YUFE – the making of

YUFE depends on finding the best and most realistic solutions to a host of problems. “Sure, everyone working on it is concerned about resources and we’re all awed by how ambitious our plan is,” concedes Trani, “but crucially, we all think it can be done and we’re all in!” Getting the initiative off the ground and growing it required prioritising and sharp planning.

“In the beginning it was like being the director of a start-up: no two days were the same – other than that they were very long days…” Trani remembers. Now she has a passionate team to support her, the tasks of running and further implementing YUFE are distributed among the member universities. More than 550 students have participated in YUFE activities since the student Journey has begun last academic year. There are currently more than 300 active students with another call for enrolment coming up in the spring of 2022.

Trani can still remember how it all started. “Back in 2018, we heard that the European Commission was preparing this call for European Universities. We thought it would be a perfect fit for UM as the Netherlands’ most international university.” Since then, she has been tirelessly coordinating an unprecedented attempt at changing the landscape of European higher education. Having since left her previous position at UM to become the alliance’s director, she is now working with colleagues, students and executives from 10 universities and 4 non-academic organisations.

Together with colleagues and partners from UM and all other partners, Trani then developed the alliance’s vision of a student-centred, non-elitist, open and inclusive European University for a more cohesive and competitive Europe – but then over hundreds of pages. In June 2019, the European Commission judged YUFE’s proposal to be the most promising of all, with 97 out of 100 points.

There is no time to linger in the warm glow of self-congratulation though: “The task we’ve taken on is challenging, even for an alliance like ours. The road has not been easy, but we have never had doubts or let ourselves be discouraged – not even during the worst moments of the pandemic when travelling wasn’t possible.” If anything, the crisis was proof of the strength of the idea behind YUFE.

“For the most part, our alliance grew and progressed even faster than expected. This is anything but trivial, and it could only happen because the YUFE initiative is powered by passion: passion for Europe, passion for diversity, for education and science, and passion for our local communities. YUFE is not attracting students and staff solely with the promise of stellar careers, but with the unique opportunity to co-create a better society.”