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Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD has today welcomed the news that six Irish higher education institutions have been successful in the second call of the European Universities Initiative.

Minister Harris said:

I am delighted as Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science that six of our Higher Education Institutions were announced today as successful members of consortia in the EU’s second Call under the European Universities Initiative.  I would like to congratulate NUI Galway, TU Dublin, Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art Design and Technology, Athlone Institute of Technology, Limerick Institute of Technology and University College Cork and their teams on this significant achievement during these challenging times .

These new partnerships from a diverse range of higher education institutions from applied sciences, technical, film and media art to those that are research-intensive are built on the trailblazers of the first Call of the European Universities initiative of which two of our Higher Education Institutions were successfully selected (Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University).  

The success of our HEIs in this Call further underlines Ireland’s commitment to the future of the EU and demonstrates that our higher education system is part of and working with the best in Europe.  It bodes very well for the future experience of our students, academics and researchers as many more opportunities to experience international education and other cultures and to build alliances and partnerships as well as friendships for the longer term.

I  would like to wish the successful institutions well in their exciting endeavour and to encourage others to continue to engage in partnerships, collaborations and mobilities under the Erasmus Programme and to build synergy with Horizon Europe and other relevant EU instruments.  The greater internationalisation of our higher education system is of huge benefit to our society and economy.

The European Universities Initiative was conceived in response to the EU’s ambition to build a European Education Area; its aim being to bring together a new generation of creative Europeans with the ability to cooperate across languages, borders and disciplines to address societal challenges and to ensure the continued competitiveness of Europe.

It sets out to encourage the emergence of several 'European Universities' by 2024, consisting of alliances of bottom-up networks of universities across the EU which will enable students to obtain a degree by combining studies in several EU countries and contribute to the international competitiveness of European universities.

In order to achieve this major step forward, the European Commission is testing different cooperation models for European Universities with two calls for proposals under the Erasmus+ Programme.

The alliances will:

• be open to partners from all types of higher education institution and cover a broad geographic scope across Europe;
• be based upon a co-envisioned long-term strategy focussed on sustainability, excellence and European values;
• offer student-centred curricula jointly delivered across inter-university campuses, where a diverse student bodies can build their own programmes and experience mobility at all levels of study;
• adopt a challenge-based approach according to which students, academics and external partners can cooperate in inter-disciplinary teams to tackle the biggest issues facing Europe today.

Notes for Editors

On the 24^th October 2019, Minister for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor T.D.  launched a call for applications for financial support for eligible Irish higher education institutions (HEIs), in advance of the second Call of the European Universities Initiative by the European Commission.

Funding of €500,000 was made available from the Government to assist with the costs of our higher education institutions preparation to participate in second call of networks with their counterparts across Europe and to ensure their best possible responses to this great opportunity by the European commission.

This call for applications, developed by the Higher Education Authority with the support of the Department of Education and Skills, offered financial support for certain vouched costs to eligible Irish HEIs to facilitate their efforts to participate in these networks.

By participating in the European Universities Initiative our institutions will strengthen their offering, enhance the student experience, prepare our young people for their future as European citizens in a global world, broaden their research possibilities and collaborative prospects and open the door to new possibilities.