POLICY BRIEF - Number 12 - February 2019 - The Ambition Behind European Universities Networks

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob

Policy Brief Number 12 (February 2019) explains the European Union’s European Universities Network Initiative (EUNI) and the motivations behind it. It outlines political impetus linked to Brexit concerns and rising populism, and details how initiatives backed by EU leaders aim to strengthen competitiveness, shared European values, and international student access. The brief describes pilot funding, selection timing, evaluation goals, and cooperation principles including sustainability, inter-university campuses, and challenge-based learning, with evidence from existing partnership gaps.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time8 min

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POLICY BRIEF

European Universities Network Initiative (EUNI)

Pilot launch, funding, and selection

Cooperation principles and curriculum design

Findings from existing partnerships

| | | | --- | --- | | POLICY BRIEF
Number 12 | | | February 2019
The Ambition Behind European Universities Networks
Brendan O'Malley, Managing Editor, University World News
The European Union (EU) has an ambitious plan to create transnational “European Universities” out of networks of European higher education institutions.
The initiative is not a new idea, but has been given fresh and significant impetus in the past year due to fears that UK withdrawal – or “Brexit" – and rising populism on the continent would undermine the future of the EU.
French President Macron, speaking at the Sorbonne University in Paris in September 2017 called for the creation by 2024 of 20 “European Universities.”
Four months later, at the December 2017 Gothenburg Summit, European leaders backed the idea and called for the 20 European Universities to consist of networks of universities across the European Union that would “enable students to obtain a degree by combining studies in several EU countries and contribute to the international competitiveness of universities.”
Thus the European Universities Network Initiative (EUNI) was born. For 2019, €30 million was set aside to fund six experimental models to test the concept and its transformative potential with a second pilot to be launched in 2020 and the full scheme in 2021. | | | Work began on mapping existing university partnerships and a call was issued on 24 October 2018 for candidates to join the first pilot within the framework of the Erasmus+ student and academic exchange programme. That call closes in February 2019. | | | Macron had proposed a “network of universities across Europe with programmes that have all their students study abroad and take classes in at least two languages.”
He said: “These European Universities will also be drivers of educational innovation and the quest for excellence.”
It was fortunate that his widely reported intervention came just a few months before the EU leaders’ meeting at which, unusually and fortuitously, education and culture had been put on the agenda.
It also coincided with the European Commission (EC)’s proposal to create a European Education Area by 2025, which would include mutual recognition of school and university diplomas and a general network of European universities. The EC sees the European Universities Network as one of the flagships for powering this forward.
1 | | In February 2018, EU education ministers asked the Commission to involve member states and stakeholders ina discussion of the concept of European Universities and said the initiative should include quality, excellence and inclusiveness and link education, research and innovation. According to a European Commission senior official close to the European Universities Initiative, the two objectives ofthe EUNI are “to make European universities more competitive internationally, compared with the best of the US and Asia for instance, but also to strengthen the sense of a common European values and a common European identity.” The European Commission’s Directorate-General Education, Youth, Sports and Culture (DG EAC) said the pilot would test different cooperation models based on four principles: • They would be an alliance of chosen partners from all types of higher education institutions covering a“broad European geographic scope.” • They would have a jointly created long-term strategy focused on “sustainability, excellence and European values.” • They would offer student-centred curricula jointly delivered across an “inter-university campus” at all study levels. • They would also take a “challenge-based approach” in which students, academics and external partners can “cooperate in cross-disciplinary teams to tackle the biggest issues facing Europe today.” The pilot is pitched at alliances of ideally five to eight higher education institutions, particularly those with a strong history of cooperating with each other. The call for

FAQs

What is the European Universities Network Initiative (EUNI)?

EUNI is an EU plan to create transnational “European Universities” through networks of higher education institutions, designed to let students combine studies across EU countries as part of joint degree approaches.

Why was EUNI given new impetus around 2018–2019?

The initiative accelerated due to concerns that UK withdrawal (Brexit) and growing populism could undermine the EU’s future, alongside political calls for European University networks.

What cooperation principles will the EUNI pilot test?

The pilot tests models based on a chosen-partner alliance across a broad geographic scope, a long-term jointly created strategy, student-centred curricula delivered via an “inter-university campus,” and a challenge-based approach enabling cross-disciplinary teamwork.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob