About the event
In 2017, the European Universities initiative was introduced by French President Macron in a speech given at Sorbonne University and launched by the European Commission. The initiative’s goal is to generate unprecedented levels of cooperation to foster strategic partnerships for student mobility, research and excellence; while at the same time boosting the EU's international performance. Since then, 44 alliances involving 340 higher education institutions have been formed in 31 countries.
Four years after the launch of the first call, many first-generation European Universities are now ending the pilot phase and are starting to further roll out, while others have just recently joined the family. Success in the experimental phase of a policy instrument depends on the extent that stakeholders and policymakers exchange information on obstacles, benefits, results and challenges.
It is in this context that the Institut français NL, Studio Europa Maastricht, the YUFE Alliance and Maastricht University invite European Universities, professionals and researchers in the field of European higher education, as well as the wider public interested in European higher education to join the Strategic Dialogue on European Universities.
On 10 May, participants will reflect and discuss achievements, challenges and future goals with expert speakers and facilitators. What is needed to enable increased cooperation between European universities? How can universities fulfil European ambitions while remaining strongly embedded in their region? In what ways can member states and the European Commission support this?
Programme
The programme will be divided into two parts. During the morning workshop sessions, participants will have the chance to share best practices on the common challenges identified during the pilot period (see policy brief European Universities Association). These sessions are open to professionals with working experience on the topics that will be discussed.
During the afternoon, the participants of the morning workshops, as well as the wider public, are warmly invited to join sessions on the regional engagement of European universities and the role of member states and the European Commission in supporting European alliances.
Please find the programme overview including confirmed speakers here. You can easily register for this event by clicking this link. You will be asked to indicate which parts of the programme you would like to attend.
Online lobby
Lastly, participants are invited to add their profile to our ‘online lobby’ on Padlet. This way, both participants and speakers will have a better idea of who is attending the event and with what expectations. Click this link and add your information if you are attending. (You can find the instructions there as well.)
We hope to see you on 10 May.
Kind regards,
Studio Europa Maastricht,
on behalf of the organising partners:
Institut français NL, the YUFE Alliance and Maastricht University
Registration website for Strategic dialogue on European Universities