Iscte is a member of the PIONEER Alliance, a consortium of ten candidates for the European Universities Initiative.

The PIONEER Alliance includes the following universities:

• University Gustave Eiffel (FR) (coordinator)
• Avans University of Applied Sciences (NL)
• Laurea University of Applied Sciences (FI)
• TH Köln - University of Applied Sciences (DE)
• University of Huelva (SP)
• IUAV University of Venice (IT)
• University Tomas Bata in Zlìn (CZ)
• The University of Zilina in Slovakia
• Bern University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland (as an associate partner).
  

The universities aim to co-create a transnational European campus and promote joint education, research, and innovation activities. They aim to inform public policies on the future of cities in line with EU priorities, to meet European citizens’ needs. These priorities include the Green Deal, 100 carbon-neutral cities, regional smart specialisation strategies, digital transformation, and open science.

The PIONEER Alliance's activities cover seven of the programme and structuring themes of the European agenda, including urban transition, vulnerability, inclusion, and health in cities; sustainable and resilient cities; digital transition; and mobility, energy transition, and nature in cities. These thematic programmes are designed to promote inter- and transdisciplinary academic work, using different methodological traditions as effective teaching and research agendas.

The PIONEER European campus is founded on the principle of openness: the PIONEER Alliance is designed to be inclusive of everyone, including students, teaching and non-teaching staff so that all can benefit from the opportunity to study or work abroad, discover new cultures, and participate in common projects and structures. The European open campus will allow students to develop three competences: linguistic, intercultural, and international. Linguistic competence refers to studying and working in a foreign language. Intercultural competence refers to the ability to collaborate with students and teachers from diverse backgrounds. International competence refers to broadening knowledge through comparative approaches across Europe. The PIONEER open campus will also provide an environment for students to deliberate and practice European values such as democracy, human rights, and sustainability. This education aims to promote European citizenship and improve the employability of students, teaching, and non-teaching staff across Europe.

Iscte is coordinating several projects involving partner universities as part of the PIONNER Alliance:

• MANAGIDITH Project Managing Digital Transformation in the Health Sector (ManagiDiTH), is a four-year initiative funded by the European Union. Its objective is to create a new master's degree curriculum that equips healthcare professionals with the skills required to develop digital services in the health sector. The project will be developed in a transnational and intersectoral project from 2023 to 2026 and is led by Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa. The consortium, which includes Iscte, Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Aristothelio Panepistimio Thessalonikis, Gustave Eiffel University/ESIEE Paris, Instituto de Telecomunicações, Whymob, Lda, Clinipower Finland Ltd, and Mundiserviços - Companhia Portuguesa de Serviços e Gestão, Lda, was awarded the European call for Advanced Digital Skills from the Digital Europe programme launched by the European Commission and managed by HADEA. The ManagiDiTH Master consists of three main components: Skills in the health sector, Social skills and Digital skills. The Digital Skills component offers two possible branches, Data Science or Interoperability, depending on the student's interests and training profile. The curriculum consists of a total of 90 ECTS, which corresponds to three semesters of training.
  
  
• ATHENA Project

  The ATHENA Project, University Goes Digital for a Sustainable Global Education, was funded by the Erasmus+ Programme and coordinated by Iscte - University Institute of Lisbon, having as partner universities Gustave Eiffel University (France), the University of Florence (Italy) and Sigmund Freud University (Austria). The project developed cooperative learning environments that are inclusive and transformative by utilising new technologies such as e-learning, gaming platforms, virtual and augmented reality. These technologies will be systematically modelled to activate key competences in digital learning.

• InCITIES - Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon leads the InCITIES project, is a three-year initiative (October 2022 - September 2025) that aims to transform Higher Education Institutions and their surrounding ecosystems to meet the inclusion, sustainability, and resilience needs of cities. This project aims to tackle the challenges faced by cities in Europe and globally, with a particular emphasis on the enlargement of countries such as Portugal and Slovakia. The project aims to help these cities overcome structural, socio-cultural, economic, political, and institutional barriers. The partner universities involved in this project are Gustave Eiffel University (FR), TH Koln (GE), Laurea (FN), and UNIZA (SK).