At the Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest (UTCB), introducing students to the EU-CONEXUS alliance is not an afterthought — it is built into the very first moments of academic life.

The UTCB EU-CONEXUS team carried out a two-phase outreach campaign across the 2025–2026 academic year, combining the reach of formal onboarding with the energy of a purpose-built event. Together, the two initiatives brought the IamSTUDENT project and the EU-CONEXUS Roadmap to over 800 students across the university.

Starting Where It Counts: Opening Day Across All Faculties

On September 29, 2025, the EU-CONEXUS team took the stage at the official opening ceremonies of all seven UTCB faculties. Addressing approximately 700 students — the majority of them freshmen stepping into university life for the first time — the team made the case that being a UTCB student means being part of something larger: a European academic alliance with real, accessible opportunities.

Rather than positioning the EU-CONEXUS Roadmap as an optional extra, the presentations wove it into the fabric of what it means to study at UTCB. Mobility programmes, Minors, Microcredentials and cross-border collaboration were introduced not as distant possibilities but as tools students could begin exploring from that very day.

A Different Kind of Event: The EU-CONEXUS Open Day

On March 25, 2026, the team shifted from auditorium presentations to direct, informal engagement. The EU-CONEXUS Open Day, hosted at the Faculty of Civil, Industrial and Agricultural Buildings, drew over 100 participants and created a space where curiosity could lead somewhere concrete.

The format made a clear difference. Students rotated through a gamified digital quiz that tested their knowledge of EU-CONEXUS opportunities in real time, competing for high-quality branded merchandise funded through the IamSTUDENT project. The prizes — professional stationery, eco-friendly tote bags and electronic accessories — were well-received, but what sustained the conversation long after the quiz was the presence of people who had already lived the experience.

The Ambassador Effect

What defined both phases of the campaign was a deliberate choice to let students hear from students. UTCB EU-CONEXUS Student Ambassadors and alumni of programmes including the IamSTUDENT Student Congress, Portathon, ESA, Minors and Microcredential courses joined the team at every turn. Their role was not ceremonial — it was central.

When a student asks whether an international programme is worth the effort, the most credible answer does not come from a coordinator. It comes from a peer who just returned from it. This peer-to-peer layer transformed both events from information sessions into genuine conversations, making the European University concept tangible rather than theoretical.

What the Data and Feedback Showed

Participation records from the digital quiz provided the team with a clear picture of comprehension and engagement levels in real time, offering documentation that goes beyond attendance counts. Qualitatively, student feedback from the Open Day consistently described the format as something new on campus — a welcome break from static, one-directional communication about academic opportunities.

Inquiries into IamSTUDENT Campus Life initiatives rose noticeably in the period following the events.

The results at UTCB confirm a simple principle: students engage with European opportunities when those opportunities are presented at the right moment, by the right people and in a format that treats their time as valuable. The IamSTUDENT framework gives universities the tools to do exactly that — and UTCB has shown what it looks like when those tools are used well.