From October 8 to 10, the Innovating Higher Education Conference 2025 took place in Hagen, Germany. The event was organized by the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU) in cooperation with FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany’s largest distance-learning university. The conference brought together representatives of higher education institutions from across Europe to share experiences and discuss the future of digital, open, and inclusive education.

Within the framework of the conference, several working meetings of the European universities alliance OpenEU, of which Daugavpils University is a member, were held. These included the meetings of the Rectors’ Board, the Project Executive Board, the Institutional Coordinators, as well as in-person sessions of several work packages and the Student Council Board. The agenda covered current issues related to project implementation and analysis of the results achieved during the first ten months of the project. Discussions also addressed strategic topics concerning the digital transformation of higher education, international cooperation, flexible learning formats, and sustainable development.

OpenEU unites eight open universities and two traditional universities, including Daugavpils University. The alliance aims to become a leading European network in the field of digital and flexible education.

The I-HE 2025 conference, this year themed “Rethinking Higher Education: Engage, Adapt, Include,” served as the first major public milestone in the OpenEU project’s activities and as an opportunity to present progress to the European higher education community, share initial achievements, and receive feedback from field experts. Within the conference, several studies conducted by the alliance were presented, focusing on gender equality, ecological footprint and sustainability, and the digitalization processes of traditional universities.

In total, more than 50 OpenEU representatives from partner universities participated in the Hagen conference, demonstrating a shared commitment to building an open, digital, inclusive, and lifelong learning–oriented university model.

More information is available on the OpenEU project website.

OpenEU Institutional Coordinator

at Daugavpils University

Jeļena Tamane

jelena.tamane@du.lv

T. +371 26114750