Skip to main content
European Education Area home page European Education Area home page

European Education Area

Quality education and training for all

Published:  27 Jul 2022

44 European Universities to cooperate across borders and disciplines

20 European Universities alliances have been selected under the 2022 Erasmus+ call further supporting the rollout of the European Universities initiative.

 

On 30 November 2021, the European Commission opened a new Erasmus+ call to further support the implementation of the European Universities initiative.

Today, the Commission announced the successful applicants to this call.

With a record budget of €272 million under the 2021-2027 Erasmus+ programme, 16 existing European Universities alliances will continue to receive support to consolidate and expand their cooperation with an additional 30 higher education institutions. In addition, four new alliances will be able to start their cooperation.

About the European Universities call

Together with the 24 alliances selected in 2020, a total of 44 European Universities alliances now involve 340 higher education institutions. These higher education institutions are spread across European capital cities and remote regions in 31 countries, including all European Union (EU) Member States, as well as Iceland, Norway, Serbia, and Turkey.

Gathering around 1,300 associated partners ranging from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), enterprises, cities to local and regional authorities, the European Universities alliances are able to substantially increase the quality and scope of tertiary education.

Under the 2022 Erasmus+ call, the alliances can now accept associated partners from Bologna Process countries, including for example from Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. 

Next steps

In the fall 2022, the Commission will launch the next Erasmus+ call for proposals, with the aim to offer funding for existing alliances and to create new ones.

Over time, European Universities alliances will connect more and more faculties, departments, staff and students, offering more innovative pedagogies based on challenge-based and transdisciplinary approaches, implementing more joint programmes, being even more inclusive and engaging more with their communities.

The European strategy for universities sets the ambition to support 60 European Universities involving more than 500 higher education institutions by mid-2024. For this, a record €1.1 billion is foreseen under the 2021-2027 Erasmus+ programme.

Support for the research dimension of the European Universities initiative will be covered by the European Excellence initiative under the Horizon Europe programme.

Background

European Universities are transnational alliances of on average nine higher education institutions, that can include different types of establishments (such as comprehensive and research universities, universities of applied sciences, institutes of technology, schools of arts and higher vocational education and training institutions), and cover a broad geographic scope across Europe.

Together, these institutions are finding new ways of long-term structural, sustainable and systemic cooperation on education, research and innovation throughout Europe.

They offer student-centred curricula jointly delivered across inter-university campuses, through which students, staff and researchers from all parts of Europe can enjoy seamless mobility.

The Commission proposed the European Universities initiative to European Union leaders ahead of the Gothenburg Social Summit in November 2017, as part of an overall vision for the creation of a European Education Area by 2025.

 

Related content

Published:  27 Jul 2022