The new project FOR-EU4All will support the transformation process of the European higher education started by the European Universities Initiative. It has been awarded 1.8 million euros by the European Commission
European Universities alliances are joining forces in a project called FOR-EU4All. The project brings together all current and future European Universities alliances —including EUNICE European University— into a unified, cohesive structure. The FOR-EU4All project has been awarded 1.8 million euros by the European Commission and will last for two years, starting on the 1st of November, 2024.
The goal is to foster a collaborative and supportive environment where best practices and experiences can be shared not only among the alliances themselves but also with the broader European Higher Education (HE) sector.
As flagships of the European Education Area (EEA) and the European Research Area (ERA), 64 European Universities alliances are leading the way in developing new and innovative concepts for deep transnational institutional cooperation to stimulate long-lasting transformation of European higher education as a whole.
Transforming the European Higher Education
European Universities alliances are committed to contributing to the realisation of both the European Education Area and European Research Area policy objectives. In collaboration with stakeholders, this project will furthermore focus on addressing challenges to transnational collaboration that persist in the European Higher Education Area to date – ranging from joint educational provision to mobility as well as digital and R&I collaboration. With FOR-EU4All, alliances are committed to working together with each other, with relevant stakeholders and policy-makers to overcome obstacles to transnational collaboration and to realise the long-lasting transformation of European higher education.
The European University Association (EUA), the European Students’ Union (ESU), the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), the European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE) and the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) are associated partners of the project.
Evolution of the FOR-EU Network
The informal alliance network FORum of European Universities (FOR-EU) has been in place since the start of the European Universities initiative (EUI). Alliance experts across countries and institutions have formed active communities on strategic topics, such as education cooperation, governance, research & innovation dimension of alliances, or student engagement.
FOR-EU has currently 20+ parallel subgroups in place and due to this increasingly large-scale nature of the European Universities Initiative, a merger of all FOR-EU groups is now necessary, and dedicated resources are allocated through FOR-EU4All project.
Consolidating Collaboration
FOR-EU4All will reflect the fruitful collaboration and related extensive expertise that exists in FOR-EU. It will merge, formalise, and scale up the informal processes and structures that naturally developed over the past four years, and focus on supporting efficient administration, coordination, communication and dissemination.
It will strongly focus on linkages with the wider higher education sector, collaboration with existing networks and stakeholder representatives, as well as engagement with decision-makers on both achievements and challenges related to the EUI. This is also reflected in the project name: we simply are stronger together. Outreach activities and the dissemination of good practices and learnings are expected to help bringing transnational cooperation in HE in Europe to the next level.
The quotes
We have achieved one of the key objectives of the European strategy for universities: we now support 64 European Universities alliances fostering deeper higher cooperation between more than 560 higher education institutions across Europe. Together they build European inter-university campuses, where students get unprecedented opportunities to study across borders, benefitting from the best that universities have to offer together. They can enrol in joint study programmes and hopefully be awarded with European degrees in the near future. Together, the alliances help crafting a strong sense of European belonging.
Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life
Our commitment for the European Universities alliances stands strong. As Enrico Letta said in his report on the future of the single market, these alliances are central to what could become the fifth freedom of our Single Market – the freedom to learn, study, teach and do research without boundaries across the continent. I warmly congratulate all successful higher education institutions. The 64 alliances are now building the future of Europe’s higher education sector.
Iliana Ivanova, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth
