Policy Experimentation - Higher Education

Proposals submitted under Topic 6 must address the following priority:

• Priority 13: National/regional support to European Universities alliances

In line with the Council Recommendation of 5 April 2022 on building bridges for effective European higher education cooperation, “deeper and more effective transnational cooperation in the higher education sector across all Europe is key to supporting Union values, identity and democracy, to building the resilience of European society and economy, and to building a sustainable future”. In this Recommendation, it is also stated that “the European Universities, and similar long-standing institutionalised cooperation models, provide useful lessons learned while testing deeper transnational cooperation models that go beyond existing individual institutional strategies, governance and collaboration ecosystems. They are a source of inspiration for the wider higher education community to drive system-level reforms while facilitating better coordination between European higher education and research policies.”

In line with the spirit of the Council conclusions of June 2021 on the European Universities initiative - Bridging higher education, research, innovation and society: Paving the way for a new dimension in European higher education, further efforts are needed at national and regional levels, to create an enabling environment for European Universities and similar long-standing institutionalised cooperation models. On top of cooperation with the European level, this requires cooperation between the national and regional authorities involved, and support of the higher education sector.

Projects under this topic are expected to:

• Improve the supporting environment for European Universities and other similar long-standing institutionalised cooperation models, both in view of related legislation, its application and provided technical support in a particular region/country;
• Improve the funding models and modalities at national/regional level of European Universities and other similar long-standing institutionalised cooperation models.