The European Union will provide financial support for education, training, youth and sport to the tune of 3 billion euros in 2019. On Wednesday 24 October, the European Commission launched a call for projects under Erasmus+, which sets aside 30 million euros for the network of ‘European universities’.
On the same day, it published the Erasmus+ programme guide, available in all official EU languages.
European universities: six alliances in 2019
This idea first appeared in Emmanuel Macron's speech at the Sorbonne in September 2017. It aims to create a 'bottom-up' network of universities that would allow students to obtain a degree by combining several studies in several Member States. It has since been supported successively by the European Council, the Council of the EU and the European Commission (see EUROPE 11925, 11963 and 12024).
In today's call for proposals, the European Commission proposes to implement this idea, with a first test phase in 2019: a pilot project involving six European university alliances. This idea - whose objective is to "strengthen European identity while stimulating excellence and contributing to improving the competitiveness of European higher education institutions" - will be financed by the Erasmus+ budget to the tune of 30 million euros and may be supplemented by national funding. The call for projects, which will be handled by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, will be open until 28 February 2019 to alliances involving at least three higher education institutions (ideally between five and eight) from three different countries.
A second pilot phase should follow next year, with full deployment of the initiative envisaged in the next EU long-term budget, starting in 2021. The objective is to set up around twenty European universities by 2024.
In response to this announcement, the French government has already indicated that it will make available "at least 100 million euros over 10 years" to facilitate this new structure. On the university side, the University of Stockholm (Sweden), Aix-Marseille University (France), the Capodistrian University of Athens (Greece), the University of Bucharest (Romania), the Free University of Brussels (Belgium), the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain), the University of Rome La Sapienza (Italy) and Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen (Germany) have already indicated that they intend to participate in the call for tenders.
A total of 3 billion euros for 2019
More generally, the European Commission proposes to mobilise 3 billion euros under the Erasmus+ programme. This amount represents, she points out, 10% more than in 2018. This envelope will be distributed as follows: 2,503.4 million euros for education and training, 167.7 million for youth, 13.7 million for Jean Monnet Chairs and 48.6 million for sports.
Several calls for tenders will be organised during 2019. They will be addressed to public or private organisations working in the fields of education, training, youth and sport. Youth groups active in the youth field, but not necessarily within the framework of a youth organisation, may also apply for funding. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)