An innovative university grouping created in 2008 and bringing together seven teaching and research establishments, UniGR's objective is to train generations of committed Europeans by creating study and research conditions based on mobility between partner universities, scientific disciplines and language skills. In 15 years, UniGR has already implemented numerous projects and created expertise centres in key innovative areas. The partners gathered on May 23 to celebrate 15 years of collaboration.
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he University of the Greater Region (UniGR) is a university grouping that brings together the Technical University of Kaiserslautern (TU - Germany), the University of Liège (ULiège - Belgium), the University of Lorraine (France), the University of Luxembourg (UniLu - Luxembourg), the University of Saarland (UdS - Germany), the University of Trier (Germany) and the Saarland University of Technology and Economics (htw saar - Germany) as an associate partner. The cooperation between the seven higher education and research institutions of the Greater Region, which began in 2008 as part of a European project (Interreg IV), has continued. Since 2015, the grouping has had its legal structure, which enables it to carry out projects for its members and to ensure joint coordination of cooperation.
With 2,595 km of borders, the Greater Region is an exceptional area marked by the diversity of its cultures and its multilingualism in the historical heart of Europe. Since its foundation, the UniGR has pursued the objective of being a model in Europe and internationally by actively participating in developing a common higher education and research area in the Greater Region. In this context, the main objective of the UniGR is to train generations of committed Europeans by creating study and research conditions based on mobility between partner universities, between scientific disciplines and language skills.
As Rector of the Université de Liège, I'm delighted to be associated with this anniversary. I have made international openness a key part of my program, and I want to strengthen the links between our universities. I will be proposing the organization of an exchange day in Liège to celebrate UniGR together.
UniGR's partner universities offer a comprehensive range of cross-border courses in various fields such as humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering. Students can benefit from a jointly defined range of courses or obtain a double or joint degree at the end of their studies. Two prominent examples are the tri-national Masters in German Studies and Border Studies.
The UniGR-Center for Border Studies - or UniGR-CBS - is active in the fields of research, teaching, networking and involvement of regional actors. Researchers at the universities of the UniGR network study border dynamics and developments in border regions. The borders and territories of the Greater Region are the focus of their research.
UniGR-CIRKLA is an initiative that was launched in June 2021 and aims to federate a large community around the issues related to recycling and the use of technological materials, also called geo-sourced materials. A teaching, research and innovation platform, UniGR-CIRKLA's ambition is to rethink our circular economy model and our management of resources to ensure access for future generations.
UniGR is involved in many other projects financed by European programme lines, particularly Erasmus+ and Interreg, which align with its development strategy, so it supports and/or coordinates them.
In fifteen years, the UniGR has carried out numerous research and teaching projects, and created two cross-border centres of expertise and two tri-national masters' degrees promoting the mobility of European students in neighbouring regions. Activities addressed to students and staff of the universities are regularly organised within the partner universities to strengthen and perpetuate the links and ensure the different actors' networking.
At the new academic year ceremony on Tuesday 19 September at ULiège, rector Anne-Sophie NYSSEN awarded the insignia of Doctor honoris causa to three personalities.
A researcher in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Liège, she received this prize for her work on neonatal screening for spinal muscular atrophy.
An international team of researchers and clinicians, led by GIGA (ULiège), has just completed a groundbreaking clinical trial on a cohort of 62 patients from ten institutions.
