Friday 6 June 2025 - 09:15

Moderator:

Kathleen O'Connor, Coordinator for International Networks, University of Lille

Participants:

Tamer Atabarut, Director of Lifelong Learning and EUCEN Board Member, Boğaziçi University

Christelle De Beys, Head of Lifelong Learning, Free University of Brussels

Sébastien Grondel, Vice-President Europe, Polytechnic University of Hauts-de-France

Laëtitia Linden, Department of Lifelong Learning, Free University of Brussels

Bieke Morlion, Team Leader for Alumni and Lifelong Learning, Ghent University

Wim van Scheenen, Education Project Manager, Radboud University

Project description:

The European Universities Alliances developed as part of the Erasmus+ programme have had an enormous impact on the higher education landscape since the creation of the first alliances in 2019. Europe has set its sights high with ambitious goals for the alliances: seamless mobility of 50% of the students involved in an alliance, online courses, innovative pedagogy, joint European degrees and tailor-made learning with flexible learning pathways that respond to each participant’s needs and plans for the future, among other initiatives.

The alliances are a means for Europe to influence higher education policy across Europe. In parallel, Europe mobilizes the alliances to advance policies in other strategic areas. For example, the recent Union of Skills plan specifically mentions the role that the European Universities Alliances will play in its roll-out, as well as how the plan will impact the alliances. Other examples can be found alongside this one.

In this round table, we will hear from representatives of European University Alliances on how their alliance is addressing the topic of lifelong learning and, more specifically, the question of flexible learning pathways. In this context, we will touch on related questions, such as the implementation of micro-credentials, online learning platforms, European joint degrees, mobility, and skill portability, to name a few.

PROGRAMME