European universities urge EU Council to increase investments in education, research and innovation

Eight European universities, all members of theEuropean Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU), sent a letter to theHeads of Government of their home countries. In this, they underline theimportance of investing at least 25 percent of the European budget ineducation, research and innovation. This implies increasing the R&I budgetto 160 billion euros and investing a further 90 billion euros in the successorof the Erasmus+ programme. For a competitive Europe, clear political choicesare needed urgently, according to the universities.

The letteris timely, as the discussions about the future EU budget take place right now.The Heads of Government of the member states, in the EU Council, have a keyrole to play in the negotiations. According to the ECIU-universities, for theEU programmes Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+, a significant budget increase is ofutmost importance. These programmes are broadly and clearly acknowledged fortheir European added value, and without them, the ECIU members could not havethe impact they now have on both their regional and the European economy.

Budgetary constraints

At the same time, theuniversities conclude that too many excellent research and innovation projectsare not funded due to severe budgetary constraints in Horizon 2020. The limitedbudget of Erasmus+ hampers the achievement of its potential to increase theemployability and competences of students and the workforce, and the qualityand internationalisation of universities. It is because of this, theuniversities strongly support the call of the ‘High Level Group’ chaired byPascal Lamy, for an increase in research budget for the coming seven yearstowards 160 billion euros. Europe’s inclusiveness and educational ambitions canonly be met if the successor of ‘Erasmus+’ will have a budget of 90 billioneuros, the ECIU members say. Moreover, there are great opportunities todesignate other parts of the EU budget to support education, research andinnovation.

ECIU

ECIU isthe leading international consortium of research intensive universities, withcollective emphasis on innovation, creativity and societal impact, driving thedevelopment of a knowledge-based economy. They combine a strong position intheir own region and an innovative international network. ‘Challengingconventional thinking’ is the joint motto of the universities.