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IO_ARQUS Maynooth University European University Initiative

The Arqus European University Alliance

The Arqus European University Alliance brings together the universities of Granada, Graz, Leipzig, Lyon 1, Maynooth, Minho, Padua, Vilnius and Wroclaw, nine longstanding comprehensive research universities who share extensive experience in joint projects and a common profile as internationalized institutions with deep regional engagement in medium-sized cities.

Arqus aspires to build on the member universities’ sound prior experience in cooperation in order to achieve a high level of integration in its members’ policies and action plans in order to: - enhance the education of critically engaged European and global citizens who are able and willing to contribute to a multicultural, multilingual and inclusive Europe which is open to the world; - increase and improve the joint research capacity of the partner universities; - better respond to the grand societal challenges of the 21st century in Europe and beyond.

The principal driving ambition of the Arqus Alliance is the design, testing and gradual implementation of an innovative model for deep inter-university cooperation, which will serve as the basis for a truly European campus fulfilling all the missions of a university for the twenty-first century.

What is a European University?

Our Arqus Alliance Partner Universities


Universidad de Granada	Universität Graz


Universität Leipzig	Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1


Universidade do Minho	Università di Padova


Vilniaus Universitetas	Uniwersytet Wroclawski

Arqus Vision

A forward-looking, open, integrated and research-driven European University, building transformative excellence with and for all.

Arqus Mission

To transform European higher education, research and innovation through deep cooperation and progressive integration, in pursuit of an equitable and sustainable future by together:

Educating critical and socially engaged European citizens, equipped for lifelong learning, leaving no-one behind.
Generating excellent, open, challenge-driven, innovative, and reflective knowledge.
Acting as a committed multi-level societal and global player.
Bringing down barriers to effective cooperation

Click here for the ARQUS Mission Statement 2022-2032:
Arqus Mission Statement 2022-2032

Arqus Values

Arqus acts in defence and promotion of:

The core European values of democracy, the rule of law, respect for diversity and human rights, solidarity and the pursuit of peace and justice in Europe and the world.
The core university values expressed in the Magna Charta Universitatum.
The unique role played by universities as open places of freedom, pluralism and democratic participation, dedicated to the generation and dissemination of knowledge through research, education, innovation and culture for sustainable societal progress.
The shared understanding of higher education as a public good and a public responsibility which serves purposes of individual, social, economic and cultural development.
The conviction that through alliances people and institutions are stronger in their pursuit of the common good.

Arqus Major Goals

Effective barrier-free cooperation at all levels of institutional activity in order to better respond to existing and emerging societal challenges.
Joint evidence-based institutional learning, arising from acting as a common laboratory beyond the mainstream, innovating in pursuit of systemic, structural and sustainable impact.
Engaged communities of learners, academics, professionals and alumni in multi-level habitats working together for sustainable progress.
Co-created attractive flexible challenge-based and research-driven academic offer.
Joint transformational disciplinary and interdisciplinary research and innovation.
Enhanced intercultural competence, global understanding and respect for diversity throughout our communities.

European Universities

EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY TIMELINE

2019

54 alliances are candidates for the call for “European Universities” pilot project
17 alliances selected
One of these alliances is named Arqus

2020

24 new alliances join the “European Universities” project

2021

1st Annual Arqus Conference at Vilnius University

2022

2 universities join the ARQUS Alliance: Wroclaw and Minho
The European Commission approves the new application for the period 22-26

2023

1 new university joins the Alliance: Maynooth University