European University Foundation - Campus Europae

European University Association (EUA); European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning (EUCIS-LLL); European Language Council

European University Foundation - Campus Europae (EUF-CE) (short name: Campus Europae) is a European network which aims at the promotion of high quality student mobility and contributing to educating a generation of European graduates with an innate understanding of Europe’s unity in diversity. The project is under the patronage of the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and its Secretariat is based at the Munsbach Castle.

Campus Europae was initiated by a group of German experts in Higher Education chaired by Dr. Konrad Schily, former President of the Witten/Herdecke University, and Prof. Meinolf Dierkes, former President of the Social Science Research Center Berlin, to whom the former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl had asked in 1998 to develop a concept for an educational initiative that was supposed to be launched during the German presidency of the European Union in 1999. As the Kosovo War occupied the interests of the European leaders, the project was postponed until 2001, when the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker took over the initiative, added this project to his task-list for the next government period and invited European ministers of Higher Education and universities to engage in this mobility project. Between 1998 and 2003 Campus Europae was funded by resources of the Quandt Foundation, the Allianz Kulturstiftung, the Volkswagen Foundation and a grant by the media entrepreneur, Leo Kirch.

At the end of 2003 the Rectors’ Council elected the first President and Secretary General, respectively Prof. Noel Whelan and Prof. Christoph Ehmann. Shortly after, in 2004, the first experimental student exchanges took place and a new Secretariat was put in place. Also in 2004 the Campus Europae Student Council (now Club d’Europe) was created, consisting of student representatives from each member universities. It has since played an integral role in the Campus Europae network. In 2005, Campus Europae started developing the concept of studying and working abroad and also organized an International Conference about the Social Dimension of the Bologna Process, under the Luxembourg Presidency of the European Union. The following year Campus Europae and the European Investment Bank started investigating the possibility of establishing a pan-European loan system for student mobility and in 2007 the former EU Commissioner Ján Figeľ labeled Campus Europae as “Erasmus +”, during a conference at the European Parliament. This name was later adopted for the EU programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport 2014–2020.