Finnish higher education institutions strengthen European alliance

The universities of Oulu, Turku and Vaasa were accepted for European Universities alliances, along with the Haaga-Helia, Karelia and Häme universities of applied sciences. A total of 24 European universities were selected this year, following an application process comprising 62 higher education institutes.

European Universities alliances focus on close strategic and cross-border co-operation to support the internationalisation of higher education and research. The goal of this flagship initiative of the EU’s higher education policy is to create a European Education Area by 2025. This will consist of European higher education campuses that offer students and staff flexible opportunities to move, study and research seamlessly, both physically and virtually.

Aside from studies and learning activities, these networks are used to build and test practices for the likes of cross-border quality assurance and student administration.

The six Finnish higher education institutions selected this year join Aalto University, Tampere University, the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Jyväskylä, which were successful in the first round of applications in 2019.

In total, a budget of up to 287 million euros is available to the 41 universities that currently make up the alliances. Each member of the alliance receives up to five million euros from the Erasmus+ programme and up to two million euros from the Horizon 2020 programme for three years to start implementing its plans and pave the way for other higher education institutions across the EU to follow.