Europe: increasing the institution's influence

What is the ENHANCE alliance?

The European Universities Initiative dates back to 2017, when French President Emmanuel Macron gave a speech at the Sorbonne in which he outlined his ambition to create an innovative, competitive, and attractive European education and research area.
It was within this framework that the ENHANCE alliance was created in 2020 with seven founding members. The alliance now includes 10 leading European technology universities, mostofwhich Arts et Métiers already Arts et Métiers withon academic exchanges, research projects, Erasmus+ mobility, and more.
Of all the existing alliances, this one best matches the specific characteristics of our institution. In particular, we share the same vision: "To drive responsible societal transformation, inspire and promote the development and use of science and technology for the benefit of society by transforming global challenges into meaningful opportunities."
In addition, its research themes, which are in line with the priorities of the European Commission and the objectives of the United Nations, complement our own: digitalization and artificial intelligence, sustainable cities and communities, and climate.

In what context are we integrating this European university?

For the moment, we are an associate partner because the process of becoming a full partner is lengthy. In particular, the boards of directors of each institution must be consulted.
This means that even though we will not be able to benefit from the funding allocated to alliances for the next four years, we will be able to participate fully in its activities because the funding of mobility (students, teachers, researchers, administrative and technical staff) falls under the ERASMUS+ program.
This partner status opens up many opportunities for us. For example, we have already joined the "WG Joint Short-Term Offers (micro-credentials)" working group led by Warsaw University of Technology. The aim is to determine how to award credits for short-term training courses.
We are also invited to the alliance's general meetings. The next meeting will take place in February in Berlin.
This can only help to increase the institution's influence at the European and even global level.
We hope to become a full partner by 2027.

What types of projects will be carried out with ENHANCE?

The institution's European strategy now aims to prioritize projects (training and research) involving partner universities in the alliance.
The alliance's "EuropeanEducation Pathways" program offers alliance students the opportunity to take courses through physical and/or virtual mobility with credit recognition. Tools such as Erasmus+ exist and can finance these mobility programs.
Similarly, for research, the DGARI's Europe unit will support the development of research projects within the framework of European programs such as Horizon Europe. Even before our official response to joining the alliance, the Europe Unit, in coordination with the DGAF, successfully set up an "ERASMUS+ Key Action 2 - Cooperation between Organizations and Institutions" project entitled "Green Dilt" with two universities in the alliance: Delft University of Technology and Politecnico di Milano (more information).