ECIU University in the making: How we connect the community across Europe

ECIU University is not just an alliance of 12 universities – it’s a diverse community of students, teachers, researchers, staff and partners all around Europe, united by their values and goals. Developed across countries, institutions and disciplines, this community requires a reliable infrastructure to help its members connect, collaborate and move forward. And that’s where Work Package 5 comes in.  

The full name of Work Package 5 – Community Building and Mobility  – speaks for itself. Its main goal is to build, support, and empower the ECIU University community, while also fostering mobility opportunities that enable students, teachers and staff to connect, collaborate and learn across the Alliance. Whether it's joint digital spaces, international events that bring the alliance together, or mobility experiences that strengthen collaboration between partner institutions, WP5 helps lay the foundation for the university of tomorrow.  

Many of WP5’s projects have already been woven into ECIU University’s daily life and activities. Among them are platforms like the Teacher Hub, initiatives like Student Ambassadorship, and community-building events like ECIU University Forum, Creathon or monthly Lunch&Learns. The work package has also been instrumental in developing mobility activities that encourage learners, teachers and staff to engage with ECIU University beyond their home institution, reinforcing a shared European identity across the Alliance.  

We sat down with Noelle Billon from Groupe INSA (France), the Work Package 5 lead in charge of community-building activities and mobility, and Ryan Wakamiya, the ECIU University learner engagement coordinator who works closely with her team, to talk about the work package’s journey, milestones, plans for the future and what makes the team’s work essential to ECIU University’s growth.  

Question: Let’s start from the very beginning. How would you describe Work Package 5 and what it does?

Noelle: The work package is all about one thing – building a real, living community across ECIU University. This has always been the goal: to move from a network of institutions to a dynamic international community where students, teachers, staff and partners can work together and engage freely.  

Since 2022, we’ve been working in two closely connected dimensions – community-building and mobility – to shape the structure that allows our community members to connect and collaborate. This often requires developing specific formats and processes, such as introducing recurring community events, building a feedback loop through community coordinators and working closely with International Relations Offices to organise the corresponding mobilities.  

Q: You mentioned a close connection between community-building and mobility. Could you tell us more about the mobility aspect and activities developed so far?

Noelle: Mobility is one of the two core pillars of WP5 and has been led with great commitment by Francesca Briani from the University of Trento. Together with partners across the Alliance, she has coordinated the development of mobility opportunities and common approaches that make it easier for learners and staff to benefit from international experiences within ECIU University.

The objective is not only to increase mobility opportunities but to make mobility an integral part of the ECIU University experience. Whether through physical, blended or challenge-based mobility, these experiences allow participants to build lasting relationships, collaborate across institutions and experience the Alliance as one interconnected European university.

In the end, mobility is much more than travelling between universities. It’s about meeting people, exchanging ideas, and strengthening your sense of belonging to ECIU University.

Q: Work Package 5 has worked on so many projects during the last four years. Which stood out the most to you – or, perhaps, had the biggest impact?  

Noelle: The first thing that comes to mind is, of course, the ECIU University Forum. The first edition, which took place in Kaunas in 2024, was a huge milestone in its own right, with over 200 participants from across the alliance in the same space. They were co-creating, exchanging perspectives and experiencing the community aspect of ECIU University first-hand. That’s exactly what the alliance should be about.

During the Forum, we also introduced the Team Impact Award as a way to show the stories behind ECIU University courses and projects, as well as the work done by different teams. We hope it can make the impact of ECIU University and its community more visible to us all.

The Lunch&Learn series (recurring short online meetups for community members accessible via ECIU Agora – ed. note) has also been a huge success. It’s a very simple yet powerful way for our staff and students to meet regularly, share updates, exchange practices, and discuss topics they’re most interested in – with over 100 participants joining for some sessions.

And then there’s ECIU University Creathon (a yearly Challenge where students meet to connect and co-create innovative ideas for a sustainable future – ed. note). It was created as an easy, low-barrier event where you can feel the ECIU University spirit, and has really helped to raise awareness, build up the engagement and get people across the community involved.

Q: And what are the main goals of the Work Package now?

Noelle: Right now, the focus is on scaling processes that work and making them sustainable. This means not just continuing with our community events, formats and initiatives, such as Lunch&Learn, ECIU University Forum or ambassadorship, but also making them more accessible, visible and embedded into institutions’ daily work.

Another big priority is strengthening the community engagement on all levels. This means supporting student initiatives, working with ambassadors and – last but not least – structuring the digital space.  

At the same time, we want to continue strengthening mobility opportunities across the Alliance by ensuring they are increasingly embedded within ECIU University activities and contribute to a more connected and collaborative European community.

Q: This amount of work requires a lot of coordination and support, right?

‍Noelle: Which is why we work closely with the community coordinators for many of these events and initiatives. We trust them to gather feedback and let us know what the community needs. We also work together to implement activities and events on the both alliance and local levels. It's all about teamwork.  

Ryan: As a learner engagement coordinator, I collaborate with several task forces to give input and feedback to Work Package 5, among others. We then work together to decide how to move forward with the initiatives, introduce community events across different ECIU University levels, and include the student perspective in the community-building process.

Noelle: Ryan was also the driving force behind creating a student ambassador task force that connects the dots between students, ambassadors and the needs of different work packages. Altogether, this helps build a community that, in turn, shapes ECIU University and its processes.

Q: Speaking of which, how exactly does the work done at the Work Package connect with these other processes at ECIU University?  

Ryan: Work Package 5 creates a single holistic area for various target groups and communities [within ECIU University]. For example, it connects everyone digitally through events like Lunch&Learn and online hubs, which is crucial because ECIU University is not a physical but a digitally-connected university.  

Noelle: This way, we create the human infrastructure behind ECIU University. Whether it’s challenge-based learning, mobility or joint projects, all these activities rely on people working together, trusting each other, and being willing to collaborate.

Q: Now, we’ve been talking about the impact the Work Package has made across and outside the ECIU University community, but every community is made up of people – including Work Package members and community coordinators.  

What impact has Work Package 5 had on you?  

Noelle: This has been a super energising experience, with everyone supporting and helping each other. Seeing how you can build a community, with WP5 members on a structural level, and Ryan and community coordinators on an engagement level, reminds you that some things can only be achieved together.

All this made me realise that building a community and making it work takes time and effort, beyond just formal meetings. You need to forge connections and build trust – and that's something you can’t do alone. It’s about teamwork.  

Ryan: For me, seeing how Noelle organised the work package – from setting things up to keeping people engaged – has been a huge inspiration. [Working with WP5] also helped me understand the role of flexibility in diverse international communities like ours – and how it is essential for getting people on board.

Overall, this experience showed me the importance of people-first and community-first thinking. You can always set up initiatives and projects to make things work in the short term – but if you want to succeed in the long term, people and personal connections are the most important. People are essential.

Thank you to Work Package 5 and community and learner engagement coordinators for their efforts in building, supporting and strengthening the ECIU University community.

_{Author: Anastasia Bukhtiarova. Photos provided by: Noelle Billon, UAveiro, KTU.}