This EU initiative goes back to a speech made by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Sorbonne in September 2017, in which he encourages the formation of European network universities. These should be characterized by multilingual, innovative courses of study and thus re-energize the European idea. Twenty such networks are to be created by 2024. The first funding call is set to be this autumn.
The seven universities from the YERUN network will submit applications under the leadership of the University of Maastricht. In Brussels, they met under the acronym YUFE – Young Universities for the Future of Europe – and signed a joint statement on the core content of the application. The University of Bremen is on board, as well as the University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy), the University of Antwerp (Belgium), the University of Eastern Finland, the Universidad Carlos III Madrid (Spain), and the University of Essex (Great Britain).
Over the summer months, the universities of the YEFU initiative will engage in a close exchange so they will be ready to launch concrete plans for the agreed core content in autumn.
