EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Marija Gabriel and the Mayor of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca Emil Boc, rapporteur of the European Committee of the Regions for the opinion on the European University Alliances initiative, expressed their support of transnational alliances of European universities in a co-signed opinion article on Thursday.
As Commissioner Gabriel and Mayor Bocque say there are around 5,000 higher education institutions in Europe, each of which is a centre of knowledge and innovation in its own right, whether you are looking at research universities or higher vocational education and training institutions, universities of applied sciences, institutes of technology or schools of arts.
For this reason, they note, Europe is is globally considered a knowledge and innovation powerhouse that attracts and retains talent. Our higher education institutions are gold mines for skills development and drivers for sustained growth, for entrepreneurship and quality jobs throughout Europe.
The European Union’s vision for the sector, according to the article’s authors, includes European inter-university campuses where students, staff and researchers from all parts of Europe can enjoy seamless mobility, and create new knowledge together, across countries and disciplines. A vision of a common long-term structural, sustainable and systemic cooperation on education, research and innovation throughout Europe.
This vision may sound ambitious, but in fact there are already 41 so-called European Universities, ambitious transnational alliances of higher education institutions, that have been testing what kind of structural, strategic and sustainable cooperation is really possible and most beneficial for their students, staff and communities, say the two European officials.
To support their work and push the European Universities initiative further, the Commission launched an Erasmus+ call for proposals in November 2021 with a record total budget of €272 million. The call had two aims: one was to provide support for already existing alliances so that they could continue or even enlarge their cooperation. And the second was to establish new alliances.
The overwhelming response to this call is in line with the continued enthusiasm and commitment from the higher education sector.
Through their joint article, Gabriel and Bock announce announce that 16 existing European Universities will continue to be supported by the Erasmus+ programme. They have expanded their cooperation by involving about 30 new higher education institutions from all parts of Europe, mainly in non-Capital cities, anchoring them even more in various and diverse regions.
In addition, four new European Universities alliances will start their common journey, meaning that, together with the 24 alliances already selected in 2020, there will be a total of 44 European Universities spanning across Europe.
As noted, 340 higher education institutions from all EU Member States and several Erasmus+ associated countries (Iceland, Norway, Serbia and Turkey) will be involved, and higher education institutions from Bologna Process countries beyond Erasmus+ countries such as Ukraine, the UK and Switzerland can now also join their alliances, although these collaborations will need to be financed outside of Erasmus+ funding for European universities.
The article also states that following encouragement to not limit themselves to their academic circles, European universities are working with around 1,300 NGOs, businesses, cities, local and regional authorities, with European university alliances being anchors of knowledge and civic engagement within regions and cities as proven by the numerous cities and regions directly involved as associated partners in the alliances, developing together with the higher education institutions smart solutions to their local challenges.
Gabriel and Bock say they will continue to support European universities in realising their full potential, as over time, they will connect more and more faculties, departments, staff and students, offering more innovative pedagogies rooted in transdisciplinary approaches, implementing more joint programmes, being even more inclusive and engaging more with their communities.
It is noted that the next Erasmus+ call for proposals will be launched in autumn this year, offering renewed funding for existing alliances and to create new ones. The objective is to expand to 60 European Universities, involving more than 500 higher education institutions by mid-2024.
At the same time, they are focusing on work on the establishment of institutionalised cooperation instruments, such as a possible legal status for alliances of higher education institutions, and the examination of options for joint degrees at all levels, based on European criteria, with a view to recognising the transnational study experiences that these alliances offer to their students, while work on the European Student Card is continuing in order to provide students with a unique identifier and to simplify the administrative process around their mobility.
“We all work together at EU level, Member States, regions and higher education institutions across Europe, to increase the scope and quality of European higher education. We will keep pushing the boundaries to the benefit of Europe’s 17.5 million students, 1.35 million educators and 1.17 million researchers – and at the end of the day, to the benefit of us all”, they conclude.
Source: Cyprus News Agency