Swiss higher education institutions in the Erasmus+ “European universities”

The European Universities Initiative is a unique opportunity for Swiss higher education institutions to strengthen their relations with European partner institutions at a very strategic level in education, research, innovation and service to society, as well as to participate in the further development of the European Higher Education and Research Area (EHEA and ERA).

Together with the 24 projects selected in 2020, a total of 44 "European Universities" are now active. "European Universities" are possible at different levels and in different thematic areas. The projects with Swiss participation reflect this range. The following projects with links to Swiss HEIs were selected for Erasmus+ funding.

The Swiss participations:

The 4EU+ alliance is constituted by seven leading, comprehensive and research-intensive universities across Europe (incl. UNIGE), organised as an association since 2021 to realise its vision of a truly European university. The 1CORE project (2022-2026) from 4EU+, building on the achievements of the past years and structured around the 4EU+ flagships (Urban health and demographic change, Europeanness, Digitalisation - modelling - transformation and Environmental transitions), will expand the alliance's common educational offer, develop innovative pedagogies, move towards seamless mobility, deploy new solutions for the common campus and implement new actions to engage society.

Find out more: 1CORE, 4EU+ and UNIGE & 4EU+

CIVIS is – like Una Europa and EPICUR – one of the largest alliances and aims to strengthen the competitiveness of the European Higher Education Area and ensure access to higher education for a larger number of students and staff. The project CIVIS2 (2022-2026) focuses on sustainably increasing mobility, pooling resources and strengthening cooperation through common education and research agendas.

Read more: CIVIS2, CIVIS and press release UNIL

The EPICUR alliance brings together nine EU higher education institutions. The project EPICUR-SHAPE-IT (2022-2026) aims to deepen and expand the systematic and long-term institutional cooperation from the 2019-2022 pilot project. In teaching, a joint range of courses on socially relevant topics is to be established and innovative teaching formats suitable for inter-university studies are to be developed. In addition, joint structural elements are to be created that will sustainably increase the joint educational offer and expand the content. Another important goal is to increase student mobility at Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral level. The UNIBAS will engage in this alliance as a member of the EUCOR network.

Read more: EPICUR-SHAPE-IT, EPICUR und press release UNIBAS

The alliance Una Europa expands the network, activities and ambitions of the pilot project 1EUROPA 2019-2022 in the Una.Futura project (2022-2026). Eleven renowned research universities are involved in the alliance. In six focus areas (Cultural Heritage, Data Science and AI, European Studies, One Health, Sustainability and Material Design & Engineering), further joint learning opportunities including degrees are to be established and the mobility of students and staff further increased.

Read more: Una.Futura, Una Europa and UZH & Una Europa