Under the motto "Laying the foundation for COLOURS", representatives of the nine partner institutions of the COLOURS higher education alliance met in mid-September to jointly plan the next steps for a successful start as a European university in early 2024. The alliance will receive 14 million euros in funding from the European Commission from January of next year as one of 50 "European universities" across Europe. The University of Paderborn University is the lead coordinator.
The COLOURS partners are characterised by strong regional roots. A special focus is on networking and cooperation between the respective regions and their regional stakeholders. Through open, innovative approaches that address current social challenges in teaching, research and knowledge transfer, the cooperation within the COLOURS alliance is also to be intensified at all levels. The aim is to use synergy effects and create joint offers.
In addition to administrative issues and current developments discussed at the meeting in Sweden, the participants continued to work on five key work packages. The development of new, attractive physical and virtual mobility offers and the design of joint study offers are just two examples of the activities planned for the future. In addition, students are to play a particularly strong role in the development of the offers in order to actively shape the idea of an inter-European campus.
The idea of "European universities" goes back to the keynote speech "Initiative for Europe" by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2017, in which he proposed that around 20 "European universities" should be established by 2024. The EU Commission took up the proposal and launched a funding programme that supported 44 university alliances in the first two pilot phases. The "European Universities" are intended, among other things, to promote a European identity, to support a united and strong Europe and to improve the performance and competitiveness of the European higher education system.
Further information on the "European Universities" initiative can be found on the website of the International Relations Unit and on the website of the European Commission.
