Leg-UniGR: Blueprint for a legal entity for cross-border university alliances

 

The Leg-UniGR project was selected by the European Commission in a call for proposals for pilot projects of the “European Universities” initiative. Its goal: to test the feasibility of a new legal status for the cross-border university network.

The University of the Greater Region (UniGR) is an innovative, cross-border university network founded within the framework of an Interreg IV A Greater Region project. Located in the heart of Europe, the UniGR brings together seven universities from the Région Grand Est, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Région Wallonne and the federal states of Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate, with a total of 145,000 students.

Since its foundation in 2008, it has pursued the goal of acting as a model in Europe and internationally by actively participating in the creation of a common higher education and research area in the political space “Greater Region”.

Now another milestone has been reached: UniGR has been selected by the European Commission in a pilot project call of the “European Universities” initiative. The Leg-UniGR project (funded with € 175,729.08 from the ERASMUS+ programme) will test the feasibility of a legal status for European university alliances. The University of Luxembourg will coordinate the Leg-UniGR project for one year in close partnership with the partner universities and UniGR a.s.b.l. (April 2023 to March 2024). Aware of having a unique and promising university alliance in their field, the competent authorities of the Greater Region have expressed their support for Leg-UniGR in a joint Letter of Intent.

The special characteristic of this call for pilot projects was that it was open to European universities and “similar alliances”. In this regard, Univ. Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jäckel, President of Trier University and the UniGR, emphasised that: “This strengthens the UniGR in its efforts to become an exemplary cross-border university for Europe.”