Building bridges towards a shared future

The University of Padua builds together with the University of Bergen, Granada, Graz, Leipzig, Lyon, Minho, Padua, Vilnius and Wroclaw the Arqus European University Alliance. The seven partner alliance will make it possible to establish closer cooperation at European level by 2025.

The Arqus European University Alliance is one of the 17 thematic consortia selected by the European Commission under the European program "European Universities". The institutions have agreed to work together towards a truly European approach to higher education, involving seamless mobility for students, academics, researchers and other university staff, joint projects at all levels of university activity, and shared initiatives for global engagement.

This alliance recognises the University of Padua for its action line experience in "Widening Access, Inclusion, and Diversity". In addition to broader access and inclusive university policies, the alliance also promotes innovative teaching and learning methods, multilingualism in the university community, sustainable development through research, education, and awareness in a European context, as well as is the involvement of organisations and companies from local territories.

The Alliance’s name stems from the Latin term arcus/arquus, for arch, representing the strong foundations the consortium is laying for building bridges toward a shared future, to respond to the grand global societal challenges and to advance towards deeper European integration.