Marcela Acosta-Garcia appointed as new Program Manager for UNITE! at Aalto University

Marcela Acosta-Garcia has previously worked in the field of educational development at Aalto University Design Factory. After completing her master’s degree from Aalto University School of Business, she has specialized in the educational challenges and competence requirements for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 

In 2018, Marcela joined the Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliance project ‘Universities of the Future (UoF), which aimed to tackle those challenges through informational events and educational offerings. During that time, she managed the international collaboration between higher education institutions, companies, and public bodies nationally and abroad on behalf of Aalto University to create courses, and produce dissemination events and public reports.

In her current role, Marcela is working with developing platforms for digital learning, joint summer courses, student mobility, lifelong learning projects, and other educational projects for students and professionals within the Unite! network. She is interested in bringing more visibility to research and making education more accessible for everyone. 

Unite! is an alliance of universities in seven countries that will set a new model for a European virtual and physical inter-university campus. The objective for Unite! is to transform European higher education through multidisciplinary, multicultural and multilingual education, research and entrepreneurship. The project aims to connect engineering, science and technology with the biggest challenges of society in co-creation by students, faculty and staff – providing skills for a new generation of European and global citizens.

‘Strengthening our team with this role is crucial so that we can meet the needs of educational innovation in international networks.’ says Head of Aalto University Summer School Laura Sivula.

‘This generation is facing incredible challenges – climate change, mass migrations, and the transformation of work brought about by technology. With this in mind, the university plays a central role in forming people with the wide perspectives and science-driven mindset needed to tackle them. We always keep this in mind when designing our courses and new project objectives.’ Marcela comments.