Post by UNIC (European University of Cities in Post-Industrial Transition)

Yesterday, the EUA Coordinator meeting provided the opportunity for the European Universities Alliances to discuss the future of the alliances within the new EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) with the European Commission, national agencies, and other key stakeholders. We appreciate the constructive and important discussions on topics such as funding, education and mobility, impact, reporting, research, and competitiveness and would have loved to see an additional breakout on societal impact. We now urge the European Commission, EAC, EACEA, and our national governments to take onboard the feedback received from alliances when negotiating the next phase of the MFF, and its related work programmes. Key takeaways for us: - European Universities Alliances are a key partner to strengthen European values, competitiveness, address skills shortages, and foster inner-European collaboration with real impact and need to be funded by the European Commission and national governments to realise the maximum benefits of the investment so far. - We echo and support the demands to consider all missions of universities in the context of European Universities Alliances, particularly also research and service to society. - The processes and templates from application over continuous monitoring to demonstrating impact need to be improved to better reflect the transformative nature of EUAs. Furthermore, the discussions around long-term baseline funding combined with short and medium-term flexible top-ups have high potential and should be further developed. UNIC was represented by Pro-Rektorin of Ruhr University Bochum Kornelia Freitag, Associate Vice-President of University College Cork Jean van Sinderen-Law, also moderating a breakout session on European Competitiveness, and UNIC Alliance Programme Manager Mathias Reckmann of Erasmus University Rotterdam, also presenting on behalf of the FOREU4ALL Project Manager group and moderating a breakout session on impact & reporting.