The Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science has announced financial support for participants in the European Universities Initiative. European Universities are transnational alliances of higher education institutions in the European Union. One of the alliances is CHARM-EU , of which Utrecht University is a partner since 2019.
Drivers of European cooperation
The additional funding means that from 2023, the minister will grant participating institutions an annual amount of ¤250,000 for four years and non-participating institutions a one-off amount of ¤50,000 to lower the threshold for a new application. National co-funding is not a prerequisite for participation in the European Universities Initiative, but the lack of additional national financial support was perceived as a barrier by Dutch participants. In the Netherlands, 11 universities and two universities of applied sciences are currently involved in the European Universities Initiative as full partners.
Minister Dijkgraaf supports the roll-out of European Universities Alliances as a driver of European cooperation in higher education. He also explicitly considers the opportunities these alliances offer for brain circulation, higher participation of universities of applied sciences and knowledge sharing with the rest of the higher education field. Minister Dijkgraaf believes that the high quality of Dutch higher education cannot be achieved without openness, international cooperation and talent.
Next phase for CHARM-EU
CHARM-EU was launched in 2019 by the University of Barcelona, Trinity College Dublin, University of Montpellier, Eötvös Loránd University Budapest and Utrecht University. An expansion will follow in January 2023 with three new partners: Ĺbo Akademi University from Finland, Würzburg University from Germany, and Hochschule Ruhr West, also from Germany, which has so far been an associate partner.
CHARM-EU is organising the master’s programme Global Challenges for Sustainability : in September 2021, the first accredited master’s programme according to the criteria of European universities. TORCH is CHARM-EU’s research and innovation project.
The first project phase of CHARM-EU will end in December 2022. The continuation of the alliance is guaranteed by a ¤12.8 million grant from the Erasmus+ programme. For innovative activities, a new project CHARM-EIGHT will be launched from January 2023, which the eight alliance partners will implement under the CHARM-EU banner.