Circle U. brings together nine European universities around a shared ambition: building a more open, connected and sustainable university. Yet for many students, teachers and faculty staff members, the alliance can still feel abstract. What opportunities does it actually offer? Who are the partners? How does one launch an international teaching project?
These were the questions given to students in Projet STIC, a year-long, project-based course at UCLouvain in which interdisciplinary teams design, prototype, test and improve media or educational tools for a real partner organisation.
This project-based course follows a Design Thinking methodology, structured around four phases: an "Empathise & Define" phase, in which teams identify their project's goals and stakeholders; an "Ideation" phase, supported by coaching sessions; a "Prototyping" phase, in which ideas take technical shape with support from MiiL (the university's Media, Innovation & Intelligibility Lab, dedicated to visual innovation and immersive, interactive experiences) and OpenHub, UCLouvain's creative hub; and a "Testing" phase, in which the prototype is evaluated with its target audience and refined accordingly, closing with a final project defence.
Working through this process, the students explored three challenges: supporting teachers in the creation of international pedagogical projects, valuing student experience to encourage faculties to promote Circle U., and making the partner universities more visible and engaging for students.
The results
The course has produced five proof-of-concept prototypes, each approaching the same broader ambition from a different angle.
Helping students imagine where Circle U. could take them
The first group designed a web-based tool to help students discover Circle U. partner universities in a more personal and interactive way. Students scan a QR code displayed near lecture halls or shared through university channels, then access a short quiz that recommends partner universities based on their preferences, interests and expectations.
The prototype combines three complementary features: a destination quiz, a "tips" section gathering practical advice from students who have already taken part in an exchange, and a section tackling common preconceptions about going abroad through short reassurance cards.
What makes the project promising is its ability to turn information into a first step of projection — instead of simply listing destinations, the tool invites students to imagine themselves there.
Making administration less of a barrier for teachers.
Circle U. is also about creating new forms of international teaching. But for teachers, the first obstacle is often not a lack of ideas — it is the complexity of the procedures.
The second group addressed this with Circle U. Connect, a conversational assistant designed to help teachers prepare administrative files for international pedagogical projects. Their starting point was a common frustration: forms can be long, repetitive and filled with institutional jargon.
Circle U. Connect replaces part of the form-filling experience with a guided conversation in plain language. It asks questions step by step, avoids unnecessary repetition across documents, and can generate a structured Word file that remains under the user's control. A next step would be to align the tool closely with official Circle U. procedures, so it can support teachers without creating parallel processes.
Planting the seeds of future international courses.
The third group developed one of the most complete prototypes: Circle U. Project Seeds, a co-building platform designed to help teachers find partners and develop international pedagogical projects together.
Rather than matching people through profiles, the platform is built around project ideas. Teachers can create a "seed", join an existing project, contribute to a shared brainstorming space and gradually move through five stages, from an early idea to a mature proposal. The group also imagined how the platform could support Circle U. academic matchmaking events — before the event, participants propose or join projects; during the event, they meet around these ideas; afterwards, they keep developing them through the platform.
This prototype is particularly strong because it connects a digital tool with an existing Circle U. practice: it prepares and structures human networking rather than replacing it.
Giving faculties tools they can actually use
The fourth group focused on a different audience: faculty mobility managers, secretariats and communication officers. Through interviews, they identified a very practical problem — Circle U. is sometimes perceived as unclear or difficult to distinguish from Erasmus, making it harder for faculties to relay opportunities to students.
Their response was a faculty communication kit: an A4 folder containing a comparison sheet between Erasmus and Circle U., a FAQ, a calendar of opportunities, a map of the nine partner universities, and a QR code linking to a short explanatory video.
The strength of this project lies in its realism — it fits into practices that already exist rather than asking staff to adopt an entirely new system.
Turning the alliance into a game.
The fifth group took a playful route with Circle U. RoadTrip, a gamified web experience inviting students to discover the nine partner universities through a series of mini-games: a geography challenge, a Kahoot-like format based on images and clues, and a final quiz introducing campus life, academic offer and local culture.
The group also introduced a gamified universe, including a mascot, Cilo, and elements such as a passport and collectibles, giving the prototype a strong identity and sense of progression.
From student work to future possibilities
Taken together, these five projects respond to the same need: making Circle U. more concrete. A quiz could become a student engagement tool. A game could support awareness campaigns. A faculty kit could help harmonise communication across the alliance. A co-building platform could strengthen academic matchmaking. A conversational assistant could reduce the administrative burden behind international teaching innovation.
Circle U. is not just built through large strategies and formal agreements. It also grows through small, practical tools that help people understand, imagine, connect and act. And sometimes, the first version of those tools starts in a classroom.
