The University of Coimbra will be the host of the 9th edition of the EC2U Alliance Forum in 2025, with sustainability as the main theme

Following the eighth edition of the EC2U Forum—European Campus of City-Universities—a week filled with activities in Austria at Johannes Kepler University Linz, the eight universities are already preparing for the next annual meeting.

The 9th EC2U Forum will be hosted by the University of Coimbra (UC) in May 2025, as announced today at the closing of the 2024 edition, accompanied by a welcome message from UC Rector Amílcar Falcão. The central theme of the next Forum will be sustainability, with a particular emphasis on climate action and sustainable cities and communities.

The 2024 edition of the EC2U Forum was held from 21 to 24 October under the theme "Building a more peaceful society". This meeting strengthened relations between the members of this European university alliance, allowing them to evaluate the first year of consolidation and to reflect on the future - in particular the activities planned for the coming year, which will involve the integration of new partners in the quest for a stronger and fairer higher education landscape.

After a successful pilot phase, EC2U is now in the consolidation phase of this pan-European university campus, having been awarded €14.4 million as part of its application to the European Commission's European Universities 2023 initiative. In addition to the eight universities that are currently part of EC2U, the alliance has had the University of Lviv (Ukraine) as an associate partner since 2022. Next year, a new partner will come on board: the University of Umea (Sweden).