€1.6 million to develop CHARM-EU
The European university alliance CHARM-EU received initial financial support from the Investing in the Future Program in 2019, enabling the University of Montpellier to make rapid progress toward its ambition of "reconciling humanity with the planet." Its success led to renewed support from the European Commission beyond 2022, with €12.8 million in funding over four years, including more than €1.7 million for UM (the "CHARM-EIGHT" project). On February 28, a new €1.6 million grant was awarded by France 2030 to consolidate the alliance through the deployment of new objectives (the "CHARM-ANR" project).
CHARM-EU in a nutshell
The CHARM-EU alliance establishes long-term cooperation between its nine members: the University of Barcelona (UB, coordinator), Utrecht University (UU), Eötvös Loránd Budapest (ELTE), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Åbo Akademi (AAU), Hochschule Ruhr West (HRW), the University of Würzburg (JMU), the University of Bergen (UiB), and the University of Montpellier. By promoting the creation of joint programs, student and staff exchanges, and the definition of shared research themes, it lays the foundations for an innovative model of a European inter-university campus that supports the free movement of people, ideas, and practices. CHARM-EU is helping to transform European higher education by proposing concrete actions for a sustainable, inclusive, innovative, and intercultural university capable of responding to global challenges that require an international and interdisciplinary approach.
A new France 2030 grant and new objectives for the CHARM-ANR project
In August 2022, the success of the CHARM-EU European University Alliance, of which the University of Montpellier is a member, resulted in a €12.8 million grant for the "CHARM-EIGHT" project from the European Commission as part of the Erasmus+ 2022 call for European Universities. As part of this total budget, UM received more than €1.7 million.
CHARM-EU wishes to develop its strategy to consolidate the achievements made during the pilot phase and become a stable and sustainable European university in the long term. To this end, it plans to extend its scope of action within the alliance's membership, but also to open up more to the outside world (local, national, international). The objective of this funding is that, at the end of the four years, CHARM-EU will be able to have a significant impact on the entire international university community (students, Professors staff), with stable and strengthened governance, integrated and shared services, and a rich and varied range of courses available on an intercultural campus. This innovative model must be transferable and sustainable.
This new €1.6 million grant from France 2030 for the CHARM-ANR project is essential as it will enable the project to be carried out in its entirety and increase the visibility and attractiveness of CHARM-EU at the local (cities and regions in Europe) and international levels. More specifically, this funding will support the governance of the alliance at the UM level through staff recruitment, strengthen the joint degree and promote it nationally by offering free tuition for students who have studied in France, and ensure a real impact in all UM departments and divisions by supporting grassroots initiatives and giving them international reach. In concrete terms, this grant will enable the wider deployment of the innovative teaching methods initiated in CHARM-EU by installing connected hybrid classrooms, launching internal calls for projects such as internships co-supervised by researchers from other universities in the alliance, and initiating new teaching or research collaborations through interdisciplinary and international projects.
Practical information:
- CHARM-ANR project dates: 2023 to 2027
- Date of funding approval: February 28, 2023
- Press release on the European CHARM-EIGHT grant ( August 27, 2022)