partner of the European Reform University Alliance (ERUA), a consortium of eight European reform universities committed to exploring innovative approaches to research, teaching and institutional advancement to help create a more open and inclusive society.

UP8 is strongly committed to its tradition of unconditional access to education. It has initiated several programmes to welcome refugee students in emergency situations with a view to their sociolinguistic inclusion in French society and academic life. Since 2015, it has offered a French language learning programme for exiled students fleeing the war in Syria. Over time, this local programme was integrated into the national Diplômes Passerelle (Bridge diploma) programme for the inclusion of exiled students in university life.

UP8 coordinated the AGILE project (Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnership, 12/2022-05/2025) aimed, among other issues, to improve the conditions for welcoming DU Passerelle students in France and refugee students from partner countries to higher education institutions in Europe. This project received the Erasmus+ Label for Good Practices awarded by the French Erasmus+ National Agency. EGAL-I is part of the ongoing AGILE project.