France's head of policy strategy says pioneer group of university alliances should move ahead

Clément Beaune, the head of France's policy planning unit, has said that a small number of university alliances should be selected and funded to work together on joint degrees.

Speaking at News Tank's "Think" event in Paris on 05/02/2026, Beaune, who came up with the idea of European university alliances when he was an advisor to France's President Emmanuel Macron in 2017, said it was time to “move to the second phase in the work of alliances”.

“We need to select and fund several committed alliances that want to go further and invest in joint degrees. The other alliances can be flexible cooperation networks that require less funding,” he added.

Nathalie Drach-Temam, President of Sorbonne University, which hosted the event, said that alliances “need to be funded across the entire continuum of education, research and innovation”. Sorbonne University is a member of 4EU+, an alliance of eight universities in seven countries.

While alliances had achieved a lot since the first were set up in 2019, she said, "what is still lacking is the implementation of research and innovation. We are…