YUFE - a consortium of universities creating a new model for the European University
YUFE, or Young Universities for the Future of Europe, is one of 64 consortia selected by the European Commission to build and test the European University model - open, non-elitist and inclusive. One promoting innovation, interdisciplinarity and the highest quality in research and education.
YUFE is formed by ten dynamic, young, student-focused research universities and two non-academic partners working on higher education, the labour market and entrepreneurship in the UK, Belgium, Cyprus, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland (list of partners). The universities in the alliance collectively educate more than 190,000 people and more than 32,000 are employed.
We work together to promote our educational programmes, develop mechanisms to facilitate student and staff mobility and create a model of higher education without borders, pan-European but with reference to the local context. The relationship with the environment is crucial and necessary for YUFE to co-create changes in society and respond to its needs. Together we aim to reinforce the idea of lifelong learning, emphasise the values of multiculturalism, multilingualism and European integration.
European University
The idea of European universities was first hinted by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Sorbonne in September 2017. President Macron called for the creation of European Universities by 2024, increasing the chances of studying abroad and studying in at least two languages.
The European Commission took up this idea for the first time under the Erasmus + program for 2014-2020. The first 17 alliances covered by the three-year pilot program were selected by the Commission in summer 2019. This group included the YUFE consortium, with Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń as one of its associate partners. Our university obtained the status of a full YUFE partner in July 2020. Now, our consortium has an offer for those studying, working at the university, and living in the universitys' regions, and the first joint degree course will soon be launched. You can read about what is currently happening at YUFE on the NCU News and at yufe.eu.
During the last YUFE Townhall meeting in Rijeka Dr. Dirk Van Damme, Center for Curriculum Redesign, former director of the OECD's education research unit education research, addressed the transition in the higher education sector. We recommend hearing his lecture on Changing landscape for universities in Europe: a helicopter perspective.
