European Universities

At the 2017 Gothenburg Summit, EU leaders outlined a vision for education and culture. This vision included the strengthening of strategic partnerships across the EU between higher education institutions (HEI) and the emergence of European Universities.

European Universities are transnational alliances that will become the universities of the future, promoting European values and identity, and revolutionising the quality and competitiveness of European higher education. The aim is to bring together a new generation of creative Europeans able to cooperate across languages, borders and disciplines to address societal challenges.

It is one of the flagship initiatives of the EU’s ambitions to build a European Education Area. European Universities include partners from all types of HEIs, cover a broad geographic scope and are based upon a co-envisioned long-term strategy. They will jointly deliver student-centred curricula across inter-university campuses and adopt a challenge-based approach, encouraging students, academics and external partners to cooperate to tackle the biggest issues facing Europe today.

In June 2019, the first 17 European Universities were selected. In July 2020, 24 new alliances of higher education institutions joined the European Universities initiative.