FOREU4ALL (Forum of European University Alliances) is a European Commission-funded project launched in November 2024. It builds on the informal FOR-EU network, established alongside the European Universities Initiative (EUI) in 2019, a flagship of the European Education Area (EEA) and the European Research Area (ERA).

Since its creation, FOR-EU has brought together alliance experts across Europe to collaborate on strategic topics such as education, governance, research and innovation, and student engagement, through more than 20 thematic subgroups. As the initiative expanded, the need arose to move from informal exchanges to a more structured and scalable framework.

FOREU4ALL was created to formalise and strengthen this collaboration by enhancing coordination, knowledge-sharing, and engagement with stakeholders and policy-makers. It supports the long-term transformation of European higher education by addressing key challenges to transnational cooperation.

The project also involves major associated partners, including the European University Association (EUA), the European Students’ Union (ESU), the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), the European Association for the Applied Sciences in Higher Education (EURASHE), and the Erasmus Student Network (ESN).

By creating synergies across alliances and promoting a more coherent and integrated European higher education landscape, FOREU4ALL seeks to build a stronger European higher education system. 

More precisely, FOREU4ALL aims to:

The EC2U Alliance plays a central and strategic role in the FOREU4ALL project, represented by Ludovic Thilly, EC2U General Coordinator: 

• EC2U is co-leader of the project 
• It leads Work Package 2 - Community of Practice, which focuses on fostering collaboration and peer learning among alliances 
• EC2U actively contributes to Work Package 3 - Policy Dialogue 

In addition, EC2U demonstrates a particularly strong level of engagement through its participation in 19 out of the 20 Topical Groups, making it one of the most actively involved alliances in the project.

Through this involvement, EC2U contributes significantly to the exchange of practices, the co-construction of knowledge, and the shaping of future European higher education policies, reinforcing its commitment to innovation, cooperation, and societal impact at the European level.

At the core of FOREU4ALL are the Topical Groups, led by the EC2U Alliance and co-led by the EPICUR Alliance, thematic working groups bringing together representatives from different alliances around shared priorities.

Each Topical Group focuses on a specific topic - such as community engagement, diversity and inclusion, multilingualism and multiculturalism, or regional innovation ecosystems - and provides a space to:

• Exchange practices and experiences 
• Develop joint reflections and recommendations 
• Produce shared outputs and policy-relevant insights 

Discover all the topical groups on the FOREU4ALL website: Community of Practice & Topical Groups

In addition to these continuous collaborative spaces, FOREU4ALL also organises eight cross-cutting thematic workshops throughout the project’s duration. These workshops aim to deepen discussions, foster inter-alliance collaboration, and produce concrete outcomes on key strategic issues.

Within this framework, the EC2U Alliance is responsible for hosting and organising the 4th workshop, on 28-29 October 2026, dedicated to the theme: "Open and Shared European Research Infrastructures: The Accelerator Role of Alliances of European Universities".