The University of Dubrovnik is joining the prestigious European Commission initiative “European Universities.” According to today’s announced results, the alliance named “EUNICoast: European University of Islands, Ports & Coastal Territories,” which includes UNIDU and 12 other higher education institutions led by the University of Le Havre Normandie (France), has been approved for funding in the amount of 14,399,998 EUR.
The EUNICoast alliance will focus on the challenges faced by European islands, coasts, and ports through research aimed at promoting a sustainable and resilient blue economy. In addition to the University of Dubrovnik, the members of the alliance are: Åland University of Applied Sciences (Finland), Burgas Free University (Bulgaria), Stralsund University of Applied Sciences (Germany), EMUNI University (Slovenia), University of the Azores (Portugal), University of the Balearic Islands (Spain), University of Patras (Greece), University of Sassari (Italy), University of the Faroe Islands (Faroe Islands), University of French West Indies (France), University of Le Havre Normandie (France), and West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin (Poland).
The mission of the EUNICoast Alliance is to introduce new generations of European and global students and citizens to the use of sustainable solutions for societal development, to promote a multicultural, multilingual, and inclusive European academic environment open to the world, and to enhance our ability to better respond to the social and environmental challenges faced by island and coastal communities.
The European Universities initiative aims to improve the international competitiveness of higher education institutions in Europe and promote European values and identity. A record 1.1 billion euros of funding is planned for the period 2021-2027 to support these new alliances, which are expected to enhance the quality and competitiveness of European higher education over time.
The project of creating European University alliances was inspired by the speech of French President Emmanuel Macron at the Sorbonne on September 26, 2017, in which he proposed the creation of “European universities, networks of universities that enable students to study abroad and attend classes in at least two languages.”
The European Commission launched calls for proposals in 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2023, selecting a total of 50 alliances involving 430 European institutions. The fifth call for the selection of 10 new alliances, which included the EUNICoast alliance, was launched in 2023. The initiative supports 60 European University alliances involving over 500 higher education institutions, representing 10% of European higher education institutions.
