President Ilkka Niemelä appointed as Unite! Vice President

Based on the feedback from the European Commission, Unite! has decided to strengthen its leadership and establish two new Vice President positions. President Ilkka Niemelä from Aalto University and Rector Daniel Crespo from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – Barcelona Tech were elected for these positions by the Academic Forum of Unite! on 29 November, 2022.

“I’m honored to have been elected as one of the two Vice Presidents of Unite!. After the pilot phase started in 2019, the alliance is entering a new exiting stage of development guided by its Mission statement 2030 prepared by a concerted effort of the Unite! community. I’m looking forward to working together with Tanja and Daniel to drive the Unite! agenda to be a technology and innovation driver for the advancement of a green and digital Europe", says President Niemelä. 

Dr. Tanja Brühl, President of TU Darmstadt, was elected to continue as the President of Unite!. Together with the new Unite! Vice Presidents she will be responsible for developing the strategy of Unite! further as well as overseeing and leading the governance of the alliance. The Vice Presidents will additionally support or substitute the President in official policy meetings and for media appearances.

The ambition of Unite! is to create a new European university model through shared education programmes, virtual and physical mobility, innovative pedagogical methods, and harmonized models of governance.