History and current status:
The European Campus was developed out of a longstanding, trusting partnership between the universities of Basel, Freiburg, Upper Alsace, and Strasbourg and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology reaching all the way back to the establishment of the Eucor network in 1989. In 2013, the presidents of the five universities resolved to intensify their cooperation to form a “European Campus.” To achieve this goal, the participating universities got together in 2015 to found a common legal entity in the form of a European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC). The individual universities retain their autonomy but can also act together under the name “Eucor – The European Campus.” As the first EGTC to be run exclusively by universities, the European Campus is a unique model project in the European research area. The participating universities are pooling their potential and defining joint projects for teaching, research, and innovation. With the expertise and potential of 15,000 researchers and 13,500 PhD-candidates as well as 117,000 students, the alliance expands into a science and research area without walls and borders and with an international outreach.
Tasks and objectives:
The EGTC is originally an instrument to manage EU structural funds commonly. This function also applies to the EGTC Eucor - The European Campus, which aims to apply for European grants. However, the grants aimed at are not only ESIF (like Interreg), but also funds from other European public policies, i.e. research and education. The EGTC is thus not only an added value for the implementation of cohesion policy but also for the policies targeting the European Research Area.
Through the Interreg-VA-Upper Rhine Project "Eucor - The European Campus", the universities on the Upper Rhine have given concrete shape to the cooperation and future development of the alliance in a joint strategic plan for the years 2019 to 2023 with the following objectives in research, teaching and doctoral programmes:
- Research:
- Strengthening research cooperation in the priority themes of quantum sciences and technology, personalised health – precision medicine, sustainability and European identities
- Simplify cross-border research cooperation of bi-and trinational research consortia
- Constitution of joint research and teaching hubs
- Implementing bridge professorships
- Strengthening cross-border technology transfer and transfer to regional society and economy
- Teaching:
- Simplify mobility of students and researchers within the European Campus;
- Encourage teaching cooperation
- Develop digital teaching methods
- Amplify intercultural qualifications and language skills of students and teachers
- Doctoral programmes:
- Simplify binational doctoral programmes
This will allow the strategic relevance of the cross-border perspective for each of the five member universities. In terms of sustainability, the availability of highly qualified human capital on a cross-border scale can thus be assured in the long run and is the basis for economic growth for the region.
There is no specific implication of the EGTC in macro-regions. However, there are contacts to other cross-border regions, which cooperate in the field of higher education and research, such as the Greater Region or the border region between France and Spain.
Challenges or issues:
Eucor – The European Campus as regional group couldn’t participate entirely in the European Universities Initiative which is a funding instrument of the European Commission that focuses on teaching and which is part of the new Erasmus+ program. The University of Basel is not eligible because Switzerland is not entitled to take part in a call for applications in the Erasmus+ program. Therefore, the four other Eucor members have invited new allies in from four countries: the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, Austria’s University of Natural Resources and Life Science Vienna, and Aristoteles University in Thessaloniki, Greece makes up a new alliance called “European Partnership for an Innovative Campus Unifying Regions” (EPICUR). Nevertheless, Eucor – The European Campus sees itself as a regional, cross-border model for a European University and aims to develop this activity.
Budget:
600 000 Euros in 2019
Staff (in FTE):
All staff members of the EGTC are employed indirectly, i.e. they are delegated by the respective EGTC member.
