European Campus to grow

Friedrich Schiller University Jena will be able to continue and increase its international activities over the next four years thanks to a total of €2.3 million in new funding from the EU and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). 

The University of Jena has been a member of the ‘European Campus of City Universities’ (EC2U) alliance since 2020. Partners include the University of Coimbra (Portugal), Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi (Romania), the University of Pavia (Italy), the University of Poitiers (France), the University of Salamanca (Spain), and the University of Turku (Finland). Joining forces to create a shared European education and research area, the universities collaborate to develop virtual institutes and joint, subject-oriented degree programmes that include coordinated curricula, the recognition of credits, and double degrees.
EU continues to fund EC2U with €14.4 million

The EU will continue to fund EC2U for another four years until October 2027. Providing a total of €14.4 million for now eight partners, including the Johannes Kepler University Linz, around €1.6 million of this funding will go to Jena.

€700.000 in additional funding for the University of Jena

As part of a national funding programme, the DAAD supports German universities selected by the EU in building European Universities alliances using funds from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The fourth funding round, in which the University of Jena was once again successful, started at the beginning of January 2024. Like 27 other German universities, the University of Jena will receive €700,000 over the next four years. Dr Claudia Hillinger, Head of the International Office at the University of Jena, is delighted with the results: ‘A total of €2.3 million will allow us to increase our activities in the European Higher Education Area. This will also benefit our worldwide activities.’ 

Digitalization and Internationalization

Hillinger explains that the new funds from DAAD will be used to ‘implement measures at the intersection of digitalization and internationalization with a focus on quality assurance and the promotion of intercultural competences.’ In concrete terms, this involves the digitalization of international cooperation management and the expansion of an inclusive and European culture of teaching and learning. The measures are also intended to strengthen the framework conditions and design of short-term and virtual mobility programmes and, last but not least, there are plans to set up an equivalence database. Dr Hillinger expects that ‘this digital platform will facilitate the recognition of credits earned abroad by creating more transparency and consistency as well as ensuring quality. This will improve our consultation services for studying abroad and ultimately lead to more mobility.’