One of the tasks of the European university alliance STARS EU is to further develop and expand international study formats. Students from the nine partner universities are already using so-called blended intensive programmes - BIPS for short. Here they work together in a project across universities in Europe. The format also includes visits to the respective partner universities, which carry out the BIP together. ‘After my first BIP, I was so enthusiastic that I immediately wanted more and completed two more as part of STARS EU,’ reported marketing student Juliana Goncalves from the Portuguese Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB). The 22-year-old described her experiences during her presentation at the STARS EU annual conference, which took place in March 2025 at the partner university Aleksandër Moisiu University of Durrës in Albania.
Her fellow student Davut Turk from the partner university Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen in the Netherlands is also enthusiastic: ‘I am the son of Polish and Turkish parents,’ said the student during his presentation at the conference. ‘When I heard that you can do projects with international students in Europe as part of STARS EU, I was immediately interested.’ Davut Turk enrolled in the so-called ‘Future Lab’ - a BIP at the Cracow University of Technology in Poland. ‘We were students from different disciplines and had to find solutions together in our project,’ he reported. ‘This strengthens our cohesion and our understanding of each other in Europe.’
Davut Turk and Juliana Goncalves are part of the extended Student Board of STARS EU. The board represents the interests of students in the alliance, which is funded by the EU. There are a total of around 150,000 students at the nine partner universities. The new Chair of the Student Board is Alex Peter from Hochschule Bremen (HSB) - City University of Applied Sciences. The 18-year-old is studying Aviation Systems Engineering and Management at HSB. He first learnt about STARS EU through the Local Erasmus Initiative (LEI). His predecessor Jula Eichhorn presented the alliance and its activities there. The Student Board was looking for new members, as some students, like Jula Eichhorn, were nearing the end of their term on the Student Board and wanted to concentrate on their degree at HSB. Alex Peter applied and was accepted.
In Durrës, the 18-year-old chaired the meetings of the Student Board for the first time and supported his fellow students in networking and exchanging ideas with the other working groups in the Alliance. The students also finalised a structure for their committee during their working meetings in Durrës and divided up the tasks: for example, there is a working group for strategic tasks and one for communication. The STARS EU students are also active on social networks, such as TikTok, to get more students interested in the alliance. ‘I am very impressed by the international and cultural diversity and expertise that we have in our committee thanks to the nine partner universities,’ says Alex Peter. ‘Everyone contributes valuable ideas, the collaboration is simply great! This is how I would like my job to be after graduation.’
He is also enthusiastic and grateful for the good cooperation with the STARS EU officers at the partner universities. They are important contacts for coordinating the various activities of the working groups in the Alliance. At HSB, this includes Anouk Doeven, for example. Stefanie Eul is the project coordinator. ‘Their support is great and helps us a lot in our work!’
Over the next few months, the students want to use the funding to organise workshops at their respective universities - events in which their fellow students can strengthen their soft skills, for example. They have also developed a survey and launched it among the students at the nine partner universities: ‘If we want to create a European university for students together, we also need to know what our fellow students need for international studies,’ emphasises Alex Peter. ‘Semesters abroad are good and important. But it is clear that we also need alternative formats.’ For many students, for example, financing is often a challenge. ‘If we can create new offers here with STARS EU and, in the best case scenario, even joint European study programmes in a few years, that would be the right way forward,’ the Chair of the STARS EU Student Board is convinced.
Hochschule Bremen (HSB) - City University of Applied Sciences is a member of the STARS EU university alliance. The abbreviation stands for Strategic Alliance for Regional Transition European University - the network was initially called ENGAGED. Since November 2023, STARS EU has been funded by the EU with 12.4 million euros, initially until October 2027. In addition to HSB, universities in the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Poland and Albania are involved.
What makes it special: HSB is one of only sixteen universities of applied sciences (HAW) in Germany to receive funding from the EU to create a European university with its partner universities. This is an honour and a great opportunity to further promote the internationalisation of Bremen University of Applied Sciences in Europe
The alliance combines the strengths of nine traditional, complementary European universities. The overarching goal is to build an alliance of committed universities in order to establish a future-orientated European university. It aims to create a new generation of students and innovative, flexible and diverse education and challenge-based research systems.
At the regular STARS EU conferences and working meetings, ideas can be developed and taken forward - for example on the topics of energy transition, the circular economy, start-ups and innovation or health and how the nine universities can learn from each other.Bremen and the region benefit from this exchange through STARS EU.
Several lecturers and students at HSB are already actively involved in the STARS-EU network. Further participants are very welcome. Contact us
Meike Mossig
Press Officer / Head of Referat 01
+49 421 5905 2245
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The new student board came together for a group photo at the annual conference in Albania. In the centre (back row, fourth from left): its chairman Alex Peter from Hochschule Bremen - City University of Applied Sciences (HSB). Back row, far right: Juliana Goncalves from the Portuguese Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB).
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