FORTHEM

The Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu became a member of the FORTHEM University Alliance at the end of September 2021, joining eight other higher education institutions from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Finland, Poland, Latvia, and Norway.

During the FORTHEM consortium meeting (Fostering Outreach within European Regions, Transnational Higher Education, and Mobility), which took place in Mainz from September 22-24, ULBS signed the agreement to expand the alliance, thus becoming the newest member of this European university network.

“Joining a European university of FORTHEM’s stature is a unique opportunity for our university. Even though we did not imagine that we would reach this point so quickly, this step confirms that the line of reforms initiated recently within the university is beneficial and has begun to bear fruit,” said Sorin Radu, Rector of Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu.

In 2019, the European Commission launched the European Universities Initiative (EUI) under the ERASMUS+ program, aiming to support the broadening and intensifying of cooperation among European universities, both by increasing the number of student, academic, and administrative staff mobilities, and by fostering better institutional synergy (at all levels, from study programs and research to administrative strategies and regional engagement). Specifically, the EUI aims to create a European Education Area by 2025.

As a result of the competition launched by the European Commission, 17 European universities were recognized and funded under the EUI in 2019. Another 24 universities were added in 2020, so currently, there are 41 European universities active across the EU, each benefiting from funding of up to 5 million euros and including about 5% of the higher education institutions in the EU.

The FORTHEM university alliance is one of the first 17 European Universities, recognized and funded since 2019. FORTHEM had seven founding members: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Germany), acting as the consortium coordinator, University of Burgundy (Dijon, France), University of Valencia (Spain), University of Palermo (Italy), University of Jyväskylä (Finland), University of Opole (Poland), and University of Latvia (Riga). Initially, the FORTHEM alliance encompassed over 200,000 students and nearly 20,000 teaching and research staff.

In addition to transnational cooperation, the alliance has, since its founding, set strategic objectives of regional development and promoting intercultural exchanges. In this regard, FORTHEM aims to create true regional innovation ecosystems, including not only higher education institutions but also local administration, business entities, and societal actors.

The mission of FORTHEM to become a network of hubs linking regional and transnational dimensions was reaffirmed during the consortium meeting held in Mainz from September 22-24, 2021. Attending the meeting were not only the management teams of the seven founding universities but also the mayors and presidents of the chambers of commerce and industry from the seven cities represented in the consortium.

Additionally, during the meeting, the agreement to expand the alliance was signed, welcoming two new partners: the University of Agder (Norway) and Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu (Romania). The nine FORTHEM universities committed to submitting a joint application in the upcoming European Universities competition, expected to launch this fall, to intensify mobilities within the consortium and to cooperate across all academic activity coordinates.