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This report provides a snapshot into the progress and achievements of the European Universities initiative as a whole, since its inception in 2019. It presents the initiative's potential, lays out aspects to be addressed, and provides future policy direction and avenues to continue making the European Universities initiative a success in the long-term.
5 core dimensions of the alliances covered
- transnational institutional cooperation and shared governance
- joint education provision and mobility
- cooperation with society and economy
- research and innovation dimension of the alliances
- outcomes for the wider higher education system
Key findings include
- by bringing universities from North, South, East and West closer together, the European Universities initiative has the potential to bring Europeans closer together and nurture understanding
- the alliances deep long-term structural and strategic and sustainable cooperation between the higher education institutions, directly involving students in the alliances’ governance, has been a game changer in the higher education landscape
- the alliances bring together a new generation of Europeans to study and work in different European countries, in different languages, and across sectors and academic disciplines
- European Universities alliances significantly multiply opportunities for students and staff. They have enhanced mobilities and internationalisation opportunities, enriched study offerings, joint programmes and flexible learning pathways across partner institutions, enhancing future-oriented skills and professional development
- a big competitive advantage for universities in an alliance is that they can pool their expertise, knowledge, and resources, and combine complementary strengths not available at any single institution. This provides graduates and lifelong learners with strategic skills for their future, including in the field of STEM and strategic sectors
- the alliances strengthened the cooperation between students, academia, business and society, strongly anchoring their activities in their local and regional ecosystems through an extensive network of over 2,200 associated partners
- the alliances reinforced commitment towards European values, including academic values and democracy
- the alliances accelerated national and European policy developments and reforms, notably in relation to facilitating transnational cooperation and setting up joint programmes, including the work towards a European Degree
- excellence, inclusivity and geographical balance are remarkable strengths of the initiative. The alliances mark a paradigm change towards long-term structural and strategic and sustainable cooperation between the higher education institutions, also including students in the driving seat and enabling efficiency gains
- looking into the future, further efforts are needed to up-scale the alliances' outreach and activities to match their full capabilities in terms of reaching out to much more students, staff and faculties, develop across all missions of education, research and innovation at the service of society, and further deepen connections in the alliances’ trailblazer role with the national higher education systems
- concerted efforts at European and national levels are still needed to up-scale the initiative’s outreach and activities
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The study report builds on a rich body of information including inter alia the piloting exercise of a monitoring framework for the European Universities initiative, co-developed with the alliances, EU countries and stakeholders, and evaluating the initiative as a whole. The visualisations tool below is offering access to the diverse data sets available in the context of the report.