Rectors and representatives of the CIVIS University Alliance convened at the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (PLUS) to formalise the creation of a new legal entity, the CIVIS Association. The gathering also celebrated the appointment of Stefan Lang, the University of Salzburg’s Vice-Rector for International Affairs and Digitalisation, as the first Secretary General of CIVIS—a great honour for the PLUS.

CIVIS, an alliance of leading European universities, aims to establish a unique inter-university European campus, where students, academics, and staff collaborate as easily as they do within their home institutions. Alongside its academic ambitions, the alliance fosters social commitment, emphasising education that transcends national borders. The PLUS is one of eleven prominent European universities in the network, alongside six strategic partners from Africa.

Funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ European Universities programme, CIVIS represents a new model of higher education. The signing of the contract in Salzburg marks a significant moment in the Alliance’s history, highlighting a pivotal step toward deeper, long-term collaboration. Representatives of all partner institutions attended the CIVIS International Reception in the University’s Great University Hall.

Vice-Rector Stefan Lang’s ceremonial appointment as the first Secretary General highlights Salzburg’s leadership in this ambitious project. Lang articulated the importance of the alliance’s three foundational pillars—joint education strategies, an inter-university campus, and networked research teams—as essential to realising the vision of a transnational European university. CIVIS aims to go beyond mere collaboration by integrating its members’ educational programs and research efforts, ensuring competitiveness in the European Higher Education Area and beyond.

A major theme of the conference was Europe’s evolving role in global education. In his keynote speech, Professor Bernhard Rittberger, Professor at the LMU Munich, spoke on the paradoxes of European Union integration, noting that “the EU’s own success is increasingly becoming its undoing,” a remark that captured the challenges facing European institutions. Professor Ariadna Ripoll Servent from the PLUS echoed this sentiment, and likened the EU to “a teenager: full of potential, but often too insecure to realise it.”

Further information:

The CIVIS Alliance is made up of 11 leading research universities throughout Europe: University of Aix-Marseille (UAM), National and Kapodistrias University of Athens (NKUA), University of Bucharest (UB), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Sapienza University of Rome (SUR), Stockholm University (SU), University of Tübingen (UT), University of Glasgow (UfG), Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (PLUS) and University of Lausanne (UNIL).

CIVIS connects over 470,000 students and 58,000 staff members—including 35,000 academics.

The Alliance also brings together six higher education institutions on the African continent as strategic partners in the Alliance cooperation: University of Makerere (MAK), Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM), Hassan II University of Casablanca (UH2C), University of Sfax (USF), Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar and University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg (WITS).

Looking ahead, CIVIS remains committed to advancing integrated, cooperative higher education across Europe. The alliance’s efforts extend to developing innovative digital tools and training methods, including virtual modules and multilingual resources to improve mobility for students and staff. The introduction of a European student card is also on the horizon, simplifying access to university services across all CIVIS member institutions. Additionally, a dedicated digital campus to support research collaboration and resource sharing across the alliance is in development.