EUA Webinar Highlights New Evaluation Approach for European Universities Alliances

The European University Association (EUA) recently hosted the high level event “Evaluating European Universities Alliances with EUA’s Institutional Evaluation Programme: Supporting Strategic Leadership and Change”, bringing together university leaders, alliance coordinators, and policy experts to reflect on the expanding scope of the EUA’s Institutional Evaluation Programme (EUA-IEP) in supporting the evaluation of European Universities alliances. Building on 30 years of experience as an independent, improvement oriented quality assurance programme, EUA IEP is now extending its methodology to address the unique challenges and opportunities of multi institutional alliances. The new model introduces peer reviewed evaluations designed to strengthen alliances’ strategic leadership, change management capacity, and internal quality culture.

One of the three invited speakers in the webinar, Professor Simona Lache, Vice-Rector of Transilvania University of Brașov, President of the Quality and Evaluation board of the UNITA – Universitas Montium alliance, and Steering Committee member of EUA-IEP, highlighted the reasons why European Universities alliances opt for the EUA Institutional Evaluation Programme, describing it as a trusted, independent, and enhancement led framework that provides a safe space for reflection, open discussion of challenges and growth without any pass/fail logic.

In her intervention, Simona Lache underscored that EUA IEP’s peer driven approach is uniquely equipped to understand and support the strategic development of complex transnational alliances, offering value that extends well beyond the final report: clearer strategic priorities, strengthened internal dialogue, improved governance alignment, external legitimacy, and a shared language of quality and development. Another important key aspect debated was the methodology, which is co designed with alliances and adapted to their specific contexts, rejecting the theory that one size fits all models

The webinar also featured contributions from Juan Rayón González, Strategic Manager at INGENIUM University, and Cecilia Biaggi from the EUA IEP Secretariat, with moderation by Helene Peterbauer, Deputy Director of EUA’s Institutional Development Unit. Together, the speakers provided an overview of the adapted evaluation model, which assesses alliances holistically by examining governance arrangements, cooperation mechanisms, and alliance wide quality assurance processes, with a strong emphasis on improvement.

The event reaffirmed EUA’s commitment to supporting European Universities alliances as they evolve into mature, strategically aligned, and sustainable collaborative structures across the European Higher Education Area. At the same time, we welcome the President of the UNITA Quality and Evaluation Board as an invited speaker at the webinar. With dedicated experts and strong leadership at its core, UNITA is well equipped to advance its mission and continue evolving as a mature, resilient, and forward looking European alliance.