Aurora 2030: Task Team 9.2 (TT9.2) Holds Its First Field Visit at the Copenhagen Business School

The quality of university education cannot be assessed solely through indicators and procedures; it is understood by closely observing how it originates, develops, and makes an impact. With this goal in mind, the first field visit of Task Team 9.2 (TT9.2) of the European Aurora 2030 project , coordinated by Professor Mita Marra of the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Naples Federico II, took place from June 30 to July 2, 2026, at Copenhagen Business School.

TT9.2 focuses on the quality of education and social impact and is conducting an evaluative study aimed at understanding how the universities of the Aurora Alliance translate these objectives into their teaching practices. The goal is to develop Quality Evaluation and Assurance systems capable of capturing the contribution of higher education to the creation of social value and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The visit was much more than a data-collection exercise. It served as an opportunity for colleagues from various universities within the Allianceto exchange ideas and engage in mutual learning, based on direct observation of innovative practices developed in different university contexts.

Through fourteen semi-structured interviews with faculty members, educational developers, quality assurance officers, administrative staff, and students, the working group was able to compare pedagogical approaches, organizational methods, challenges, and solutions adopted in the various contexts. This dialogue is essential for understanding not only which practices yield promising results but also which institutional, professional, and administrative conditions make their implementation, consolidation, and long-term sustainability possible.

One of the distinctive features of the Aurora Alliance is precisely its ability to create structured opportunities for exchange among partner universities, allowingthem to observe, discuss, and critically analyze their respective experiences, assess their strengths and challenges, and reflect on their potential transferability and adaptability to other contexts.

The TT9.2 field visits, in fact, provide insight into how innovative teaching initiatives are designed, adapted, implemented, and supported within different university systems. This shift moves from a theoretical description of models to a concrete understanding of the processes, the stakeholders involved, and the conditions that facilitate their operation.

The delegation from Federico II University, composed of Professor Mita Marra and Drs. Maria Florencia Gonzalez and Eliana Patricia Branco, conducted fourteen interviews and numerous meetings with students enrolled in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs.

This fieldwork allowed the team to gather firsthand information on the design and implementation of new educational programs, the role of educational developers, and the contribution of administrative structures both to internationalization processes and to the definition, monitoring, and verification of quality standards.

Particular attention was paid to quality assurance systems, the criteria adopted, and the tools used to assess the quality of educational experiences. From this perspective, evaluation is not viewed as a mere formality or a simple check for compliance with standards, but rather as a process of critical reflection on educational practices, capable of supporting the consolidation, adaptation, and dissemination of pedagogical innovation within the Alliance.

The mission also provided an opportunity to explore in depth the design and implementation of innovative educational programs already underway at Federico II, such as the SEIZMIC program, and to gain firsthand insight into the Permahaven experience—an Aurora community of practice and a hub at the Copenhagen Business School dedicated to sustainability and biodiversity. This space is open to students, academic staff, and the local community, conceived as a permanent laboratory for experimentation, collaboration, and the sharing of practices within the Alliance.

For Federico II, the value of the visit lies above all in the opportunity to bring back—not models to be automatically replicated—but knowledge, tools, and experiences to be discussed, tested, and adapted to the university’s specific context. The insights gathered can help strengthen the design of courses centered on competencies, experiential learning, and the active participation of students and local stakeholders; develop more effective tools for evaluating the quality of teaching and its social impact; support new forms of international and interdisciplinary collaboration; to improve the alignment between pedagogical innovation, quality assurance, and internationalization strategies; to identify practices to be tested in the University’s courses and programs; and to consolidate the institutional capacity to learn from the experiences developed by the other Alliance partners.

The field visit thus serves a dual purpose. On the one hand, it contributes to the evaluative research conducted by TT9.2; on the other, it fuels a process of organizational and institutional learning that strengthens Federico II’s capacity to innovate its educational offerings.

Finally, the exchange with Copenhagen Business School opens up new perspectives for building on existing initiatives, promoting further experimentation, and consolidating Federico II University’s contribution to the development of a European model of higher education that is increasingly interdisciplinary, collaborative, and focused on social impact.