On 14 April, Marcos Nadal (Secretary General) and Petra Frent Kaab (Alliance Manager) represented EUNICoast at the European Universities Coordinators Working Retreat in Brussels. The retreat was convened by the Commission and DG EAC as a strategic working meeting, with three thematic blocks: the design of the Erasmus+ action supporting alliances post-2027, the role of alliances in European competitiveness and the European Research Area, and the future of performance monitoring.
The discussions confirmed a clear shift in how the Commission frames alliances. We are moving from project-based delivery towards long-term institutional transformation. Alliances are increasingly understood as core infrastructure of the European higher education and innovation system — orchestrators of regional ecosystems, platforms for talent and innovation pipelines, and active contributors to European competitiveness and the ERA.
Alongside this ambition, participants raised consistent concerns about the gap between current instruments and the transformational agenda. Existing reporting frameworks remain rooted in project logic, generating high administrative burdens while struggling to capture institutional change. A funding model combining long-term baseline financing with shorter modular top-ups was discussed as a possible direction for the next programming period.
For EUNICoast, several signals are directly relevant to our ongoing work. The emphasis on the Southern Mediterranean in the next Erasmus+ regulation aligns with our coastal identity. The shift towards demonstrating institutional embedding rather than activity volume reinforces the direction of our ACT pipeline framing. The discussions on baseline-plus-modular funding speak directly to the work of our Financial Sustainability Task Force.
