European Universities Initiative
At EU level, one of the main policy developments in recent years is the European Universities Initiative, a groundbreaking effort aimed at transforming higher education across Europe. The initiative seeks to create a new generation of Europeans who can collaborate across languages, borders, and disciplines, equipping current and future generations with the skills and knowledge needed to address global challenges and societal transitions, while strengthening a shared European identity. Central to the initiative are European Universities alliances: ambitious, long-term partnerships of higher education institutions working together to deliver structural, systemic, and sustainable impact in teaching, research, and innovation.
Each alliance is designed to integrate institutions across the continent, creating European inter-university campuses. These campuses promote seamless mobility for students, academics, and staff; empower students to build personalised, flexible curricula; and bring diverse teams together to address pressing issues like climate change, digitalisation, and health. As of 2024, 65 European Universities alliances have been established, involving over 570 higher education institutions from 35 countries.
EURASHE Sounding Board for the European Universities Initiative
EURASHE brings together alliances that offer Applied Higher Education into an informal grouping called Sounding Board for the European Universities Initiative.
The Sounding Board was launched by EURASHE President Hannes Raffaseder at our Annual Conference “Stronger Together: Fostering Transnational Cooperation in Applied Universities”, held at the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences (Austria). It brings together members that have formed European University Alliances to discuss key issues in their implementation and monitoring. It also acts as the voice of the applied sciences within the Initiative and its Community of Practice, the FOREU4ALL project, in which all Erasmus+ funded Alliances are partners along with EURASHE and other higher education stakeholders.
The following Alliances are represented in the Sounding Board:
- Amber Road
- DIVERSE
- Engaged and Entrepreneurial European University as Driver for European Smart and Sustainable Regions (E³UDRES²)
- European Dual Studies University (EU4Dual)
- Higher Education for Resilience-Oriented and Empowered Societies (HEROES)
- Regional University Network European University (RUN-EU)
- U!REKA
Members of the Sounding Board
Chair: Anka Mulder
Saxion UAS | E³UDRES²
Hannes Raffaseder
St. Pölten UAS | E³UDRES²
Koen Goethals
HOGENT | U!REKA
Mislav Balkovic
Algebra University College | DIVERSE
Martina Klärle
DHBW | EU4Dual
Jon Altuna
Mondragon University | EU4Dual
Ulla Preeden
Estonian Rectors’ Conference
Nijolė Zinkevičienė
Vilnius UAS | HEROES
Ruaidhri Neavyn
Technological Higher Education Association | RUN-EU
Michael Roither
Burgenland UAS | Amber Road
Riitta Konkola
Metropolia UAS | U!REKA
Peter Rada
Budapest Metropolitan University