Nine Czech universities will be part of the European University Alliances, congratulations

BKS

Erasmus+ CZELO

The Commission has supported 30 alliances, including 7 with CZ participation, doubling the total Czech participation.

On 3 July, the European Commission announced the results of the 2023 call for the European Universities Initiative. The fourth call in a row, with a record budget of €402.2 million, was the most successful so far for Czech institutions in terms of the number of institutions supported. The European Commission selected a total of 30 consortia.

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Image source: The European Commission

Most of the selected applications are existing alliances that were supported in the 2020 call and have now applied for follow-up funding for the next four years. Some of them have decided to expand their cooperation and welcome new members - in total, these networks have grown by 50 members. Of the 26 applications in this group, 23 consortia were selected, including both alliances with Czech partners. 

  • CTU will continue its cooperation within the EuroTeQ alliance, which will grow in the new period with 2 full members, the Universidad de Navarra in Spain and the École des hautes études commerciales de Paris. The Alliance will also gain new associate partners including Swiss HEIs, various businesses and associations. 
  • UPOL will continue within the Aurora Alliance, while also welcoming a new member, Université Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC). 

Five Czech universities will participate in the development of new alliances 

In addition, brand new alliances of European universities have been supported in this year's call. Due to the high interest in this prestigious initiative and the significantly lower budget for new alliances, the competition within this group was really high. Out of a total of 39 applications, only seven will be supported. The involvement of Czech institutions in five of them can therefore be considered a great success. 

So far, four Czech universities have been involved in the initiative: in addition to CTU and UPOL (see above), also Charles University (4EU+) and Masaryk University (EDUC), which succeeded in the first call and subsequently received support to continue their cooperation in the 2022 call. These existing alliances are now joined by: 

  • University of Ostrava (NEOLAiA - Transforming Regions for an Inclusive Europe) 
  • Silesian University in Opava (STARS EU - STrategic Alliance for Regional TranSition - STARS European University) 
  • Technical University of Ostrava (UREKA SHIFT - Urban Research and Education Knowledge Alliance) 
  • Brno University of Technology (EULiST - European Universities Linking Society and Technology) 
  • University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (EUPeace - European University for Peace, Justice, and Inclusive Societies) 

The total number of alliances has increased to 50, the European Commission's target is one step closer 

In the last call, 20 alliances were supported (16 existing alliances were extended and four new alliances were created), which, when combined with the results of this year's call, brings the total number of European universities to 50. Over 430 European HEIs are currently involved in these networks, with a further 1 700 institutions and various stakeholders as associate partners. The European Commission's target is to reach 60 alliances involving over 500 HEIs by mid-2024, equivalent to around 10% of the European higher education sector. The next call will be launched this autumn and it will focus purely on supporting the creation of ten new alliances. Further information and results can also be found in the European Commission press release.