In the city of Rijeka, about 500 children live in poverty. Urban poverty is becoming an increasingly pronounced and complex problem in our society and requires cooperation of various stakeholders for solving it. My Place Under the Sun is a project focused on solving the problem of child poverty, cooperating with civil society organisations, public institutions, local authorities, the private sector and citizens. UNIRI has recognised the need and the possibility of a better and more efficient management and use model for part of its real estate in Rijeka, which is given to a non-profit civil society organization for long-term use for the implementation of the My Place Under the Sun program. After the adaptation of the space, 55 children and 33 families have a stimulating environment to participate in activities that their parents cannot provide (learning assistance, creative workshops, sustainable development workshops, excursions, visits to museums, theatres, cinemas, exhibitions). This is a significant and important civil society initiative that deserves the support of all stakeholders, in order to contribute at least a little to make these children happy, or at least happier. In addition, professional psychosocial support is constantly available to the children and parents to help them overcome their difficulties, and professional support is provided by students and staff of the Faculty of Teacher Education at the University of Rijeka. Special attention is paid to the social inclusion of children and their families and the development of trust, understanding and respect, without which no person should be disadvantaged.

University’s leadership is crucial for ensuring that community engagement becomes embedded within the university, rather than remaining a collection of uncoordinated activities. Our community engagement started from our conviction and then gained its own life in the community. UNIRI initiated development of curriculum “School and Community”, which was piloted in one of Rijeka’s high schools. Students decided to work on the problem of homelessness and received a UNICEF award. The value of curriculum was recognized in other high schools in Rijeka, but also in Zagreb, and the curriculum will be implemented in more than 50 high schools. As a part of the SPEAR project, UNIRI became first academic institution in the country and region that implemented measures of equality in the domain of gender rights and politics, and UNIRI Gender equality plan (GEP) became the inspiration to many other Croatian and European institutions for creating their own gender-aware policies. UNIRI made a multifaceted contribution towards achieving SDGs and the well-being of society and that contribution was recognized: UNIRI is ranked between 301 – 400th place on THE Impact Rankings 2022. UNIRI is a proud member of the Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE) alliance - a strategic partnership that aims at bringing a radical change in European higher education by establishing itself as leading model of a young, student-centered, non-elitist, and inclusive European University, creating a unique ecosystem linking universities to communities. Therefore, while our community engagement is growing, the community and UNIRI are growing also.

In future, UNIRI will continue to work with civil society, local government and community on democratization processes and social engagement. UNIRI already supported its Center for Peace and Conflict Studies that promote inter-religious dialogue as well as the Center for Smart and Sustainable Cities that signed agreements with several local governments related to an innovative programme of socially affordable housing. We will support the pilot phase of that programme with expertise and new partnerships. University is partner within Maritime Innovation Claster with important industry stakeholders and through that cluster plans to contribute to the new phase of maritime industry development in Primorsko-goranska county. UNIRI has a new Climate Action Statement and the strategic project of green transition with Students Union titled as ‘Green and resilient Campus” that proves committed to the UN SDG-a and European Green Deal. In order to achieve that, we are creating new partnerships in the local community and urban agglomeration of the city of Rijeka. One of the first partnerships is with local heat plant company in an EU founded project of complete heat plant modernization. Our experts from DeltaLab - Center for Urban Transition, Architecture and Urbanism created new vision of our university campus, and we plan to transform it into a resilient space filled with content relevant for students and citizens. UNIRI leadership strongly believes that universities must be fully responsible towards the community, both in teaching and research, so we will never stop being dedicated and engaged.