Circle U. selected as a pilot 'European University'

09 July 2020

Circle U. selected as a pilot 'European University'

King’s College London is thrilled to announce that as part of its Circle U. partnership it has been selected as next ‘European University’.

Circle U., the next 'European University'.

King’s College London is thrilled to announce that as part of its Circle U. partnership has been selected as one of the universities to make up the next pilot ‘European University’.

Circle U. is a partnership of universities in Europe joining forces to empower students and staff to mobilize knowledge for positive global change in order to make the world a better place. And as a partnership, Circle U. has been selected to receive significant funding in the second pilot ‘European Universities’ call for proposals, launched as part of the Erasmus+ programme.

Out of over 60 proposals submitted, the European Commission's Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture selected 24 European University alliances, which will obtain funding for their projects to become the ‘European Universities’ of the future. Universities as part of Circle U. are King’s College London, Aarhus University (Denmark), Humboldt University of Berlin (Germany), Université de Paris (France), University of Belgrade (Serbia), University of Louvain (Belgium) and University of Oslo (Norway).

Working with a network of international partners who share the same values and ambitions as we do, has always been very important to us at King’s. With the world rapidly changing, and further challenges and opportunities to be responded to, these partnerships have never been so vital as they are at this current moment, both to foster impactful research and an innovative and international curriculum for our students. We are delighted that Circle U. has been recognised in such a powerful way through this funding, which will allow our joint community of almost 400,000 staff and students to combine our minds and resources to build a better future, and make the world a better place.
Professor Ed Byrne, President & Principal of King’s College London

We are eager to get started

Each month, for over a year and a half, the Circle U. partners have met to build trust and a mutual understanding. Presidents, academic leaders, students and administrative staff across the institutions have already begun connecting to find new ideas and to discuss and debate obstacles and solutions to tackle as one.

A true co-creative process

Students are at the heart of this alliance and have been involved since the beginning of the development of the Circle U. concept. Through several student seminars, they have constructively contributed on all topics and discussed how to strengthen the students’ participation through their student democracies. They will have active roles in the governance and the implementation of the alliance. Stakeholders within and outside our universities have also been involved in developing Circle U., who has connected with more than 30 enthusiastic organisations and businesses wanting to join as associated partners.

The trust, ideas and insights developed through these co-creating processes forms the basis for the Circle U. work programme for the project period and beyond.

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