Apart from other features, the strength and uniqueness of the ECIU University reside in its geographical scale. One of the newest members of the ECIU family, Institut National Des Sciences Appliquées (INSA Group) in France, was recently recognized as a full member of the ECIU University by the European Commission.
INSA Group joined the ECIU in April 2019, two months after the submission of ECIU’s application for Erasmus+ “European Universities” pilot. Since the kick-off of the ECIU University project in November 2019, INSA Group has proven to be a very valuable partner in the ECIU University project, engaging in the same level of activities as the other partners of the ECIU University. Therefore, the recent approval of the European Commission to integrate INSA Group as a full partner in the ECIU partnership formalizes and acknowledges INSA’s current engagement.
According to Bertrand Raquet, President of INSA Group, “this is excellent news for INSA Group! It comes as a full recoginition of our engagement in the ECIU University since the beginning, and it also opens exciting prospects for building tomorrow’s European university with our ECIU partners.”
Granting the full membership to INSA Group means that from now on the learners can get access to the biggest network of engineering institutes (grandes écoles) in France and to studying the French and many other international languages. The full partnership ensures that INSA Group can fully contribute and lead the activities around student and staff representation and engagement. In the field of research, INSA is leading activities in the ECIU University Research Institute for SMART European Regions (H2020 project). In addition to this, full membership in the ECIU University makes INSA Group eligible for French co-funding and future education, research and innovation calls targeted at “European Universities”.
The ECIU University, with 12 member institutions represents 12 European countries, one from each European country. It maps a diverse set of countries in Northern Europe (Lithuania, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden), Southern Europe (Italy, Portugal, Spain) and Western Europe (Germany, Ireland, Netherlands and France). This broad range of countries and regions ensures a huge diversity in expertise, identities, languages and cultures, strengthening the sense of European belonging, bringing European regions closer together, and bringing Europe closer to its citizens.