UNG: The Across Alliance and the European Capital of Culture: reaching the young and going green

University of Nova Gorica , the Slovenian ACROSS Alliance member, is based in the border town of Nova Gorica, which, together with its adjacent Italian town of Gorizia, in 2025 represents the first ever cross-border European Capital of Culture. This extraordinary occasion coincides with another important milestone – the university’s 30th anniversary, giving many an opportunity for presenting the ACROSS Alliance project to the wider audience at numerous events taking place all across the region.

This year, the university’s most importat regional outreach focus areas were youth engagement and sustainability, therefore a large number of young people had the chance to learn about the ACROSS project and its advantages.

The main open-air public outreach event – the University of Nova Gorica Day, marking the 30th anniversary of the University of Nova Gorica, was held in the campus town of Ajdovščina on 29th May 2025, where educational scientific experiments, interactive workshops and artistic installations took place. The event, supported by the Municipality of Ajdovščina, also hosted stands of selected local innovative businesses, as well as educational organisations providing quality services for youth. Environmental and sustainability issues were addressed not only through usual environmental workshops, but also in a very creative way through a real “forest” that provided shade and created a pleasant rest oasis to for the event visitors. This mobile installation of trees is a part of the GreenInCities project, which focuses on integrated and collaborative approaches for planning urban climate regeneration. The ACROSS Alliance stand at the event attracted primary, secondary and university students, teachers, researches, as well as the general public and representatives of local stakeholder.

The ACROSS Alliance activities were also presented at the traditional festival of education “Parada učenja” (Engl. The Learning Parade), organised by the Ljudska univerza Ajdovščina (Engl. Public University Ajdovščina Adult Education Centre) in Ajdovščina on 21st May 2025 as part of the national Lifelong Learning Week series of events. Holding the status of the EU Talent Point providing support to talented youth, the University of Nova Gorica also presented ACROSS to highly talented primary and secondary school students – winners of national knowledge competitions from all over Slovenia. The ceremony, organised by the Association for Technical Culture of Slovenia, was held in Ljubljana on 14th June 2025.

Promoting cross-border cooperation and sustainability, the University of Nova Gorica also presented the ACROSS Alliance at the international Landscape Festival “At the Edges of the Planet“, which took place in Nova Gorica from 23rd to 25th June 2025, opening up questions about the climate crisis, borders, and our connection with nature through art, reflection, and movement. The festival was organised by the University of Nova Gorica and UNISCAPE as part of the official programme of GO! 2025 – European Capital of Culture / Nova Gorica – Gorizia.

ACROSS in fact “crossed” additional borders also by being presented at various educational fairs in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, where prospective international students had the opportunity to get to know the Slovenian-Italian cross-border region as an attractive and welcoming study destination, offering students the opportunity to experience its unique cross-border character, its cultural and linguistic richness, and stunning natural beauties of this geographical region.

Authors: Veronika Piccinini and Andreja Leban (University of Nova Gorica)