FORTHEM Alliance receives further EU funding

The FORTHEM Alliance of European Universities has received further funding under the Erasmus+ programme. Thanks to the support for the years 2026–2028, the Alliance’s partners will continue to develop their joint European campus and strengthen cooperation in the fields of education, research and innovation.

Thirty-seven European University Alliances applied for funding under the European Universities Initiative (EUI) call for proposals, which closed on 4 March 2026. The FORTHEM’s grant application was among those selected for funding.

The Alliance’s new phase of activity will be carried out under the name FORTHEM NEXUS – Nurturing Excellence and Talent through Exchange with Universities and Society. The project will receive nearly 7.2 million Euros, which represents around 80 per cent of its total budget.

The University of Jyväskylä (Finland) will act as the coordinating institution.

From a pilot project to a permanent model of cooperation

The European Universities Initiative is one of the key elements in the development of the European Education Area. Since its launch in 2019, 65 European Universities alliances, bringing together over 570 higher education institutions from 35 countries, have received funding.

FORTHEM was among the first alliances selected for funding in 2019. The previous phases of the initiative spanned the years 2019–2022 and 2022–2026, laying a solid foundation for the current, extended phase of cooperation.

This new round of funding marks the next stage in the development of FORTHEM – a transition from effective project-based collaboration to a permanent, sustainable model of a European University, whose actions are becoming an integral part of the operations of the partner universities.

After more than seven years of collaboration, the Alliance is focusing on the further development of the Transnational Joint Campus – a joint European campus offering students and staff an increasingly integrated range of educational, research and development opportunities.

Priorities for 2026–2028

Over the next two years, FORTHEM will be expanding its activities in four key areas:

• • incorporating mobility and internationalisation into study curricula,
• • developing innovative teaching methods and common teaching standards,
• • strengthening research collaboration and support for Early Career Researchers,
• • developing initiatives related to democracy, entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence and cooperation with social and economic partners.

At the same time, the Alliance will support the development of the European Higher Education Area and the European Research Area by creating joint study pathways, cooperation tools and organisational solutions that will be permanently implemented across all partner universities.

What does the new funding mean?

The new funds will, inter alia, allow for:

• developing joint educational and research initiatives,
• increasing mobility opportunities for students and staff,
• further implementing the FORTHEM’s flagship initiatives, such as the Democracy Week,
• further implementing the FORTHEM’s flagship initiatives, such as the Democracy Week,
• launching new projects and ventures relating to multilingualism, artificial intelligence and entrepreneurship.

To date, more than 15,000 students have taken part in the Alliance’s actions, and the new funding will help to expand the scale of these activities in the coming years.

About the FORTHEM Alliance

The FORTHEM Alliance was established in 2019 as part of the European Universities Initiative. It comprises nine member universities and over 60 partners representing the public sector, the business community, NGOs and research institutions.

The Alliance community comprises approximately:

• 230,000 students,
• 2,500 doctoral students,
• 19,000 researchers and academic teachers,
• 17,000 administrative staff.

The University of Opole has been a member of the Alliance since its inception in 2019.

Thanks to its participation in FORTHEM, the UO academic community benefits from a wide range of international courses, summer schools, mobility programmes, research projects and initiatives supporting the development of academic and intercultural competences.

This new phase in the Alliance’s work means a further expansion of these opportunities and an even stronger integration of the University of Opole with the European higher education and research areas.