At a time when war is raging in Europe, the academic world is launching its own appeal for peaceful relations. This is the aim of the EUPeace project, which will be launched at the end of the summer by the University of Limoges, the only French partner university.
An original alliance

On 21 and 22 August, Limoges will play host to the eight European partner universities in this unique alliance, which was approved by the European Commission at the beginning of July. The meeting is intended to mark the official launch of the project, with the prospect of new international cooperation in an interdisciplinary approach to conflict management.

A budget of 14 million euros

The EUPeace Alliance is coordinated by the German Philipps University in Marburg. With a budget of 14 million euros for an initial period of 48 months, the project has seven other partners in addition to the Universities of Limoges and Marburg: the German Justus Liebig University in Gießen, the Spanish University of Comillas, the Italian University of Calabria, the Czech University of West Bohemia, the Bosnian Universities of Mostar and Sarajevo and the Turkish University of Çukurova.

"Cultivating peace and justice within inclusive societies"

The university explains that the aim is "to give tomorrow's citizens the skills and knowledge to cultivate peace and justice within inclusive societies. In a global context where the material, technical and socio-political dimensions are intertwined, the EUPeace Alliance wants every disciplinary field - from the humanities and engineering to the health sciences - to contribute constructively to conflict management.

Joint degree programmes

The nine partner universities are therefore called upon to develop innovative teaching and learning formats and joint degree programmes. The project is structured around eight working groups: management, coordination, quality monitoring and project governance, curriculum transformation, internationalisation of teacher training, facilitating mobility, student and campus life, research and doctoral studies, societal dialogue, impact and dissemination.

With funding of 2.3 million euros from the Erasmus + programme, the University of Limoges will co-lead and take part in the activities of the 8 working groups from late 2023 or early 2024.

More informations : https://www.eupeace.eu/

The mission :

will develop teaching and learning experiences where students, whatever their course of study, are empowered to work in conditions of diversity, are able to understand the roots of conflictual situations and learn how to manage them effectively.

1. will develop teaching and learning experiences where students, whatever their course of study, are empowered to work in conditions of diversity, are able to understand the roots of conflictual situations and learn how to manage them effectively.
    
2. will bring our academic communities together to generate knowledge about conflict resolutions and the conditions necessary for Peace, Justice, and Inclusive Societies. In this, we emphasise that such approaches are important and relevant in all disciplinary fields from Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to Humanities and Social Sciences.
    
3. will transform this knowledge into concrete practices through the skills of our students, the fostering of trans-disciplinarity, and the co-construction of know-how with our local communities.