The European Universities initiative: a game changer
Sophia Eriksson Waterschoot, director for Youth, Education and Erasmus+ at the European Commission
December conclusions, gave birth to the European Universities initiative. The EU leaders called on EU Member States, the Council of the European Union and the Commission to “strengthen strategic partnerships across the EU between higher education institutions and encouraging the emergence of ‘European Universities’, consisting in bottom-up networks of universities across the EU which will enable students to obtain a degree by combining studies in several EU countries and contribute to the international competitiveness of European universities” . Co-developed by higher education institutions, student organisations, Member States and the Commission, the European Universities initiative responds to this call. The European Universities initiative’s objectives, targets and funding European Universities have two key objectives . First to promote common European values and an increased sense of European belonging by bringing together a new generation of Europeans who are able to cooperate and work within different European and global cultures , in different languages , and across borders , sectors and academic disciplines . Second to bring about a substantial leap in quality , performance , attractiveness and international competitiveness of European higher education institutions, and to enable deep institutional transformation of these institutions. Combining inclusion and excellence, European Universities have an excellent and tailored profile to enable higher education institutions to come together, adapt to changing conditions, and thrive in solving the current challenges Europe is facing. Ground-breaking transnational alliances of higher education institutions developing long-term structural, strategic and sustainable cooperation in education, research and innovation, the European Universities give shape to the universities of the future. What they are aiming for is nothing less than impressive, like joint transnational campuses , where students can choose what, where and when to study in any partner university of the alliance. Students can benefit from an international, interdisciplinary and civic-minded higher education, with innovative teaching and learning offer to acquire the skills and competences they need to properly meet the challenges of our time and become more engaged citizens. They have the opportunity to work with peers from different disciplines, with professors, researchers, innovators and companies and with the innovation ecosystems on transdisciplinary international
Our society needs the contribution of its universities now more than ever. In a rapidly changing global context, Europe is facing major challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, the digital transformation, global health, an aging population and difficult economic context exacerbated by Russia’s unjustified attack on Ukraine. Universities and the higher education sector have a unique position at the crossroads of education, research and innovation , and therefore have a pivotal role to play in producing the knowledge and future- proof skills necessary for shaping sustainable, resilient, and inclusive societies and economies fit for the green and digital age. This is also the heart of the European strategy for universities , presented in 2022, which aims at supporting and enabling universities to adapt to changing conditions, to thrive and to contribute to Europe’s resilience and recovery. The strategy is a call to Member States and higher education institutions across Europe to join forces. It seeks to take transnational cooperation to a new level of intensity and scope and to develop a genuinely European dimension in the higher education sector, built on shared values. The strategy recognises excellence and inclusion as a distinctive feature of European higher education, exemplary for our European way of life. And this is exactly what the European Universities initiative – supported by the Erasmus+ programme – is aiming at. As a key flagship initiative of the European strategy for universities , it is at the heart of the EU’s efforts to transform European higher education. It aims to achieve the ambitious vision of an innovative and globally competitive European Education Area, in synergy with the European Research Area. European Universities are ambitious transnational alliances of higher education institutions developing long- term structural and strategic cooperation, for the benefit of their students, staff and communities. Acting as role models for universities beyond the alliances, the European Universities entail a real transformational potential for the entire higher education sector, paving the way for the universities of the future. The European Universities initiative’s origins
projects to be actors of change and to create new knowledge together to solve societal challenges. The objective is that they can also get a European degree recognised across Europe as a symbol of these skills of the future. The goal set in the European strategy for universities is to reach 60 alliances made up of 500 universities by mid- 2024 . On 3 July the Commission announced the results of the 2023 Erasmus+ call for the European Universities initiative. Adding seven new European Universities alliances – including also six higher education institutions from Spain, a total of 50 European Universities alliances are now supported under Erasmus+. They involve more than 430 higher education institutions of all shapes and sizes, from all across Europe, be it in capitals, large or small cities, or remote or rural areas. They are located in all Member States and in other countries associated with the Erasmus+ programme and the Western Balkans. Spain is currently home to 45 higher education institutions involved in European Universities alliances, making it the third best-represented country in the European Universities initiative. Gathering almost 1,700 associated partners ranging from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), enterprises, cities to local and regional authorities, the European Universities alliances can be actors of change and bring innovation to Europe’s regions. To support the ambition of the alliances, Erasmus+ is injecting EUR 1.1 billion in the European Universities initiative under this budgetary period (2021-2027). This offers almost a trifold increase of the budget per alliance compared to the piloting phase in 2019 and 2020 – from EUR 5 million for three years, to EUR 14.4 million per alliance for four years. This offers a sustainable four-year funding perspective with a possible two years’ extension until 2028 and 2029 for successful alliances.
Transformational potential of the European Universities
The European Universities initiative has fostered an enthusiasm among higher education institutions to put their strengths together to dream of the universities they want to become in the future. The alliances are different in scale and scope of their cooperation . With their long-term vision going beyond regular cooperation settings, their innovative governance models and their new perspectives and paradigm shift, the alliances took transnational cooperation to a different
The 2017 Gothenburg Social Summit for Fair Jobs and Growth, which was followed by the European Council’s
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