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The European Universities Initiative created alliances with big goals, but they must also deal with a complex funding landscape. Five years in, the team from Una Europa describes what their first-hand experiences have taught them about achieving the alliance’s long-term vision.
European Universities are a new and innovative type of transnational collaboration. Indeed, the alliances created under the European Universities Initiative (EUI) go beyond previously tested models by building connected European interuniversity environments in education, research and innovation and societal outreach.
This is already a substantial brief. Yet, alliances must also navigate a complex funding landscape. As European higher education continuously evolves to accommodate new and ever-changing needs and priorities, so must funding structures at all levels.
Since Una Europa’s establishment in 2019, the partner universities have been committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the alliance. Over the past five years, we have gained first-hand experience of the range of possibilities offered by funding sources at different levels.
Una Europa’s core projects are funded through the dedicated calls under the Erasmus+ programme to establish and consolidate the EUI. In addition, Una Europa monitors other European funding programmes to secure additional support for joint activities in education, mobility and R&I.
One way to approach this strategically is to upscale successful pilot projects. An example of this is Una Europa for Virtual Exchange (UnaVEx). In this project, the partners are further developing the Una Europa micro-credential programme in sustainability with facilitated virtual exchange components, while also enlarging its potential target audience to students from Africa. In doing so, UnaVEx also reinforces Una Europa’s vision for international collaboration and environmental sustainability.
In addition, Una Europa is currently developing an external funding strategy. This will outline a broader framework for the alliance’s strategic use of EU funding in line with our long-term priorities and the needs of our community. While we have a relatively clear picture of potential funding opportunities in the short-term, it is important to acknowledge that dedicated long-term funding for the EUI is much less certain at this point.
At the same time, we know from our experience on the ground that alliances need to be able to move away from single projects and given the space and time to focus on the development of long-term strategies. In this respect, the outcomes of the ongoing discussions on the European Union’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) will be key.
One rather uncertain factor in this story is regional or national co-funding for universities that participate in the EUI. Within Una Europa, we have seen a noticeable difference between partners when it comes to the financial support they receive from their local authorities, both in the pilot and roll-out phase of the alliance.
Even when partner institutions receive substantial national co-funding (e.g. through the German Academic Exchange Service - DAAD or France’s Agence Nationale pour la Recherche), this funding often comes with its own challenges. The framework and timelines for the use of co-funding can be very restrictive and the administrative burden high. Furthermore, there is a need to strike a delicate balance between the specific national funding requirements and the overarching strategic priorities of the alliance.
So far, regional and national co-funding has been limited in time with no guarantee of extension. In this regard, we also need to be mindful of the current political climate in a number of European countries, which is increasingly unfavourable towards cross-border collaboration. The big question remains how to convince our regional and/or national authorities of the importance of investing structurally in European Universities, which is key to ensuring their long-term sustainability. To do so, we must build a strong case for investment by demonstrating how regions and countries can thrive through cross-border collaboration in education, research and societal outreach.
From the start of Una Europa, the partners have committed to dedicating financial resources to Una Europa vzw, the alliance’s legal entity based in Belgium. The membership fee is used to support the Una Europa central office. which is responsible for developing and implementing long-term strategies for the alliance and supporting collaboration between the partner universities at all levels.
These resources also support the Una Europa’s seed funding initiative, a mechanism which many of our fellow alliances also use. If implemented in a strategic way, it can be an excellent tool to embed the alliance with each of its partner institutions. Through a seed funding call, each Una Europa partner can put the alliance in the spotlight for the local academic community, stimulating them to explore possibilities for collaboration. By formulating the call in line with the strategic goals of the alliance, different smaller seed projects will help to support the achievement of broader objectives.
Successful seed projects illustrate the bottom-up impact of the alliance. For example, Una Europa One Health has brought together a multidisciplinary group of academics from different partner universities to create synergies aimed at addressing global One Health challenges. Launched in 2019, this has led to the creation of a new interdisciplinary focus area One Health in Una Europa in 2022. And in turn, this inspiring collaboration has accelerated the establishment of a One Health institute at KU Leuven and other Una Europa partner universities.
European, national and institutional funding for alliances cannot be seen separately. In an ideal world, they would come together in flexible and complementary ways to support the long-term vision of European Universities.
Making this ideal a reality will require all our attention and energy. It not only necessitates thorough mechanisms for measuring impact, but importantly, communication and dissemination to showcase successful initiatives to different target audiences: communities within our universities, the higher education sector at large and policy makers at regional, national and European levels. In this complex endeavour, we will soon be able to count on the support of the first European Universities graduates, who are the most powerful ambassadors for what we are working to achieve.
Note: This article is based on a session on ‘Exploring a sustainable funding perspective for European Universities alliances’ facilitated by Sophia and Mariet, alongside their colleagues Séverine Bortot (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University) and Anna Stina Sinisalo (University of Helsinki), at the 2024 EUA Funding Forum.
