Simply rethought – EDUC THINK LAB

EDUC Think Lab – A European Student Think Tank for the Digitalisation of Universities

What kind of environment do students need to study successfully in a digital and international context? To explore this question, students from the eight universities of the European Digital UniverCity (EDUC) will collaborate in the EDUC Think Lab – Virtual Campus during the 2025/2026 academic year.

The Think Lab was created to actively involve the largest group of stakeholders at our universities – the students – in shaping the development of the EDUC Virtual Campus. In this unique format, students develop specific ideas and practical components they would like to see as part of their virtual campus, and present them to a panel of European experts. Throughout the process, they are mentored and supported by staff from the eight partner universities within the EDUC Alliance.

Two places in the Think Lab are reserved for students from the University of Potsdam, offering them the opportunity to help shape the future of their virtual campus. To enable the selected students to invest time and energy in the Think Lab, they receive support through a university scholarship (Deutschlandstipendium). Applications for the two Potsdam places open online on 1 July 2025.

How Does the Think Lab Work?

The Think Lab is a one-of-a-kind European initiative where students and staff from eight universities work together on the digitalisation of their European university alliance. The collaboration is based on mutual respect for the diverse perspectives and expertise of all participants.

• The Think Lab has 16 places – two per EDUC university. Selected students will receive a scholarship, employment contract, or internship agreement, depending on the policies of their home institution, to enable their participation.
• The active collaboration takes place over eight months. The Think Lab meets in person for three workshops in November 2025, March 2026, and June 2026 at EDUC partner universities, with regular online collaboration in between.
• Students work in thematic groups on one or more components of the virtual campus, with clearly defined objectives.
• Participants will be in regular contact with EDUC experts and receive continuous guidance.
• Students will present their interim and final outcomes relating to the digital campus to the EDUC Steering Committee in summer 2026.
• Participation in the Think Lab requires an average minimum commitment of two hours per week, which can be organised flexibly within the team.

What Are the Benefits of Taking Part?

In addition to receiving a University of Potsdam scholarship of €300 per month for one year, students benefit from hands-on, interdisciplinary collaboration in an international team of fellow students and staff.

“I really enjoy working in the Think Lab because it allows us to engage with both strategic and technical aspects. On one hand, we tackle key questions: What should the chatbot be capable of? What do we need to consider in terms of data protection and privacy? On the other hand, we also get hands-on with the technology – delving into the complexities of chatbot design, discussing how advanced it should be, exploring the potential of AI, and selecting the chatbot models we want to implement.”

Pascal Kienast, participant in the Think Lab 2024-2025

Who Can Apply?

Building and developing our virtual campus requires a broad range of perspectives and expertise – from programming skills and user experience design to community management. Some of the key questions include: What are the essential elements of a virtual campus? How can we create a space for learning and exchange? The EDUC Think Lab was designed especially with students in Computer Science, IT Systems Engineering, Data Science, Business Informatics, Media Studies, and related fields in mind. However, we explicitly encourage applications from students of all disciplines.

What is EDUC?

EDUC is short for European Digital UniverCity. It is a transformative alliance of eight European universities from seven countries whose aim is to create an inclusive European higher education area where students, researchers, teaching staff, and other employees at the partner universities can learn, teach, and work together. The EDUC virtual campus is the jointly used digital infrastructure that ensures this international learning and networking between the universities and students.

Universities in the EDUC alliance are: University of Potsdam (Germany), University of Cagliari (Italy), Masaryk University (Czech Republic), University of Pécs (Hungary), University Paris Nanterre (France), University of Rennes (France), Jaume I University (Spain), University of South-Eastern Norway (Norway)