On 2–3 June 2026, a delegation from the UNIgreen Alliance participated in the third transversal workshop of the FOREU4ALL Community of Practice, held at the European Parliament in Strasbourg and hosted by the EPICUR Alliance.
FOREU4ALL is the Community of Practice that brings together all European University Alliances, providing a collaborative platform to exchange experiences, share good practices and strengthen cooperation across the European Higher Education Area.
The event, titled “From Campuses to Communities: Enhancing Engagement and Sense of Belonging in European Universities”, gathered more than 140 representatives from over 65 European University Alliances to explore how alliances can strengthen community engagement, foster a shared European identity, and increase the sense of belonging among students, academics, and staff.
Over two days of plenary discussions, breakout sessions, poster presentations and student-led activities, participants worked together to develop proposals and recommendations on some of the major challenges facing European Universities today.
A key component of the workshop was the series of five parallel breakout sessions, where participants worked collaboratively on topics such as alliance identity and values, local visibility, mobility barriers, recognition and motivation, and the value proposition of European University Alliances. Through an intensive co-creation process, the groups generated 12 idea prototypes, transforming shared challenges into concrete proposals aimed at strengthening engagement, fostering a stronger sense of belonging, and enhancing the impact of the Alliances across their communities.
UNIgreen actively contributed to the workshop by facilitating one of the breakout sessions on mobility barriers, inclusion and diversity and by presenting a poster dedicated to the UNIgreen Festival – Student-led Community on Sustainable and Democratic Participation, one of the Alliance’s flagship student engagement initiatives.
The poster showcased the UNIgreen Festival as a concrete example of how European University Alliances can strengthen student participation and foster a sense of belonging through experiential and student-led learning.
The Festival was presented as a model of active student involvement, highlighting how students are encouraged to become contributors rather than passive participants, engaging directly in discussions on governance, sustainability and community-building. The poster also emphasized the Festival’s role in promoting long-term engagement through initiatives such as the pilot UNIgreen Alumni Network.
The FOREU4ALL represented an important opportunity for UNIgreen to exchange good practices with other European University Alliances and contribute to the collective reflection on how alliances can create stronger, more inclusive academic communities.
As highlighted throughout the event, the future of the European Universities initiative depends not only on cooperation between institutions, but also on the ability to create communities in which students, academics and staff feel connected, represented and actively engaged. In this context, UNIgreen continues to work towards placing students at the centre of its activities and governance, fostering a shared sense of responsibility, participation and European belonging.
