Episode 1: Promoting European values 

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Koen: Co-creation isn’t always flowers and butterflies. It’s sometimes a little messy because you need to cope with institutional and cultural differences in a broader European university lines.  

Minna: This is European Connections, a podcast where we have meaningful conversations about European university alliances and how they deepen our collaboration. My name is Minna Kaihovirta. I’m Manager of Dialogue in Metropolia University of Applied Sciences and a member of communication group within U!REKA European University. Today in this episode, I have with me Koen van Dam from Kent University of Applied Sciences and Arts located in Belgium. His current role is Engagement Lead in U!REKA European University. There are currently 65 university alliances in Europe. One main reason why the European Commission supports these alliances is to strengthen European values within Europe. In this time and day, we see a lot of polarisation and therefore this sounds like a challenge. Today I will discuss this theme with Koen. Welcome.  

Koen: Hi Minna, thanks for having me.  

Minna: Good to have you here. This is a vast topic, so I thought we’ll start with something very concrete. We both have a role in U!REKA, one of the university alliances. And one of the first milestones for us was to define values for this alliance. Since you have a leading role in engagement, could you walk us through the process, how it was done?  

Koen: Yes, sure. First of all, I think the task lead role I had in co-creating the values with the team, because it was actually really a team effort from February 2024 up till October, the end of October 2024. We had different stages in retrospect. When we look at it right now, first of all, of course, you need to get to know each other as individuals, also as institutions of higher education, and the foundation needed to be laid down. And then, of course, so the first stage was all about laying that foundation, doing some (test) [0:02:56] research on institutional documents. What values does every higher education institution as a full partner within U!REKA prioritise. That was the first stage.  

Minna: Very important to have your homework done before you dive into the process.  

Koen: Exactly. And also looking at the grant agreement, that was put forward by the commission based on the proposal and the funding, and then look at, okay, where do we want to go with our values set. What’s the mission, what’s the joint vision and how are we going to proceed. And very soon it appeared to be important that inclusion as a key value was already stated in our proposal to get funded. There was no discussion that inclusion, as broadly as one could interpret that value, should be in the centre of our value set. And that was pretty clear pretty early on.  

Minna: No further discussion needed on that. 

Koen: No, just for defining what that could mean, of course, we needed to discuss, but inclusion as such was pretty obvious as a key value. And soon enough, while acting upon our mission to create that value set, we also realised that collaborating in one way or another is also very determining in how things evolve. So collaboration, participation, how are we going to do that. That was also something that we were playing with as a concept. So after a few months, we realised we need to involve more people. If we want to make this a shared and a more consensus-based approach and mission, we need to ask people what they think about inclusion, how they define it, how they see it, what they think about participating, collaborating. And soon enough, based on that survey, we had our first workshops in place. That was, I think, around June, beginning of June, during our U!REKA Connect in Ostrava, Czech Republic. That was an anchor point in our approach to co-create values. And co-creation soon came out as a second value, in the sense that we had, I think, 60 people in person during a workshop. One hour, it was very dense, but a little magic happened there, in my opinion. And I’m a bit biased, of course, as a task lead of this mission to co-create values. But what we saw there was we actually had circled conversations with six to eight people in each circle, and they all talked about the value inclusion or the value collaborating and how do we collaborate. And there was an open question about what about the third value. That was open. And out of that one hour workshop in person, the third value just appeared out of nowhere. It was boldness. And boldness in the sense to stretch boundaries, to be bold, to take risks, to speak up in that sense. That was actually a very fresh, new, co-created value during that hour. It was nice to see. Also co-creation came out as a second one on top of inclusion that we already defined. So I think that was a very important moment for us to come up with a consensus on the value set. And secondly, I think the second anchor point, and I think you’ll also notice, Minna, because you were also there during those moments, was a virtual workshop, which was online and was during a Let’s Share meeting, which is actually a meeting where everybody who is involved, but also is part of the broader U!REKA community, is invited. And we have a nice mix of different roles, staff, researchers. We had admin people, we had students. And it was actually the same thing, but a step further, the next phase, so to speak, and virtually. So it was a bit exciting [laughs] to take the lead in this. But it was nice to see that also there, it spontaneously emerged out of it that we needed stories to enrich those values. That was the first insight. And secondly, we also got some stories. For instance, a student who shared the story that boldness attracted him as a value. That was also the question, which value are you most attracted to and resonates most with you and why. That was actually a question during that online workshop, and people responded to that pretty spontaneously. It was nice to see that also that students shared his experience showcasing boldness. He got the opportunity to leave on an Erasmus exchange project, and it was very, very exciting. He was a little bit terrified. But by doing so, by taking that step, deciding to do that, he really opened up his world as a student, but also as a human being. So it showed that that second anchor point, the second online workshop was leading to a result that actually came at the end of October, a result that was co-created. Our three values, inclusion, co-creation, and also boldness, were the main points.  

Minna: It’s actually really nice to hear you describing the workshop moment as a place where little magic happened, and something just happened when we, of course, after good groundwork and good planning, but when we brought the people together and let them discuss the values. I think there we are really touching something important. I have previous experience from the value renewal process within my own University of Applied Sciences, Metropolia, located here in Finland. I am a strong advocate for a participatory approach and gained valuable experience from renewal process in Finland. I was really pleased to notice, that we, you and me, we share the appreciation for co-creation. And we did have some really good planning sessions discussing how to get these alliance members representing different roles, different backgrounds, how to get them to participate. So when you are there to witness the moment when little magic happens, I think that’s really rewarding in a way. And also, I think that the continuity that we were able to bring into process, that there was the follow up workshop online with a bit different people in there. Then we were sort of continuing the work that was started in the workshop. I think it really shows that we were finding the right wording and focusing on right themes and still letting people to discuss and sort of feel how they react to which they are most attracted to.  

Koen: Exactly.  

Minna: So looking from here, I think that we managed to do something right in the process.  

Koen: Yes, I definitely think so. And for me also, the end result, because the end result was that one-page document with the mission and the values together with the vision, actually two pages. But that was… 

Minna: That was done by the end of 2024.  

Koen: By the end of October, yes, 2024, but then actually the real work started. And I’m going to explain a little bit because the values on paper is one thing or the mission on paper is one thing, but bringing them to life and enriching them with real experiences is what the actual work is also about. And we knew that by the process itself, by seeing during that virtual workshop that people wanted to add stories to that and actually were prepared or eager to share experiences. I think we grabbed that opportunity after October by, for instance, research days that we organised again for U!REKA. There was a chat box, sort of a video box where we invited researchers and asked them the same questions. Two questions, which value of the three resonates most with you and why and how could you integrate this more from your role as a researcher into your work. That also brought forth stories that we then used, transcription of that used for feeding our channels, social media channels, but also the sharing of how values are translated into behaviour, into vision of the people involved in U!REKA in a broader way. I think that’s really important, having those testimonials, but also for the later work within U!REKA, drafting the principles of good governance, having a conversation about and talking about meeting about the joint incubator for entrepreneurship, which is also prone to mission and vision and it also needs to be aligned with what we already have. And so the real work is now emerging out of the end result, which is actually a very static approach to values.  

Minna: And I see that whenever we ask people to refer to values, we end up with them sharing stories with us, whether we ask them to share, as in your example, during the research days or otherwise. I think that’s quite a nice way of sort of testing whether the values really resonate with them, whether they feel committed to the values, whether they feel that the values really are lived through in the everyday life. So as we are passing these tests now and also in the future, I think that’s good feedback for the whole process and for the selection of values.  

Koen: Yes, it is. And also the governance bodies on the highest level, the steering committee, but also the student council within U!REKA, the executive committee, were all asked the same questions. Which value resonates most and why and how can you integrate in your work, seeing from the perspective of your role. And that was the clarity of those questions and the conciseness also showed coherence, also showed that the answers brought more nuance to the values. I think that’s also on every level important, and not only with the governance bodies, but also in the broader community that we want to reach the upcoming years. 

Minna: After you say that we always ask the same question, I just have to ask you which value resonates most for you, Koen?  

Koen: That’s a very difficult question. But from my role within U!REKA, I think prioritising the values, so me as a task lead and chairing meetings, I think the co-creative approach is very important because it’s also a challenging one. Because co-creation isn’t always flowers and butterflies. It’s sometimes a little messy because you need to cope with institutional and cultural differences in a broader European university alliance. But values is about people working together and co-creation is actually a choice to do that from a human-centred perspective. Trying to understand each other, trying to make yourself understood for others and then in that process, acting and taking steps and progressing in the things that you want to do together. For me it’s a very, when it works and we also mentioned it before, some magic happens. When it doesn’t work, then you are confronted with a challenge which is also nice. And then sometimes boldness comes up and also inclusion, including the silent voices in the group or other ways to do it. But co-creation actually is also for me embodying from my role the other two values. 

Minna: I would actually answer just the same way that the co-creation is the one that resonates most for me. I actually did an interesting finding. I mentioned that I was helping Metropolia to renew their value base, and the updated values, the renewed value base, I see quite a bit of similarities with U!REKA’s values and Metropolia’s values, and I really hope that it’s not because I was involved in both processes, but because both organisations share the sustainable future as their main goal. It’s really interesting how the human touch comes up in both of those. In Metropolia’s values, we say, with a human touch, and as you were just explaining the U!REKA values, as you see them, it’s embedded in co-creation value. So I kind of feel good that both organisations are heading the same way. And for me, as part of both, it makes life easier. There’s no different needs or different goals or different ways of doing things, but I can walk the talk of the values of each organisation.  

Koen: Yes, the same goes for the Kent University of Applied Sciences and Arts. I think the human-centred approach is also one of the core ways of trying to do things that way. So I think since this was also the foundation that we were looking at the different documents, institutional documents, that human-centred approach was, I think, also a common thread through all the visions, all the missions of the institutions. But that’s one thing, but then again, it’s another thing to use that and make a spontaneous process out of that and to have it renewed in a way and give it a sort of a unique U!REKA touch. I’m happy with that.  

Minna: Me too. And I think it’s also important to stop and be thankful and maybe even proud at some point before continuing towards these challenges.  

Koen: It is.  

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Minna: Let’s now move the discussion into more European level. Now I’d like to quote the European Commission, the decision-maker behind this European University Alliance structure. They say, for example, in their website that this initiative has two aims. Firstly, to improve the international competitiveness of higher education institutions in Europe. And secondly, to promote European values and identity. So the values are mentioned already there on the very high level of this initiative. Why does the European Commission, in your opinion, have such a strong focus on European values?  

Koen: Well, of course, the European Union goes a long way back. I think the Treaty of Rome was the first important treaty where the institutional framework for Europe or European Union was set and the Commission was born, so to speak. And we speak now 68 years ago, 1957, and even then already there was the sense of equality. They had equal pay for equal work and it was the seed, so to speak, for later values and principles bound to those values to come. I think gradually after the Treaty of Rome, the Treaty of Nice, many years later, 2000, 2001, where actually the famous article 7 about the values was promoted and decided upon. All member states respect the common values, the human dignity, freedom, democracy, rule of law, also equality, and some principles emerged out of that. So I think it goes a long way back. Since the Treaty of Lisbon, years later, 2007, we had the article 2 on values. That was actually, how do you say it, defined with the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Member states were legally bound, since that charter to actually honour those values and breaching them could have consequences. I think in the facts it didn’t happen up till now. But actually values were not only things that member states could consider when they wanted to. It was actually something that was incorporated in the structure of the European Union. So I think why is it important, I think it goes back a long way. I think principles such as tolerance, justice, solidarity, equality, emerged out of those values. I think that nowadays, it’s more important than ever, I think, to honour those values, or to at least think about them and how to follow them and enrich them in the things we do as Europeans. I think when it comes, I’m also a lecturer in ethics, and when you look at the Western or European, what is now called Europe, but the old Greece, ancient Greece, moral philosophy and the roots with Socrates, we have a long, long moral history and moral philosophy that is actually promoting conversation and promoting discussion about justice. What does it mean to lead a good life. I think it’s not that strange that many centuries later, with the emergence of the European Union and the Commission in the 50s, also after World War II. We need to remember that shortly after World War II, we had the Declaration of Human Rights, which was also a reaction to the calamities of the World War. So I think that’s also in our DNA, because it’s there already for a long time. 

Minna: Thank you for summing up in very brief and understandable way how this really has a long history within Europe. And now if we think that in alliances, we are educating professionals for the future, and if we look around, read news articles or just open the TV, it’s obvious that the world is in a bit of a turbulence right now. So in my opinion, it’s more important now than it was a couple of decades ago to focus on European values, to focus on the things that we share, that we appreciate, that we can commit to instead of trying to focus on things that we disagree upon or that we cannot be like-minded. So I think for the students who are really having all their life ahead of them, it’s really important that there are voices who speak about, we’ve done this before, we stand together, we all appreciate these things. So I think we are much needed in this place and time.  

Koen: Yes, I think so too. And I think to maintain that tradition of values and keeping them alive is indeed more important than ever since all the things that are happening right now geopolitically and in the world and the position of Europe in that all. It’s relevant more than ever and also to pass it on to younger generations, Europeans.  

Minna: Sometimes I hear that values for organisations are referred to as a must-have or something that needs to be done. But based on what we’ll be discussing today, I see that we have much stronger feeling that values are really in the core of existence and in the core of all actions. What do you think that might be the result if we don’t pay attention to our values and our value base?  

Koen: Yeah, that’s a good question actually. I want to refer back to what I was saying about the final stage of bringing those values to life and to look at values from a behavioural standpoint. I think paying attention to values, what does that mean, and for me it’s about conversation and discussing values based on maybe concrete cases, situations, dilemmas and to exchange opinion, exchange perspective and position with each other. I think that’s something on top of compliance or being compliant, when I talked about article 2 of the European Charter of Human Rights, then you have a normative compliance based approach of the values, which is necessary. But I think having a conversation structured around values and what they mean for everybody. Everybody has a certain value set and the same value could mean something different for people that live in different cultures or that have different cultures influencing their lives and their upbringing and their education. I think having the conversation is necessary to try and to understand each other and to be understood and to actually relate or connect stories to that value or value set, so to speak. So for me, paying attention is about that. Talking about values in the sense of what do they mean for me, what do they mean for you, why can I understand you and if not, okay, sometimes it’s okay to disagree. But you need the conversation to at least try to engage with each other’s perspective. So that conversation for me is key to pay attention. So it’s also the way that we structured the in-person workshop and the Ostrava U!REKA Connects because that was also about trying to understand each other’s position to understand the value. I think, that’s for me the most key element in my answer to your question. 

Minna: And I think it’s a good piece of advice for any of us. Please pay attention to what you are doing, what others are doing and have a discussion whether you agree with them or whether you are maybe confused by how they are doing something. That might lead into… 

Koen: Exactly. 

Minna: …some really interesting discussions when you are willing to discuss and when willing to reflect your own actions. Well, we’ve been focusing on young students, and university alliances work a lot with young people but we also have the group of continuous learners, people who are maybe studying their second degree or who are coming back to university to update some of their information. What should we think about them? Do you think it’s important for them to share the same values as well?  

Koen: Well, partly I could refer to my previous answer because also different generations can share the same value but define them differently. So having conversations is important, but on top of that, when I again refer to the values of U!REKA, for me I think the way people, regardless of their ages, work together and collaborate in a way that something new emerges of that collaboration, that’s actually what co-creation is, that they both couldn’t have done alone, then you have a dynamic that is sustainable in my opinion. So I want to quote a colleague. I don’t know anymore who it was but during the virtual workshop on values, there was someone, a staff member who said if you want to go far, go together, and I love that quote and it’s also integrated in our mission statement afterwards.  

Minna: And doesn’t the other part go, if you want to go fast, go alone. 

Koen: Yes, true.  

Minna: But if you want to go further, then go with the company.  

Koen: Go together, yes it is, and I sincerely believe that. And for any learner who is eager to learn and who wants to go further, then you have to involve other people and to talk again and to get to know each other and understand each other. Because co-creation, I already mentioned it, it’s not always flowers and butterflies, it’s not always the rainbow and the blue sky, it can be messy and… 

Minna: And painful even. 

Koen: And painful even. And sometimes there can be friction and conflict but when it works and when you can get over those bumps in the road and transcend differences to go for the same goal, then when it works, then it’s flow, it’s the magic that happens, as we mentioned. I think young learners but also people who have more live experience, working together for them as for everyone is the most important thing, and speaking up, that’s also the boldness that I want to refer to again. As a value, speaking up constructively is also important. So me, personally, it’s not a value of U!REKA but integrity is my number one key value. Integrity in the way that when you say to someone or to a group that you’re going to do something, then you just do it and you live up to your promises and the things that you say that you’re going to do. So for me, I don’t know if that’s an answer to your question but I think for people of any age, we need each other to achieve more. 

Minna: I share your viewpoint on that, and I think the community is richer the more different persons it includes. So whenever we can bring people with different backgrounds, from different generations, maybe different nationalities, whatever personal history everybody brings in, the more fruitful the discussions will be or at least the end result. The journey might be a bit rough at times as it can be with co-creation but the end result is totally worth it. And usually people say after a workshop or session or discussion that I think I have renewed my thinking. I see this from a different point of view. And that’s again the prize that all of us who are working for promoting co-creation, we can be really happy with when we see that.  

Koen: It is. It makes you feel good also if you realise something with other people. It makes you just feel good together. And I experienced this with some teams in U!REKA that there is more of a dynamic and people are also committed and engaged in the work that needs to be done in between meetings. People start writing, they start sharing ideas and they start engaging and just scheduling more time to work on the common project. As a task leads, it’s a dream scenario, I think, but it happens and it’s nice to witness and to experience.  

Minna: It is. 

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Minna: Let’s now move on to the learning outcomes. We’ve been through a long process with values, but how would you summarise your learnings during the process of co-creating the values for the U!REKA Alliance?  

Koen: Yeah, well to me it was the first time that I had the opportunity to work in such an international context and environment with people from, not only the six partner institutions but also the external stakeholders and the associate partner institutions and organisations. So for me it was a big step in the way to get the opportunity to lead some work package and to have the chair role for meetings and task leads or in tasks. So that was in the beginning a little bit exciting and then a little bit a path into the unknown, but I learned a lot from it. When we narrow it down to the process of coming to those values set and having that end result and bringing them to life, now I think what I learned is that more than ever for me personally, the value of integrity and building trust with people is my most important learning outcome. Just also to realise that getting to know each other is important, understanding each other is important but acting is also important, making progress, having the next steps, being prepared and trying to convince people that we need to move on. I remember our first executive committee meeting was at the two-day meeting a series in Brussels beginning of February last year, and I realised we did then sort of a survey, a live survey with the people that were present, members of the executive committee and what came out as the number one challenge that everybody decided upon was actually, we want to work together but we also need to recognise our cultural and institutional differences and that that could be a challenge. It actually appeared to be a challenge sometimes, and that’s okay because we predicted it in a way. That gives us more room to tackle those moments and to resolve those challenges and situations. I really learned while co-creating the values and talking about them and trying to follow them myself, I learned a lot about myself also, yes. And that’s great. That’s the personal development that I also am prone to and love.  

Minna: It’s good to hear that you did learn a lot. For me, I think the key learning is that when people participate the process, it is much more likely that they are committed to the result. And whenever the topic is something that needs to be shared, such as values in this case, it just makes sense to bring everyone together to work out the result together. It’s almost as it would be difficult for me to think any other way to carry out these processes. I did have proof of this from Finland from my own professional circle but also for me, this was a very international experience and this sort of proved this point also on international context. So we people are similar regardless where we are from. There are some similarities to us and how we work together. To end this, do you have any words of encouragement for fellow alliance professionals? 

Koen: Well, I think I am humble in my attempt to answer that question because we are all different and have different journeys and experiences, so who am I to do. But a lot is said already, and I would like to repeat something that I said. I think it’s about really trying to connect with each other and understand each other but also to move on, act, make progress together. I think that’s the only thing that I can say, and there are many ways to do that. Meet the goals that you have set up and have a go together, and that’s also what you were referring to as your insight. So that would be it, I think. Very basic but not always not always easy. So I’ll stick to that. 

Minna: Thank you, Koen, for joining me today for having this discussion, and thank you for listening us. 

Koen: Thanks for having me. 

Minna: This podcast is produced by Metropolia University of Applied Sciences as part of the U!REKA European University Alliance collaboration. 

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