1st Stage
Building the alliance (2024–2025)
EduCare 5.0 is a European alliance of higher education institutions working in health and care education, research and innovation. Hochschule Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSBI) coordinates the alliance.
The partners submitted their joint proposal to the Erasmus+ European Universities initiative in February 2024, and in June 2024 the European Commission awarded it the Seal of Excellence. Between October 2024 and October 2025 the partners met in person in Bielefeld, Barcelona and Ústí nad Labem. In April 2025 several partners started DigiCare Innovation, a project funded under the EIT Higher Education Initiative.
2024: Proposal and Seal of Excellence
The alliance submitted its proposal to the Erasmus+ European Universities initiative in February 2024. In June 2024 the European Commission awarded the proposal its Seal of Excellence, which confirms the quality of the application. At that time the alliance had nine partner universities, with Hochschule Bielefeld as coordinator.
October 2024: First meeting in Bielefeld
The first in-person meeting of the alliance took place at Hochschule Bielefeld on 9–11 October 2024. It brought together 22 representatives of all nine partners from eight countries.
- Partners visited the HSBI main building, the experiMINT student lab, the Skills Labs of the Healthcare Department and CareTech OWL.
- They reviewed the evaluation report of the 2024 proposal to draw lessons for future applications.
- They agreed the plans for 2025: further funding applications, an alliance website, Erasmus+ agreements between the partner universities and a survey of the partner institutions’ needs.
March 2025: Working meeting in Barcelona
On 19 and 20 March 2025 the partners met at the Sant Cugat Campus of Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC Barcelona). The working sessions focused on strategies to improve knowledge transfer and research in health. UIC Barcelona academics presented the university’s degree and master’s programmes, its health research lines and its facilities.
April 2025: DigiCare Innovation starts
DigiCare Innovation, a joint project of alliance partners, started in April 2025 and runs until April 2027. It is funded by the European Union through the EIT Higher Education Initiative and coordinated by Hochschule Bielefeld. The project develops digital health testbeds, training, mentoring and startup support for community care. Details are on our Results page and on the DigiCare Innovation website.
October 2025: Meeting in Ústí nad Labem
The third working meeting of the alliance took place on 13 and 14 October 2025 at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem (UJEP), Czechia. Partners strengthened their networking and learned more about the member institutions.
2nd Stage
Growing and organising (2026)
In January 2026 the alliance grew to ten higher education institutions from nine countries. During the year the partners started joint training through Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs) and a webinar series, the Innovation and Research Academy.
At their fourth working meeting, in April 2026, the partners agreed a joint strategy for the next two years, set out in the EduCare 5.0 Capacity Building through to 2028 action plan.
January 2026: Ten members from nine countries
Two institutions joined the alliance in January 2026: Diaconia University of Applied Sciences (Diak), Finland, and the Medical University of Łódź, Poland, which joined by an addendum signed on 13 January 2026. EduCare 5.0 now brings together ten higher education institutions from Austria, Czechia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain.
February 2026: Information session on BIPs
On 12 February 2026 the alliance held an information session for its partners on Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs).
April 2026: Fourth working meeting at Egas Moniz
From 20 to 22 April 2026 Egas Moniz School of Health & Science hosted the fourth working meeting of the alliance in Almada, in the Lisbon area. Partners strengthened their networking, gained first-hand insight into the member universities and advanced the DigiCare Innovation project, then in its second phase.
The main outcome was the EduCare 5.0 Capacity Building through to 2028 action plan. It sets a four-level model aimed at increasing departmental engagement, generating a continuous flow of proposals and strengthening the alliance from within. The partners also confirmed that the next alliance meeting would take place in Iași, Romania, in October 2026.
June 2026: Innovation and Research Academy webinar
On 25 June 2026 the alliance’s Innovation and Research Academy held the webinar “Navigating the HR Excellence in Research Award Journey”, on the HR Excellence in Research Award (HRS4R). Colleagues from the Medical University of Łódź shared their institution’s experience with the award process.
July and September 2026: Blended Intensive Programmes
- Co-INSIGHT, 6–10 July 2026.
- Dual-Use in Medicine, 6–10 July 2026, with 23 participants from five institutions, including UMF Iași.
- Research Management, a BIP for staff at the HSBI Research Academy in Bielefeld, September 2026, with 28 participants from ten partner institutions in nine countries.
3rd Stage
Capacity building to 2028
The EduCare 5.0 Capacity Building through to 2028 action plan sets out the alliance’s joint strategy, agreed at the April 2026 meeting. It establishes a four-level model aimed at increasing departmental engagement, generating a continuous flow of proposals and strengthening the alliance from within.
The initiatives agreed under the plan include the alliance’s governance structure, a pre-award support service for project teams, new training formats for staff and mentoring programmes.
Alliance governance
The partners agreed to establish the alliance’s governance structure. This includes organising the second rectors’ meeting and creating a student committee to encourage active student participation in the alliance.
Pre-award support
The alliance plans a pre-award support service to help teams prepare joint proposals in areas such as research and teaching.
Staff training and mentoring
New Blended Intensive Programmes focus on training for academic and professional services staff. A staff BIP on research management, led by Hochschule Bielefeld, took place at the HSBI Research Academy in September 2026. The alliance also plans mentoring programmes for experts in different fields, to support knowledge exchange across the network.
Joint projects: DigiCare Innovation and THRIVE
Alliance partners carry out two projects funded through the EIT Higher Education Initiative. DigiCare Innovation, coordinated by Hochschule Bielefeld, runs until April 2027. THRIVE, led by UIC Barcelona, started its first phase in September 2026 and runs until August 2028. Both projects are described on our Results page.
October 2026: Biannual Conference in Iași
“Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iași (UMF Iași) hosts the alliance’s biannual conference from 7 to 11 October 2026.
