Celebrating city-university collaboration at EUR’s opening academic year 2025

Among the attendees were key figures from the UNIC alliance, including Maarten Nijpels and Albert Engels from the Municipality of Rotterdam, Semiha Denktas (UNIC Alliance Coordinator), and Gwen de Bruin (Coordinator UNIC at EUR, acting manager UNIC HQ) and Marco Aperti (EUR portfolio manager). 

The ceremony featured speeches by Annelien Bredenoord, Chair of the Executive Board of Erasmus University (and chair of UNIC), and Carola Schouten, Mayor of Rotterdam. They both emphasized the importance of universities working closely with their cities to maintain a “license to operate” and remain socially relevant and highlighting how essential it is for institutions to be embedded in society and actively contribute to its development. 

UNIC with the work of the local office from Centre for City Futures, underlines and implements these shared values. The Centre’s work is deeply rooted in ongoing collaboration with municipal figures like Strategic policy advisor Maarten Nijpels and Senior Process manager Albert Engels, whose support continues to be fundamental. 

Earlier this year, to commemorate this partnership, Arno van Prooijen — representing the first “horizontal” director of the City of Rotterdam — signed the Funding Charter of the UNIC Centre for City Futures. This charter formalizes the commitment to a shared infrastructure for city-engaged learning and research, reflecting UNIC’s and Centre for city future local approach. This builds on earlier efforts during the UNIC working conference in Oulu, Finland, where representatives from ten UNIC cities and their universities came together to shape a shared vision for urban transformation.  

UNIC’s thematic lines’ activities such as Hidden Cities (EUR/Cork) and Academic to Entrepreneurial Impact (EUR/RUB), are living examples of how universities and cities, as two fundamental societal actors, can interact to create positive outcomes. 

“I am very happy about this work, which continues to evolve. Universities and cities are so similar, and yet so different. Erasmus University Rotterdam and the City of Rotterdam must continue on this path of mutual strength. UNIC is the perfect space to experiment with this kind of shared work.”  Semiha Denktas, UNIC Alliance Coordinator