Throughout the year, numerous online meetings of the individual project working groups take place in which members from SU are actively involved. However, representatives of partner universities also meet in person, mainly at two major events. The annual conference of the STARS EU alliance is traditionally held in the spring, and then working meetings called Working Days take place in the autumn. The 2024 conference took place on March 21 and 22 in the French city of Besançon, where the University of Franche-Comté is located. The central topic of the conference was "Accelerating Regional Transformation," and 11 members represented SU. Silesian University had the opportunity to present the Innovative Entrepreneurship study programme as an example of an optimal way of teaching entrepreneurial skills with a positive impact on regional development as a part of one of the panel discussions. STARS EU Working Days, with the participation of 13 SU representatives, took place on November 5–7 in Bremen, Germany, the seat of Bremen University of Applied Sciences. Individual Work Packages and other groups evaluated the past year's work and planned activities for the coming months.

The past year also brought specific results from cooperation with STARS EU partners in educational, research, and project activities. In May 2024, for example, SBA hosted the face-to-face part of the "Blended Intensive Program on Pedagogical Innovation." After five online seminars, teaching staff from various universities gathered in Karviná for practical training in the discussed teaching methods and techniques. SU students also participated in multiple BIPs, and study stays at STARS EU partner universities. During 2024, a pilot offering of courses was also prepared, in which teachers from partner universities should be involved in various ways. SU could have up to ten courses, whose students would have the opportunity to gain international experience the following year without leaving the faculty.

A key tool for developing research and scientific cooperation within the alliance is the Seed Grant Program, which supports the preparation of significant international research projects. SU and specifically SBA staff used this opportunity to prepare the ICoNE project (Innovation Through Connected Networks for Entrepreneurship) within the excellent research program Horizon Europe. SU appears in the project application with five other universities from STARS EU and three partners from the application sphere. The project itself will strive to connect and develop the innovative ecosystem in the region through the acceleration of student entrepreneurial projects.

An interesting example of cooperation is also the Erasmus+ project "Breaking Fences: Norm Awareness in Health Science Education." The Faculty of Public Policies is involved in the project, along with two other alliance partners. The project will examine the values ​​and attitudes of healthcare staff towards conscious and unconscious norms, an issue that impacts differences in the quality of healthcare across Europe.

Despite the organizational challenges of the first year of the European University project, cooperation within the framework of STARS EU is already bringing essential results and opening many opportunities for SU staff and students to gain valuable international experience. Membership in STARS EU is one of the main priorities of SU's internationalization, so everyone involved in STARS EU activities deserves our thanks. At the same time, we look forward to new participants who will join us in the coming period. For more information, please contact STARS EU Office employee Anna Novák Šefraná or Vice-Rector for Science and International Relations Daniel Stavárek at any time.

STARS EU is an alliance of nine universities located in regions outside the capitals of their respective countries, whose cooperation is intended to contribute to regional development and transformation. The alliance's coordinator is Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands). Other members are the University of La Laguna (Spain), Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (Portugal), Bremen University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Silesian University in Opava (Czech Republic), University West (Sweden), University of Franche-Comté (France), Cracow University of Technology (Poland) and Aleksandër Moisiu University of Durrës (Albania).

For more information, visit the STARS EU Alliance website.