The list of the 17 selected alliances for the ‘European Universities’ 2019 call illustrate the geographical diversity and excellence focus of the initiative.
European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Tibor Navraciscs announced the results of the selection for the first ‘European Universities’ 2019 pilot call. As part of the Erasmus+ call for proposals 2019 (EAC/A03/2018), the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) launched the first ‘European Universities’ call for proposals on 24 October 2018 (closed on 28 February 2019). The 17 Alliances list involving 114 higher education institutions from 24 Member States, include research-intensive universities, social sciences and pluridisciplinary universities, arts school and technical universities. 24 EU Member States as well as Norway have institutions that are involved in alliances as full partners. Three alliances involve UK institutions. Some of the selected candidates will build their activities around thematic focus areas. ARQUS Alliance and CHARMEU’s specialisation include the implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). EUTOPIA, CIVIS will focus on open education and science. UNA Europa’s focus is on European Studies, Sustainability, Cultural Heritage and Data Science. 4EU+’s activities will include building common research-based core curricula. CONEXUS will tackle urbanisation and coastal development, EUGLOH will focus on global health, EU4Art specialises in fine arts and ECIU will develop its offer around challenge-based education, SDGs and societal impact. All alliances, including the remaining CIVICA, YUFE, UNITED, SEA-EU, FORTHEM, EPICUR – developed starting from the EUCOR network – and EDUC will have diversified activities around student-centred curricula, joint degrees, common integrated spaces for researchers, European campuses and multi-campuses as well as mobility and internationalisation at home.
54 alliances applied for this first pilot call (i.e. more than 300 HEIs and all EU Member States). Only HEIs and organisations established in a Member State or in another Erasmus+ Programme country were eligible and could apply. Apparently, only a small number of the submitted applications were rejected based on eligibility criteria, and thus, the success rate has been quite high (around 30%). Initially, EUR 60 mio was foreseen for 12 alliances. An increase to EUR 85 mio allowed for 5 additional alliances to be selected, bringing the number of total alliances to 17 under this first pilot call. EUR 5 mio will go to each alliance over the next 3 years. The specific ‘European Universities’ action under the 2019 first call for proposals supports the testing of different innovative and structural models for implementing the long-term vision for European Universities. It supports the creation of alliances of 5 to 8 academic and non-academic partners. Each partner of an alliance shall agree on a mission statement at institutional level, which contains a full joint strategy that tackles the cooperation across all levels of the HEI (e.g. management, academics and staff) with a focus on education and links with research, innovation and societal impact.
A second call foreseen for the fall 2019 will also test different models of implementation for the ‘European Universities’ concept, before the full roll-out of the initiative under the next Erasmus+ Programme, as from 2021. As a reminder, the ‘European Universities’ initiative emerged from the European Council Conclusions of 14 December 2017 on the Member States, the Council and the European Commission to pursue “the emergence by 2024 of some twenty ’European Universities’”. European Universities shall contribute to embed mobility at all levels of study, foster high quality and excellence in education and research the international competitiveness of European Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and play a flagship role in the creation of a European Education Area. In the coming days, the national representatives in the Erasmus+ Programme Committee will receive a report on the evaluation process and on the results. The applicants learned via a notification letter whether their proposal has made it on the list of selected universities. Later, they will also receive a feedback from the independent experts. The list of all selected European University alliances is published on the website of the EACEA.