Towards a European University in Brussels
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel, VUB, has created partnerships with universities all over Europe to promote student mobility. The acronym VUB probably sounds familiar if you have been living in Brussels for some time. It is a Dutch-speaking university that every year sees thousands of students earning a degree. While many of those students have already had the opportunity to travel abroad thanks to the Erasmus program, the partnerships the VUB has recently made will foster student mobility and knowledge-sharing.
On Tuesday June 5th, Caroline Pauwels, rector of the VUB, and François Germinet, rector of Paris Seine (Université Paris Seine), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The same day, a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) was also signed between the VUB and the University of Warwick.
What’s the point of these new partnerships? In line with the call issued by the European Council at the end of last year, the VUB is committed to create a network of European universities. Although the call is not binding and only focuses on goals by the year 2024, the VUB is keen on setting up a ‘European University’, which could involve between 4 to 6 universities within the EU and the UK.
“The VUB aims to be a metropolitan university which plays a pioneering role in the development of Brussels and, by extension, the European region. We look forward to enable this together with Université Paris Seine and the University of Warwick,” stated Caroline Pauwels in a press release.
This cooperation would allow young Europeans to study abroad and graduate in different countries.
