EUNICE Meeting for the Future of the European University

The European Commission has published a new call for support for the further expansion of the European University Initiative, for which EUNICE, the European University for Customised Education, would like to apply. For this reason, 20 members of the ten partner universities from the EUNICE alliance met in Cottbus on 14-15 December 2022 and worked for two days on the follow-up application.

The President of the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg Prof. Dr. Gesine Grande opened the meeting and welcomed all participants, especially those from the three new partner universities. She emphasized the strategic relevance of the alliance for BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg and affirmed that the new application is the next step towards becoming a European University.

A major milestone on the way to the European University was the creation of the legal identity with the foundation of an association (AISBL) in November. In the Cottbus meeting, the transformation from a project-based management to an institutionalized structure was pushed forward. The busy hours were used to discuss processes, plan budgets, and create work packages. The event ended with a visit to the Cottbus Christmas market. The culinary highlight was the official dinner at Belessa in downtown Cottbus.

After appointments already made in Mons and Brussels, the meeting in Cottbus was the last face-to-face meeting before the application is officially submitted at the end of January 2023. The next reunion of the EUNICE partner universities is planned in February for the General Assembly at the University in Vaasa (Finland).

EUNICE, the European University for Customised Education, born out of the European Universities Initiative and funded by the European Commission, is building a solid network of interactions between educational institutions and other actors* to work on social and economic challenges. The Alliance is supported by ten universities: Poznań University of Technology (Poland), Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (Germany), University of Cantabria (Spain), University of Mons (Belgium), University of Catania (Italy), Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France (France), University of Vaasa (Finland), Polytechnic Institute Viseu (Portugal), University of Peloponnese (Greece) and University of Karlstad (Sweden).