Charm-EU: an exemplary degree
With recruitment for its sixth cohort now underway, the joint master's degree offered by the nine member universities of the Charm-EU alliance, including the University of Montpellier, is positioning itself as a model of excellence for a Europe seeking a European degree label.
Since January 15, applications have been open for the Master's degree in Global Challenges for Sustainable Development. Not only at the University of Montpellier, but also at all the other universities that make up the Charm-EU alliance. That's nine universities located in eight European countries, separated by hundreds or even thousands of kilometers, but linked by a common desire to help build the European education and research area of tomorrow.
Interdisciplinary and sustainable training
Launched in 2021 by the five founding universities of the Charm-EU alliance, the joint master's degree was opened up at the start of the 2025 academic year to the nine universities that now make up the alliance of European universities. This international degree, entitled Global Challenges for Sustainability in English, its language of instruction, is at the heart of Charm-EU's educational project. Open to students with a bachelor's degree in any discipline, this unique two-year European program on sustainability enables students to learn by solving real-world societal challenges, prepare for excellence in research, and develop their skills within transdisciplinary and international teams. Its goal is to train "complexity managers" who are specialists in sustainability and can then work as consultants, project managers, or experts in educational institutions, consulting firms, government agencies, NGOs, and more.
In the first year, students are introduced to issues of sustainability, social innovation, and transdisciplinary research. Before choosing a specific thematic focus: water, health and life sciences, food, or energy and sustainable cities. In the second year, students put their knowledge into practice during an internship in a professional setting (NGO, company, institution, laboratory) before carrying out a project in collaboration with peers, researchers, and actors from the economic or social world on a concrete sustainability challenge at one of the alliance's universities.
An interconnected European campus
One of the unique features of this international master's degree, recognized as a master's degree in France1, is its mobility. This is even a requirement: students must study at least two universities in the Charm-EU alliance during their program. They can even complete up to three different mobility periods, not to mention the internship, which can also be done internationally. As for the teaching itself, it is delivered simultaneously by joint interdisciplinary teams using the hybrid classrooms available on each campus. This creates a truly interconnected European campus across the alliance.
A model for Europe
"Beyond its obvious educational value, the Charm-EU master's degree is particularly interesting from the point of view of the structure of higher education and research in Europe, as it already embodies all the characteristics of what a European degree should be," emphasizes Gilles Subra, Professor IBMM and Charm-EU project manager at the University of Montpellier. In fact, most of the criteria for this European label were directly inspired by the Charm-EU Master's program, one of the first of its kind." As the European Commission launches a call for exploratory actions on the European degree label, Gilles Subra has no doubt that the joint Charm-EU Master's program will be labeled "given that it already meets all the prerequisites for a European degree."
Advice for future recruits: the European adventure begins in Montpellier and runs until February 22. The prize is a unique certificate issued by the nine prestigious institutions that make up the Charm-EU alliance.
Contact UM registration: rf.re1769702713illep1769702713tnomu1769702713@oavj1769702713-ue-m1769702713rahc1769702713
Want to find out more? Come and meet us! The teaching team for the joint master's degree in Global Challenges for Sustainability will be waiting to see you on February 14 at the Charm-EU stand during the UM Open Day. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the1st floor of Building 36 in the Faculty of Sciences, Triolet campus.
- Please note that registration fees are waived for European students who have completed their final year of study in France. ↩︎