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The European University alliance’s network, EUA has released its first in-depth report revealing new developing strategies for perspective EU-wide educational policies, and EUA’s financial sustainability. The report, written by two EUA’s colleagues (E. B. Pruvot and Th. Estermann), reveals the existing European “educational cooperation”, contributing to progressive education policies.
Background
According to the EUA’s organisers, the alliances represent a “unique model for systemic long-term collaboration in Europe”, at a time of dramatic changes in the geopolitical climate and the continental developmental challenges. However, as the EUA confirms, present funding methods to “unite” 65 such alliances are “too haphazard to maximise their contribution” in building a stronger and more united Europe.
Over 560 European higher education institutions are now getting together through the mentioned 65 EU-wide alliances (since the initiative was launched in 2019), with the European Commission funding 80 per cent of their running costs, mainly through the recent Erasmus+ program. The other 20 percent are supposed to be covered by the EU member states and, possibly, the universities themselves to cover running costs; often even more if they want to be more active and ambitious in joint research and innovation on top of the existing collaborative programs.
Reference to: https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20260219182048269
Short history
About a decade ago, at the end of 2017, the European Commission initiated a long-term project aimed at “strengthening strategic EU-wide partnerships” among the higher education institutions, HEIs and encouraging the creation of the so-called “European Universities”, consisting of several HEIs alliance-networks to enable students obtaining a degree by combining studies in several EU countries and contributing to the EU’s international educational competitiveness.
The European University’s initiative idea (suggested by the French President E. Macron in 2017), was regarded as a “perfect instrument at the right time” to facilitate the needed modernisation of the EU-wide education, training and research among the member states. Additionally, the EUI was thought as a set of transnational alliances to streamline modern challenge of the “universities of the future”, by promoting European values and revolutionizing the quality and competitiveness of European higher education.
Through the EU financial support, the EUI assisted “cooperation models” (since then, called alliances of European universities, EUAs), e.g. through the Erasmus+ program for 2021-27. The EUI underlined in 2020, that “operating EUAs” would additionally serve as the “role models towards the European Higher Education Area, EHEA”.
More in: https://education.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document-library-docs/european-universities-initiative-factsheet.pdf
Thus, the EUAs, alliances aimed to: a) include partners from all HEIs types and cover almost all European states, including the EU-27; b) facilitate common long-term strategies focused on sustainability, excellence and European values; while offering student-centered curricula jointly delivered across inter-university campuses; and c) adopt an inter-disciplinary and cross-sectoral approach to teaching and research among HEIs and external partners cooperating in teams to tackle biggest European and global challenges. By 2022, there were selected 41 European Universities’ alliances, initially to test various models of the EU’s universities’ cooperation and to evaluate the needed HEIs evolution, modernisation and transformation.
More on some EUAs (at 2022) in: https://www.integrin.dk/2022/07/19/modernising-the-eu-wide-higher-education-part-ii/
It is evident, that the European integration needs common approaches to education and preparing “new workforce” adaptable to resolving modern challenges. However, such “educational integration” is quite problematic (both technically and legally): according to the EU basic law, the education and training is within the member states’ competence. It means that the EU institutions can only “provide support, recommendations and assistance” in optimal conduct of national education policies. Therefore, the essence of the common EU-wide education “transition” can only be solved efficiently with changing the EU legislation, which is hugely complex issue. Hence, so far, the EU has chosen the only feasible solution, such as the EU-wide “collaboration models” among HEIs and national education ministries based on EUAs. In this way, it would be possible to avoid mentioned discrepancies in the law and manage the needed governance’s concentration.
Reference to: https://www.integrin.dk/2024/03/19/higher-education-qualifications-recognition-towards-european-degree-label/
More about the EU education policy’s integration and the complicated issues concerning the EU-wide graduation certificate, in:
Education policy’s integration: an issue of an EU-wide graduation certificate
Presently, the European universities alliances are moving from pilot projects to sustainable structures for education providers, to more stable, diversified and strategically aligned funding, with clearer coordination between the EU-wide and nationally funding instruments.
General reference source on “educational revolution” in:
Eteris. E. Educational Challenges for a New Century: Policies for Sustainable Growth. – Springer Briefs in Education Series. 2024. -126 pp. In: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-59013-9;
New approach to funding
The growing uncertainty about funding the EUAs perspectives copes with the EU’s debating period concerning its next multi-annual financial program covering 2028 to 2034.
The European Commission has proposed an increased budget of €40 billion for Erasmus+, up from the €26 billion in the 2021 to 2027 budget, to cover increased costs and a rising number of educational projects, including the university alliances’ optimal functioning.
The European Parliament, the HEIs and the EU-wide research/innovation sectors are calling for the Commission and the member states to go further, with a more than doubling of the next seven-year budget for Erasmus+ and want additional €60 billion; the calls are supposed to get into “tough negotiations” ahead, as the University World News reported this February.
Source: https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20260219182048269