26th June 2019 saw the announcement of a much awaited decision by the European Commission on the first pilot European Universities call, choosing 17 ambitious projects from a total of 54. The good news for the 4EU+ Alliance, which includes Charles University, is that it is one of the consortia selected for funding – a decision of no small importance.
It marks the culmination of more than two years of preparation and hard work, in which a solid framework for cooperation between Sorbonne University, Charles University, Heidelberg University, Warsaw University, the University of Copenhagen, and the University of Milan was established. The decision was warmly welcomed by the rectors of all six universities, including Tomáš Zima, rector of Charles University, who expressed the hope the alliance would serve as “an example for other universities both at home and abroad”.
The intention behind the entire European Universities call was to set the stage for new forms of cooperation and integration, providing unprecedented mobility for students, members of academia, researchers and administrative staff; cooperation that would sweep away previous obstacles and provide opportunities to grow together, share resources and ideas while establishing good practices. According to CU Vice-Rector for European Affairs, Lenka Rovná, the alliance could now serve as “a laboratory”, allowing the full promise of the Bologna process to emerge – streamlining standards and quality of higher-education more effectively than ever before. The 4EU+ Alliance, comprising six European universities including Charles University, came together with the ambitious goal of transforming further integration and cooperation between schools of higher learning and universities with a high emphasis on greater mobility, sharing of resources, and unprecedented emphasis on research. As one of the projects chosen for funding, the alliance will now be able to proceed full steam ahead.
Based on a press release by UNIMEDIA.
