Twenty years after the Bologna Declaration to develop the European Higher Education Area, seven leading research-intensive universities have been granted 5 million euros to kick-start their joint strategy to consolidate a European university ecosystem. By driving innovative education and research collaboration across seven of Europe's largest comprehensive universities, the UNA Europa alliance is equipped to address the challenges of the future.
The European Commission announced today the first 17 projects that will receive funding for a three-year pilot under the prestigious European Universities initiative funded by the Erasmus+ Programme.
"We are honoured to be among the first European Universities selected and are committed to shaping the future of Higher Education in Europe," says Professor Peter Lievens, Vice Rector at KU Leuven, Belgium, and Coordinator of the 1EUROPE project. "The UNA Europa ecosystem brings together students, university leaders, academics and support services from our seven campuses to reach our common ambition to shape Europe's future."
At the centre of educating and shaping Europe's intellectual tradition for almost 1000 years, the UNA Europa partners' shared heritage and ambition to shape Europe's future is a driving force in the alliance's strategy. The 1EUROPE project forms the backbone for delivering their common strategy and activities.
The UNA Europa universities' staff and student communities approach half a million strong and count millions of digital learners. "The scale of the UNA Europa community is our unique opportunity to develop, implement and transfer the new models of education and research required to address the rapidly changing needs of society," says Professor Lievens (KU Leuven).
Rector Luc Sels (KU Leuven): "This intense cooperation between leading European universities creates unique opportunities to strengthen our plans regarding truly international, forward-looking education and digital educational technology. 1EUROPE aims to promote innovative forms of distance learning, short-term mobility, and lifelong learning, among other things."
The 1EUROPE project will establish a laboratory on the future of universities. The laboratory will generate new concepts for international education and research, integrating them across the seven partners and also fostering their transfer to other institutions. "UNA Europa will create a university of the future that is not only international and innovative but also open and inclusive," says Prof. Alessandra Scagliarini, Vice Rector at Universitá di Bologna and current Chair of the UNA Europa Board of Directors. "Our institutions each have exemplary initiatives in civil society engagement, but through the 1EUROPE project, we will bring this to a European scale."
UNA Europa has already launched collaboration in four thematic focus areas: European Studies, Sustainability, Cultural Heritage and Data Science & Artificial Intelligence. These areas promote cross-fertilisation of knowledge across the sciences and humanities, across the seven campuses and their societal stakeholders. The ambition is to progressively involve the entire academic community of the seven partners in UNA Europa activities.
The 1EUROPE project will test Joint Innovative Formats for international education and mobility. An International Academic Incubator will be established in the UNA Europa four focus areas. During the course of the project, the incubators will be transformed into a European campus, aiming to attract the very best and brightest talent from around the world.
In February 2019, the seven founding university partners formally established UNA Europa as a non-profit association under Belgian law (in Dutch, 'vzw'). "This demonstrates our long-term commitment to the sustainability of the alliance," says Prof. Scagliarini. The UNA Europa association is situated on the Brussels campus of KU Leuven, at the interface of the universities and the EU institutions.
About the UNA Europa Alliance
Seven leading research universities joined forces in 2018 to create UNA Europa, a unique alliance aiming to lay strong foundations for the European university of the future. The UNA Europa partners are Universitá di Bologna, Freie Universität Berlin, University of Edinburgh, Uniwersytet Jagiello?ski w Krakowie, KU Leuven, Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.
The partners are committed to developing in-depth cooperation and long-term integration between them, focusing on excellent and innovative research and teaching, as well as boosting international opportunities for students and staff. Aiming to go beyond traditional geographical and disciplinary boundaries, the collaboration will result in a 'multi-campus' university model, ensuring that graduates and researchers are equipped to shape the future.
1EUROPE is the three-year pilot project funded under the Erasmus+ Pilot Call for European Universities, which will be formally launched in December 2019. UNA Europa is among the first university alliances to receive this prestigious funding. The European Universities action funds bottom-up networks of universities to establish a long-term joint strategy for education, a European inter-university campus and knowledge-creating teams address societal challenges.
Following one year of intensive collaboration between the UNA Europa partners, the UNA Europa association (vzw) was formally established in Brussels. The goals of the UNA Europa association are to ensure the success and sustainability of the alliance and to actively contribute to the development of the European Higher Education and Research Areas.
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About KU Leuven
KU Leuven is Europe's most innovative university. Located in Belgium, it is dedicated to research, education, and service to society. KU Leuven is a founding member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) and has a strong European and international orientation. Our scientists conduct basic and applied research in a comprehensive range of disciplines. University Hospitals Leuven, our network of research hospitals, provides high-quality healthcare and develops new therapeutic and diagnostic insights with an emphasis on translational research. The university welcomes more than 50,000 students from over 140 countries. The KU Leuven Doctoral Schools train approximately 4,500 PhD students. news.kuleuven.be