Funding for European University pilot set to double

The European Commission looks likely to double the budget for its European University pilot initiative—which aims to increase teaching and research standards and mobility—from €30 million to €60m.

The Commission committee responsible for the initiative agreed to double the funding for it last week following “huge demand” from universities, the Commission confirmed to Research Europe after the news broke on social media.

The decision, which still needs to be formalised by the Commission over the next few weeks, would fund 12 pilot networks of European Universities instead of the six that were originally planned. Several university groups have publicly announced their intention to apply for the pilot call, which opened in October 2018.