Eleven leading European research universities have come together to create a unique alliance – Una Europa. The aim of this European alliance is to work together closely through bilateral and multilateral collaborations in research, learning, and teaching. The members of the alliance are:

• Freie Universität Berlin
• Università di Bologna
• University of Edinburgh
• KU Leuven
• Universidad Complutense de Madrid
• Uniwersytet Jagielloński in Kraków
• Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
• Helsingin Yliopisto / Helsingfors Universitet (Universität Helsinki)
• Universiteit Leiden
• University College Dublin
• Universität Zürich / University of Zurich

Una Europa is based in Brussels where it was founded under Belgian law as a not-for-profit organization on February 1, 2019. Una Europa is a network of eleven leading research universities that have been educating Europe for over 1,000 years. Together, its members teach over 500,000 students and employ almost 100,000 university staff, with digital learners numbering in the millions. Una Europa aims to draw on its collective strengths to create a truly European inter-university environment: a “University of the Future.” This includes establishing joint undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs, promoting exchange and mobility among students and researchers (both for short periods and for entire semesters), acquiring EU funding for research projects, advocating collaboration in European and international research networks, and developing innovative forms of cooperation across research, teaching, and administration.

The self-steering committees (SSC) form the academic heart of the alliance and are responsible for testing and implementing innovative new teaching and research formats. The work generated by these committees has already given rise to a number of flagship projects for Una Europa. Furthermore, the network has established a comprehensive support structure and an efficient governance framework together with experts from across the eleven universities. Una Europa has the capacity to bring about real change, in no small part due to the active role played by passionate students from across the eleven universities. An integral part of Una Europa’s mission involves ensuring that the voices of students are heard, and that they play an important role in helping shape the University of the Future.

Una Europa has already successfully acquired funding for a number of projects. For example, the Una.Futura project (an ambitious four-year project co-funded by the European Commission) represents the culmination of the network’s joint efforts to develop a truly integrated European University of the Future. As an individual institution, Freie Universität also benefits from financial support from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).