The European Universities Initiative plays a key role in creating the European Education Area. In total, 44 European higher education networks with more than 340 higher education institutions and 31 countries were selected for this initiative.
The initiative was launched at the EU Summit of 2017, when The Member States expressed their support for the initiative in the Council Resolution on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond (2021-2030). The European strategy for universities from 2021 sets the ambition to support 60 European Universities involving more than 500 higher education institutions by 2024.
The key aims of the European Universities Initiative are
- to promote European values and identity by increasing European cooperation of a new generation
- to significantly improve the quality, performance, attractiveness and international competitiveness of European higher education and to enable in-depth institutional change in participating higher education institutions.
European Universities develop top-level education, building new connections with research and innovation. They seek solutions to societal challenges and set an example for other higher education institutions.
The following specific goals will contribute to gradually achieving the key aims:
- A joint long-term strategy to improve education, research and innovations.
- A European inter-university campus in which mobility is embedded in the studies.
- Multi-disciplinary curricula of a high quality that integrate innovative pedagogy.
- Seamless teacher, researcher and other staff mobility within European Universities.
- European teams that engage in multidisciplinary and knowledge-based work to solve social challenges.