Ulysseus European University opens doors for professional growth

In today’s rapidly changing field of higher education, digital transformation and international collaboration are among the most powerful forces shaping the future. They are not just global trends but strategic priorities that directly influence how universities educate, innovate, and remain competitive.

For Haaga-Helia, these drivers align seamlessly with our own institutional strategy, which emphasises internationalisation, competence development, and digitalisation. By engaging actively in international partnerships, we ensure that our staff are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and networks required to thrive in an interconnected world.

The Ulysseus European University alliance is a concrete example of how these ambitions become reality. As one of 65 alliances funded by the European Commission, Ulysseus connects eight universities across the continent, creating shared opportunities for learning, research, and professional growth.

A particularly strong demonstration of this collaboration is the International digital week (IDW) in Nice, organized in June 2025, hosted by Ulysseus partner Université Côte d’Azur. The event was organised as three different Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP). These short-term learning opportunities that combine virtual and physical mobility have become very attractive especially to European University alliances ensuring an international learning experience for the participants (EAIE 2024). The large-scale event organised in Nice illustrates how Ulysseus brings higher education professionals together to exchange ideas, test new approaches, and strengthen partnerships that extend well beyond national borders.

Ulysseus International digital week

The fourth edition of the Digital Week in 2025 achieved remarkable scale, bringing together more than 250 participants from 65 Higher Education Institutions across 35 countries from five continents.

The programme addressed digital transformation in higher education through three focused BIPs:

• Digital Transformation in Higher Education
• Teaching Skills for Educators in a Digitalized Environment
• Enhancing Internationalization through Digitalization

This comprehensive approach and carefully designed content across three diverse tracks demonstrate the initiative’s commitment to exploring digitalisation’s diverse impact on modern higher education institutions and practices while enhancing cross-cultural collaboration and developing intercultural competences of the participants.

The opening session established digital transformation as a strategic catalyst for international higher education partnerships. Participants explored three key perspectives: cultivating strategic collaboration using maturity models and frameworks, building pathways from digital possibilities to concrete partnerships, and advancing international higher education through systematic digital transformation. A keynote challenged participants to consider different scenarios and rethink the impact and role of AI for learning and teaching, encouraging positive and collaborative approaches that would guide the week’s workshop activities.

After the shared opening, participants continued in their respective BIP programmes.

Haaga-Helia’s active engagement and contributions

Haaga-Helia demonstrated strong commitment to the International Digital Week 2025, bringing nearly 20 participants to engage in discussions on digital transformation and internationalisation in higher education.

Our participation extended beyond attendance to active knowledge sharing through multiple formats. Haaga-Helia contributed several poster presentations showcasing our research, development and innovation (RDI) projects, such as Ulysseus satellite projects Curate and Metacog, alongside facilitating expert sessions and workshops. The topics presented reflected the scope of our institution’s digital transformation expertise:

• Student engagement in virtual learning within the Ulysseus collaboration
• Future thinking in education
• The evolving role of educators in the age of AI
• The power of social media in education marketing
• Co-creation as a tool for organizational development

The diverse professional backgrounds of Haaga-Helia’s participants included various fields of education, research, IT, administration and communications which enabled us to contribute varied perspectives and practical insights both as active learners and speakers.

Professional growth and added value for higher education staff

Participation in European University activities such as the Ulysseus International digital week brings clear professional development opportunities for staff members. For educators, it means exposure to new teaching and learning methods in digitally enhanced and internationalised contexts. For non-academic staff, the programmes strengthen a wide range of competences, from project management to communication and service development, all of which are vital in today’s global higher education environment.

Equally valuable is the networking dimension. During the Digital Week, colleagues from across the eight Ulysseus countries and beyond were able to build professional connections. These networks have direct applications in everyday work and open doors to collaboration in areas such as new EU project proposals and joint teaching.

Moreover, participants develop several soft skills such as intercultural competences, communication skills and international teamwork (Bazen & Duma 2025). These skills are essential in today’s globally connected higher education environment, especially in the context of European University alliances.

For Haaga-Helia, active participation also strengthens the university’s international profile, especially as a university of applied sciences, and reinforces our mission to be a globally connected institution. By contributing expertise and engaging in co-creation, our staff highlight Haaga-Helia’s role as a forward-looking partner in European higher education.

By attending the digital week, we at Haaga-Helia were able to connect also internally, by networking with colleagues with whom we had not worked earlier. This fostered new cross-departmental links within Haaga-Helia, encouraging collaboration across multi-disciplinary fields in our institution.
In addition, by attending BIPs participants have the possibility to share their gained knowledge and new experiences by e.g. publishing articles or podcasts targeted to a wider professional audience which generates added value for the whole higher education community.

Conclusion

The International digital week in Nice clearly demonstrated the value of Ulysseus collaboration for both individuals and institutions. For Haaga-Helia, the event offered a platform for professional growth, meaningful networking, and international visibility.

Looking ahead, Ulysseus and other European University alliances will continue to provide pathways for growth, collaboration, and innovation with future Blended Intensive Programmes, joint research projects, and co-created learning opportunities and joint courses. The lessons and networks built in the international activities offered by the alliances underline the importance of bringing knowledge back to home communities and applying it in ways that benefit both students and staff. These activities are also scalable for Higher Education Institutions outside the alliances and serve as best practices model to enhance professional growth of their staff.

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