Universities alliances ask for long-term, flexible support and funding

European universities alliances are calling for long-term, flexible support that gives institutions autonomy to pursue their broad education and research goals and "holistic funding", which would finance all of the universities' missions. These are the requests set out in a paper drawn up by the 73 alliances that are members of the FOREU4ALL community of practice and that has been sent to EU decision-makers.

In an interview with News Tank on 19/11/2025, Olga Wessels, head of the ECIU universities alliance Brussels office, presented the content of the paper.

Wessels, who is also the coordinator of FOREU4ALL, said: "It’s quite limiting that funding is driven only by Erasmus, while alliances want to build holistic institutions. European funding in general is too siloed. Why can’t there be joint funds that bring all the missions of universities - research, innovation, society, education - together?"

"Autonomy is very important to deliver impact. The diversity of alliances and the bottom-up funding model have been huge strengths. The best way to respond to societal challenges is to let…