EU Parliament adopts resolution on future strategy for alliances
30 September 2025
The resolution sends a clear signal for greater institutionalisation of European university alliances. It calls for a transition from a project-based approach to long-term, transformative cooperation and advocates coordinated, sustainable and predictable funding beyond 2027.
To ensure continuous funding for existing alliances, Parliament calls for an accelerated renewal process for successful alliances, with the aim of avoiding unnecessary administrative burdens. Parliament also calls on Member States to commit to co-financing the alliances from national budgets. The European Commission is called upon to present a comprehensive investment strategy that exploits synergies with existing EU programmes such as Horizon Europe, the European Competitiveness Fund, the European Social Fund Plus and the European Regional Development Fund.
The resolution also emphasises that the internationalisation of alliances must be strengthened, in line with the Global Gateway Strategy and skilled worker partnerships, among other things, and sees the alliances as a suitable starting point for building partnerships with third countries – in particular with candidate countries that can strengthen the international dimension of Erasmus+, for example through instruments such as Erasmus Mundus.
It calls on the Commission to consider including criteria in possible future calls for proposals in line with issues related to Europe’s strategic autonomy and competitiveness, such as resilience, energy, climate change, digital transformation, digital skills and defence, taking into account the core objectives of compliance with EU values and excellence in education and innovation.
The resolution also stresses that alliances must have the appropriate structures and capacities to support the transfer from science to industry and contribute to the realisation of the EU’s ambitions in terms of its strategic autonomy.
In addition, Parliament calls for measures to facilitate the joint recruitment of academic staff and researchers, as well as the development and use of shared facilities.
The report was adopted with 461 votes in favour and 100 against.
