VIRTUE (VIRTual University Education) was established in 1997 as a joint research and educational project by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, USA, the Centre for Science Education at the University of Bergen, Norway and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
The research part of the project was completed in 2002 but the educational component continued between Sweden and the USA and has been further developed.
VIRTUE is since 2021 managed by the Gothenburg Marine Laboratory.
VIRTUE has 2017 - 2020 been an international project with partners from Sweden, Germany, Spain and the USA and partly financed by the European Union, Erasmus+.
2024 VIRTUE has been granted 400 000 Euro from Erasmus+ for upgrading the web resources
57 countries are represented in VIRTUE (November 2024)