Umeå University helps shape future European universities by new collaboration

Nine universities from eight countries form the new alliance AcrossEU. Beside Umeå in Sweden, universities from Finland, France, Italy, North Macedonia, Switzerland, Spain and the Czech Republic are part of the collaboration.

The initiative to set up joint European Universities is a high priority in the European Commission. So far, 41 alliances consisting of altogether 280 universities have received funding. The interest in this initiative is huge, which also means that competition is high. Umeå University joined an application in the 2020 call, but it was unfortunately not accepted.

"Through the new AcrossEU alliance and its other university members, Umeå University aims to invest in increased internationalisation for students, researchers and other staff. Another aim is to open up higher education for more people, strengthen lifelong learning and promote an inclusive, sustainable, green and digital transformation," said Hans Adolfsson, Vice-Chancellor of Umeå University, when submitting the application.

On 22 March, the alliance behind AcrossEU submitted an application to the European Commission to become a European University.

"The application is in line with the University's new Policy for internationalisation and emphasises the importance of building collaboration on understanding, hope and trust between individuals, institutes and countries. Academic freedom and democracy in Europe must be defended as must values such as gender equality, inclusion, diversity and equality," says Hans Adolfsson.

"Students from the alliance universities will be offered an international context and increased opportunities for exchanges, not least through a powerful investment in digital tools for learning. The nine universities aim to establish a joint virtual campus to provide students with more possibilities to find new courses, at the same time as researchers can establish new networks," says Heidi Hansson, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Umeå University.

Members of the European alliance AccrossEU are: Université de Caen Normandie (France); the Lapland University consortium with two members – University of Lapland and Lapland University of Applied Sciences (Finland); University of Pardubice (the Czech Republic); Università degli Studi di Siena (Italy); Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje (North Macedonia); Umeå University (Sweden); Universidad de Valladolid (Spain); and Université de Fribourg (Switzerland, affiliated member).

The results of the call will be published in July 2022, presenting which new alliances will be offered funding through the EU programmes Erasmus+, Horizon Europe or other EU bodies.