The assembled universities, having considered

• the need for innovation in the creation, dissemination, and application of knowledge to sustain Europe's competitiveness and to ensure the well-being of its citizens;
• the role of higher education in developing a skilled workforce and in pushing forward the research frontier in theory and practice;
• the importance to society of life-long learning; and
• the usefulness of sharing their experience as entrepreneurial institutions

have joined together to form the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU)

The founding institutions have several characteristics in common. All have academic strengths in engineering and social science; all are relatively young, entrepreneurial, and progressive; and all have close ties to industry and to the regions in which they are situated. They are committed to developing and implementing new forms of teaching, training, and research; to assuring an innovative culture within their walls; to experimenting with new forms of management and administration; and to sustaining and nurturing internationally-minded staff. The Consortium will build on these strengths in fulfilling its primary objectives of enhancing its members' contributions to their regions, to their countries, and to Europe as a whole.

The immediate goals of the Consortium are the design and advancement of several international programmes affecting curricula, research, and regional development. These include:

• a joint European master's programme in innovative management:
• European doctoral programmes;
• advanced technological short courses;
• joint research projects that map onto the Fifth Framework Programme of the European Union;
• joint SME/university schemes for regional development;
• joint recruitment of non-European students.

As it develops, the Consortium expects to form enduring partnerships with business, industry, and government; to promote co-operation between science parks and to encourage spin-off companies of international scope; to enlarge the reach of continuing education and life-long learning beyond national borders; to establish criteria for the certification and validation of ECIU courses and the exchange of credits; to generate the income necessary to support its programmes; and to extend its operations and influence outside Europe.

The Consortium intends to remain small and tightly focused to facilitate close and efficient interaction among its members. It will meet twice a year at a senior administrative level and at other times in workshops and task forces. The Consortium's Secretariat, which will be based at the University of Twente, will work closely with the Universities of Dortmund and Warwick. In this way the international character of the Consortium will be expressed in its administration from the start.

The representatives of the founding institutions,

• Aalborg Universitet, Denmark
• Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal
• Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona, Spain
• Chalmers University, Sweden
• Joensuun yliopisto, Finland
• Universität Dortmund, Germany
• Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg, Germany
• University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom
• Universiteit Twente, The Netherlands
• University of Warwick, United Kingdom

have affixed their signatures in confirmation of their adherence to the principles and objectives of this Charter.

Signed at Dortmund, November 18, 1997.
[ECIU Charter]