The Guild’s recommendations for the Investment Pathway of European Universities alliances

The European Universities initiative has put universities into the policy spotlight with a promise of linking education, research, and innovation across national boundaries. In the past year the discussion has focused on ensuring the transformative nature of alliances with appropriate funding (‘Investment Pathway’). The Guild members recognise the need to provide comprehensive support to alliances. More long-term funding coupled with greater flexibility is needed. However, European funding alone will never be enough. The sustainability of the initiative will require concerted efforts of national governments and institutional commitments.

Instead of dedicating specific budget to European Universities, we should focus on designing calls that reflect the sector’s needs. Less prescriptive calls with more budget flexibility to support different types of activities would be welcomed.

To contribute to the current discussions on the future funding of the alliances, The Guild recommends:

  1. Any future funding should build on the following principles: Quality and excellence; Distinctive character and institutional autonomy; European added value; Scalability; Global dimension of the initiative.
  2. The Investment Pathway should reinforce the research and innovation capacity of universities through competition open to all research actors with the necessary expertise to spur changes in their national and/or institutional context. Consortia should demonstrate commitment to implementing policies that can advance the European Research Area (ERA) and contribute to removing silos between education, research and innovation.
  3. The Investment Pathway should focus on finding complementarities between the different EU instruments (Erasmus+, Framework Programme, EU’s external action funds, EU’s structural funds) without compromising their key principles. It should also provide more flexibility and bottom-up opportunities to ensure that the content of collaboration is led by the alliances.

Ole Petter Ottersen, Acting Secretary-General of The Guild:

“More than ever, we need to provide students with opportunities to move seamlessly across national borders. Removing barriers to mobility will open for the richness of perspectives that constitutes the very hallmark of high-quality education and will help build understanding and trust as an antidote to the increasing polarization that serves as a breeding ground for conflict and unrest. The alliances differ in scope and modus operandi. This is how it should be: there is not a single way forward, but many, and they should all be explored in the living experiment that the university alliances represent.”

12 February 2024

 

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Related publications:

Shaping European universities of the future: The Guild’s recommendations for the European Universities initiative

Published Feb. 12, 2024 1:45 PM - Last modified Feb. 12, 2024 1:54 PM
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