University of North Texas 
DENTON (UNT), Texas — The University of North Texas has been selected as one of 49
"proven innovator" institutions , across 23 countries, to participate in the Inaugural
Innovation Sandbox of the Future Universities Alliance (FUA), organized by Duke University.
The Alliance is a global network incubated at Duke University to connect higher education
institutions and accelerate shared learning, renewal and innovation. Today the Alliance
announced the inaugural cohort of its Innovation Sandbox. The 12-month peer learning
program supports ambitious, institution-shaping initiatives and brings together founders,
academic leaders and other innovators working across a wide range of institutional
models.
UNT President Harrison Keller, Ph.D., celebrated the news and the opportunity.
"Participating in the Alliance will give UNT an extraordinary opportunity to learn
from some of the most innovative institutions all over the world who are, like us,
working to transform higher education to meet the challenging demands of the future,"
Keller said. "It will also be an opportunity for UNT to share our work with others,
as we blaze new trails for how a public research university can serve its students
and society."
U.S. universities in the cohort include Northeastern University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
and Georgetown University. Participating institutions outside the U.S. include Australia,
Botswana, Germany, Ghana, Honduras, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria,
Pakistan, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Tanzania, Thailand,
Türkiye, Uganda and the United Kingdom.
The Sandbox program runs July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. UNT’s focus in the Innovation
Sandbox will be broadly on reimagining the future of the public research university,
with specific emphasis on academic restructuring and the integration of interdisciplinary
experiential learning throughout the curriculum.
"The changes we are making at UNT are moving at a remarkable speed and scale," Keller
said. "Everything we can do to engage with smart innovators all over the world, and
to share those findings with the UNT community and our regional partners will help
us continue to move with vision and purpose."
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About the Future Universities Alliance
The Future Universities Alliance is a global platform connecting start-up, emerging,
and established universities to reimagine what higher education can be. Incubated
at Duke University, the Alliance operates as a pluralistic, open-source network that
brings together innovators who embrace cooperation and are eager to adapt promising
ideas to their own contexts.
The Alliance was born from a simple premise: meeting next-generation challenges, such
as technological disruption, social polarization, and the pressures of economic development,
requires universities that can think and act differently. Around the world, new institutions
are boldly experimenting with fresh approaches, while established universities are
seeking new ways to serve diverse learners and adapt to rapidly shifting demands.
The Alliance helps unite these efforts into a shared, open, and collaborative ecosystem.
More information and a full list of participating institutions are available at futureuniversities.org.