Resolution on European Universities: Towards Sustainable and Student-Driven Alliances

The participation of Portuguese and Spanish Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the European Universities Initiative has consolidated itself as a significant achievement in Portugal’s internationalization strategy. Currently, Europe has 73 European University Alliances, encompassing almost 650 institutions from 35 countries. Portugal plays an especially active role in this context: Portuguese HEIs are represented in 30 of these Alliances, corresponding to an outstanding 41% participation rate while Spain HEIs is part of 55 of these Alliances; some of the highest among EU Member States. This strong engagement reflects the commitment of Portuguese and Spanish HEI’s and to cross-border cooperation, innovation in teaching and research, and the advancement of a shared European Higher Education Area (EHEA). These alliances show a potential to become drivers for quality improvement, transnational integration, and the global competitiveness of European universities.

However, despite the progress achieved, the governance and financing structures of the European University Alliances still present major challenges that threaten their long-term sustainability and inclusiveness. In this regard, two critical issues stand out in the Portuguese and Spanish context: the lack of meaningful democratic student participation in decision-making processes, and the lack of stable national funding mechanisms to complement EU support.

While European financing has been instrumental in launching and expanding the Alliances, the current model is not financially sustainable in the long run. The European Commission has repeatedly underlined that EU-level funding for the Alliances will not remain permanent, emphasizing the need for Member States to develop complementary funding schemes. Nevertheless, only a few countries, such as Finland, France, Germany and Romania have established specific financial frameworks to sustain their universities’ participation.

In Portugal and Spain, such national support structures are still non-existent, placing the country’s institutions at a competitive disadvantage and threatening the continuity of their involvement in the Alliances once EU funding phases out. The national higher education financing model is based on a hybrid structure, combining public funds and own revenues such as tuition fees, European funds, donations, and services . However, as highlighted by the OECD report “Resourcing Higher Education in Portugal”, this system presents significant fragilities, particularly the strong dependence of many institutions on tuition fees as a source of income. 

Without a dedicated national mechanism to support the European University Alliances, there is a concrete risk that their sustainability will increasingly rely on these revenues, indirectly transferring costs to students. Such a scenario would not only undermine the principle of accessibility and equity in higher education but could also lead to the commoditization of international cooperation, turning a European public good into a service sustained by private contribution rather than collective investment.

Considering the social dimension, there is no inclusivity framework in place to guarantee the participation of students from all backgrounds in mobility opportunities and programmes. 

At the same time, student representation remains uneven and often symbolic, which often leads to tokenism of student voices. The level and formality of participation vary considerably across Alliances. While some grant students full voting rights within decision-making structures, others limit their role to consultative or advisory functions. This inconsistency undermines the shared values of democracy and inclusiveness that the European University Initiative aims to uphold. Without coherent standards and genuine involvement of students in strategic discussions, the Alliances risk losing legitimacy as models of participatory governance within the EHEA.

There is also a pressing need to raise awareness of the importance of the student voice within these structures. In Portugal and Spain, the limited participation of students in Alliance governance reflects a broader national pattern in HEIs, where student representation tends to be numerically minor and often holds limited influence in governing bodies. This structural feature weakens the capacity of students to shape decisions at both institutional and transnational levels, perpetuating a cycle of low engagement and low impact. Strengthening the culture of democratic student participation is therefore essential not only for the democratic vitality of the 

Alliances but also for the renewal of participatory governance within Portuguese and Spanish higher education itself.

Compounding these challenges is a persistent communication gap. Several Alliances report difficulties in ensuring visibility and awareness of their activities within member universities, resulting in limited understanding among the academic community, students included, of what the Alliances actually do and how they can get involved. This lack of communication and transparency not only isolates the Alliances from the HEIs  community but also prevents them from fulfilling their potential as engines of European cooperation and collective identity. Greater transparency, outreach, and integration of Alliance initiatives into institutional life are crucial to ensure that students can identify with, and actively contribute to, the European Universities they already belong to and are meant to help shape.

In this context, the discussion about the future governance and financial sustainability of the Alliances must be treated as a national and European priority. The success of the initiative depends on its ability to remain inclusive, participatory, and structurally supported beyond EU funding cycles. For these reasons, FAIRe and CREUP reaffirms its commitment to promoting a student-centered, sustainable, and forward-looking European Higher Education Area. Therefore, FAIRe and CREUP call for:

• National government funding mechanisms to be established to ensure the sustainability of Portuguese and Spanish HEIs’ participation in the Alliances;
• Ensuring students hold a proportionate and active role in the decision-making structures of the European University Alliances with a minimum representation of the 20%; with full participation rights in all  governing bodies and formal recognition of their engagement;
• Regular, transparent, and accessible communication from Alliances to the student body and student community, so that all students are well-informed about governance, opportunities for participation, and the Alliances’ objectives and to be more transparent about their work and objectives;
• Establishing clear and fair conditions for all student representatives across Alliances, so student representatives while on international

representation are granted access to mobility grants or integral reimbursement of expenses;

• The creation of a common Inclusivity Framework to ensure that participation in joint programs is more accessible and inclusive.
• Establishing transparent, democratic, and regulated procedures for the election of student representatives within all European University Alliances, ensuring that the same method is applied across all member institutions of each Alliance, and guaranteeing accountability and legitimacy in the representation process.