By Erdogan Cagatay Zontur

ANKARA

An Istanbul university is joining eight other schools as a founding member in an alliance formed with the aim of promoting “European Union values” in higher education.

Istanbul Technical University (ITU) is set to become a founding member of the European Engineering, Learning Innovation and Science Alliance (EELISA), the university announced on Wednesday.

In a press release, ITU said members of a university delegation, led by Rector Mehmet Karaca, had met in Madrid with representatives of several European universities on Jan. 29 with a view to “benefiting from their teaching and research potential”.

According to the statement, EELISA is aimed at finding solutions to social issues and reinforcing the “values” of the European Union in the field of higher education.

It also seeks to adapt university strategies to bring them into line with the goals of sustainable development and encourage the mobility of engineering students and academic and administrative staff.

The statement also refers to gender equality, pointing out that women should enjoy the same rights as men in the engineering profession.

The meeting was attended by representatives from Madrid Polytechnic University (Spain); Budapest Technology and Economy University (Hungary); Bucharest Polytechnic University (Romania); and Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nurnberg (Germany).

Representatives of several prestigious engineering schools -- including Chimie ParisTech, Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees ParisTech, ENSTA ParisTech, and Mines ParisTech -- were also in attendance.