ACEEU (Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial and Engaged Universities) is a globally operating quality assurance body dedicated to advancing higher education by supporting universities in their transformation process towards greater innovation, entrepreneurship and engagement. Being committed to redefining the standards of quality in higher education and empowering university stakeholders to be proactive agents of change and accelerate innovation and collaboration through third mission activities, ACEEU has always been pushing towards new frontiers in higher education through engagement and entrepreneurship. Founded in 2016 as part of the University-Industry Innovation Network (UIIN) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, ACEEU spun out of UIIN in 2019 to form an independent organization and moved its headquarters to Münster, Germany.
ACEEU accredits universities worldwide in its two main accreditation programs: Entrepreneurial University Accreditation and Engaged University Accreditation. The accreditations aim to promote cultural change, accelerate organizational development and amplify the recognition of universities’ efforts in entrepreneurship and engagement. ACEEU’s activities are clustered around three main steps: Promoting (e.g. workshops and webinars; ACEEU Toolbox development with 100+ tools and Good Practice database with 300+ cases; studies to generate data serving for university development). Evaluating (the accreditation programmes). Celebrating excellence (e.g. hosting the ACEEU’s Triple E Awards on Entrepreneurship and Engagement Excellence in Higher Education; operating The Global League of Entrepreneurial Universities platform showcasing leading universities; disseminating information on entrepreneurial and engagement development in higher education).
Having successfully accredited institutions in Asia, Australia, Europe, and Latin America, with more than 20 additional institutions in the process, ACEEU Council has created of a new level of accreditation, focusing on academic units (including faculties, schools, and departments). The new divisional accreditation allows for faculties, schools, and departments to showcase to students, university stakeholders, industry stakeholders and society their unwavering dedication to engagement and/or entrepreneurship. An engaged academic unit is dedicated to continuous improvement and the generation of greater social and cultural impacts for the city and region, while an entrepreneurial academic unit is dedicated to continuous improvement and generation of greater economic impacts in the region.”
ACEEU has grown tremendously over the years and currently has 14 team members and is backed by more than 40 international experts who joined the ACEEU Council. The ACEEU team consists of multicultural individuals who are driven, creative and dedicated to breaching the boundaries of higher education while the majority of ACEEU Council members currently hold or have held leadership/management positions within higher education institutions or institutions in the field of entrepreneurship and engagement. ACEEU is not a new player in the European projects. Its dedication to increasing societal impact has led ACEEU to be part of 30 European projects in which majority put a special focus on fostering community engagement within and through higher education (e.g. Qual Al-ty Engagement, ComEnt, Mentor Your Future, etc.) and building the capacity and skills of university staff to increase their social and economic contributions (SDG iLevel, Sustainability, Rural Canvas, etc.). Through these projects, ACEEU has not only gained deeper and vast knowledge of the field of engagement but has also enriched its resources and built up more skills in exploiting digital innovations, that lies at the core of SKILLS4Water project.
ACEEU in SKILLS4Water
Its renowned reputation as a forward-thinking quality assurance body that promotes and acknowledges the engagement and entrepreneurial potential of universities makes ACEEU a well-suited partner for the Skills4Water project. ACEEU as an international expert in engaged and entrepreneurial universities has been involved in the organisation of university staff training workshops, and the development of relevant study materials in both printed and online formats. Furthermore, ACEEU has developed a number of web-based interactive solutions for universities (i.e., web-based evaluation systems, dashboards and training programs). ACEEU’s wide range of experience in supporting universities unleashing its engagement potential will be a game-changer in SKILLS4Water project.
Key People involved in SKILLS4Water
Prof. Dr. Thorsten Kliewe
Prof. Dr. Thorsten Kliewe is the founder and chair of the ACEEU. Under his leadership, the 35+ expert strong council has designed the framework for the world’s first institutional accreditation for the third mission of universities (entrepreneurship, engagement). With prestigious universities such as the University of Adelaide (Australia), Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden) or University of Tartu (Estonia), being among the first accredited institutions and more than 20 institutions from around the world undertaking the process at the moment, Thorsten has been instrumental in the development of higher education institutions. Next to his role in quality assurance, Thorsten is Full Professor for Innovation Management and Business Development at Münster University of Applied Sciences (MUAS) in Germany. He also serves as Managing Director of the Science-to-Business Marketing Research Centre (S2BMRC), a 25-person strong centre dedicated to generating and disseminating knowledge and tools on how to foster university-business and university-society relationships..
Dr. Lina Landinez
Dr. Lina Landinez is CEO of ACEEU. In her role, she provides leadership in the running of the Council. She drives the development of new member services, accreditation types, and special initiatives e.g. ACEEU’s Triple E Awards, development of tools and methods for institutional development. Lina is also a Junior Professor in Innovation and Technology Management at MUAS in Germany and a Leader of the Science-to-Innovation Research Group within the S2BMRC of the same university. Next to her academic and quality assurance profile, she has extensive experience in government and industry, gained through positions as Innovation Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as the Ministry of Industry in Colombia, and Project Lead Innovation Management at Wessling GmbH, a German laboratory, testing and consulting company for the continuous improvement of quality, safety, environmental and health protection.
Adisa Ejubovic (MSc.)
Adisa Ejubovic (MSc.) is Executive Director at ACEEU. She is an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s graduate of a program titled Research and Innovation in Higher Education (MARIHE). This program’s unique keen focus on quality assurance, policy development, engagement and reforms in higher education was of paramount relevance in shaping Adisa’s expertise in university management for instigating institutional change. For the past years, she has been a Research Associate at the Science-to-Business Marketing Research Centre. She has coordinated the largest project looking into modalities of university-industry collaboration – Global University Engagement Monitor – and was involved in the Centre’s flagship project University-Business Cooperation in Europe, executed for the European Commission in 25+ European countries. She coauthored 10+ national country reports on the status quo of university business cooperation and she carried out work for the European University Association (EUA) in Brussels, working on projects pertaining to national governance systems.
