BACKGROUND

In December 2017, the European Council decided to stimulate new networks of European Universities that aim to improve the international competitiveness of higher education institutions and to strengthen the feeling of European membership.

The CHARM European University Alliance was born in January 2019 between the University of Barcelona (coordinator), Trinity College Dublin, Utrecht University, the University of Montpellier and Eötvös Loránd University Budapest and its project application was accepted by the European Union in June 2019.

The initiative, co-funded by the Erasmus + project, is designed to strengthen mobility of students and staff, and to foster the quality, inclusiveness and competitiveness of European higher education. Developed together with Member States, higher education institutions and student organisations, the concept of the European Universities attracted applications from 54 alliances. Out of these 54 proposals submitted in the first call, 17 were accepted, including CHARM-EU.

In 2020, the results of a second call have been published: with the new winners, 41 alliances involving 279 higher education institutions were working to test different models of the concept of European Universities while examining its potential to transform higher education.

In June 2022, CHARM-EU has won a new grant in the 2022 Erasmus+ European Universities Call. Alongside three new partners joining the Alliance, Åbo Akademi University from Finland, University of Würzburg and Hochschule Ruhr West from Germany, CHARM-EU will continue to deepen and expand the existing cooperation to advance the higher education transformation process towards full “European Universities”. CHARM-EU will continue to engage in creating a transformative and sustainable European educational and research experience and to contribute positively to shaping the role of Europe in the world as it undergoes a deep transformation to reconcile humanity with the planet.

In 2023, the CHARM-EU Alliance was further expanded with the University of Bergen. 

Following the 2023 Erasmus+ call for proposals, there are 50 European Universities involving more than 430 higher education institutions in both capital cities and remote regions of 35 countries, including all EU Member States, as well as Iceland, the Republic of North-Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, and Türkiye, as well as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.

MISSION AND VISION

CHARM-EU's vision is to have an innovative university model that embraces the change needed to meet society’s challenges, breaking down borders and linking local and global solutions.

CHARM-EU aims for a challenge-driven university, creating flexible, student-led educational programmes focused on identifying and solving specific challenges in close collaboration with the broader community.

CHARM-EU aims to promote the common European values emphasizing the richness and diversity of the European tradition and focusing strategically on trying to rethink the role of the European universities in the world as it faces one of the main global challenges in the 21st century.

The diversity of educational systems and the differing geographical, regional, cultural, lingual, economic and historical perspectives of the CHARM-EU members contribute to consolidating the university of the future revealing our common goals on the path towards a more sustainable and inclusive future.