UTH is the only higher education institution in central Greece. Following the merging with 2 additional higher education institutions in central Greece, the University now has over 30 departments which are located in the towns of Volos, Larissa, Trikala, Karditsa, and Lamia. Specifically, the University has an Engineering School with 5 departments, a Humanities School with 6 departments, a Physical Education School with 2 departments, a Technology School with 4 departments, an Agriculture School with 5 departments, a Sciences School with 4 departments, a Medical School with 2 departments, and 2 general departments. The University enrols over 40.000 undergraduate and graduate students and is the 3rd largest university in Greece.
UTH acts as a consulting organization to the municipalities and authorities in Thessaly in subjects including educational strategies, economic development strategies, and technology transfer and has close ties with the educational community, the industry, professional organizations, and administrative authorities, including educational authorities, in the area of Thessaly. The university has working relationships with administrative authorities, educational and other, in the areas of Magnesia, Trikala, Karditsa, and Lamia all of which are located in the wider area of Thessaly and Sterea Ellada in central Greece, as well as with numerous schools in the context of R&D activities. In addition, the university has an extended working network of higher education providers and research organizations at the national and European level.
The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department adopts user a user centered R&D approach and has extensive experience technology enhanced learning developed through R&D, integration of research and teaching at the higher education level, and collaboration with educational authorities in the area of Thessaly, nationally, and internationally.The Department offers expertise in knowledge and information management, educational services design, serious games in non leisure contexts such as learning, social networking for education, Internet and distributed applications targeting wide target and economic sectors ranging from lifelong learning to science and culture.
In relation to administrative and financial management, UTH has a department of over 30 individuals (the Research Committee) who focus specifically on the management and administration of research grants. UTH will deploy the Research Committee who will work closely with researchers in the LINC technical implementation team for the sound management of the project. The Research Committee members have managed numerous EC funded projects and this experience will be exploited in this project. The Research Committee uses an on-line electronic system for managing research grants horizontally. CTLL has been active in the area of serious games design and development for learning since 2009 and has designed and developed digital learning games for building a wide range of skills, such as environmental awareness, critical thinking, languages, digital skills, programming, sustainability, circular economy, disaster management, and more, targeting diverse user groups ranging from primary and preschool to secondary, higher, professional, and vocational education. This experience will allow the organization to act as the technical lead for the project, designing and developing the proposed digital learning environment and game-based learning activities.