European University Alliances 2024: University of Tirana joins, bringing UNICA members involved to 39, as initiative also sets up first Community of Practice
28 June 2024 | European Universities
The European Commission has announced the results of the 2024 call for the European Universities initiative, bringing up the total number of European Universities to 64.
In the 2024 call, 14 alliances have been selected for funding from the EC, who will receive up to €14.4 million each over a period of four years. UNICA is very proud to learn that one of its members, the University of Tirana, in Albania, is now involved in the initiative by integrating one of the new selected alliances, namely UNINOVIS DATA FOR L.I.F.E. (UNINOVIS).
This means that currently, out of the 53 members of UNICA, 39 are involved in the initiative. In terms of the alliances themselves, 21 out of the 64 existing alliances have at least one UNICA member University as partner.
The 64 European Universities alliances encompass more than 560 higher education institutions of all types in 35 countries, including all EU members states, as well as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Montenegro, the Republic of North-Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, and Türkiye. The results of this call also mean the achievement of the European strategy for universities‘ goal to have at least 60 European Universities alliances with more than 500 universities involved by mid-2024. It also aligns with the plan for a European degree introduced in March 2024.
Beyond the new alliances, the 2024 call also also supports the set-up of a Community of Practice for European Universities – the FOR-EU4ALL – FORum of European Universities for All – meant to reinforce peer learning between the existing alliances and boosting dissemination of reusable results and models. The Community of Practice is made up of 17 alliances, 10 of which include UNICA members.