International

Cir­cle U. – Eu­ro­pean Cam­pus of the Fu­ture

Two women standing side by side, one looking thoughtful with her hand on her chin, and the other looking fascinated upwards.
What might the future of European higher education look like? Students at a Circle U. summer school visiting the Natural History Museum. Photo: Ole Bader

European higher education and cutting-edge research? The Circle U. university alliance is developing a joint international campus and offers a variety of opportunities for students, scientists and administrative staff.

Climate change, political crises, overburdened health systems – the major issues of our time require close international collaboration, including at universities. With this in mind, Humboldt-Universität is involved in the European university alliance Circle U., which is funded by the European Commission.

This association of nine outstanding universities1 enables students, scientists and administrative staff to learn, do research and advance their training together, by offering variety of formats across countries and disciplines. The Open Campus consolidates the alliance’s offerings and allows all HU members to be virtually and physically mobile and benefit from what the nine alliance universities, both in and outside the EU, have to offer.

  1. In addition to Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Circle U. also includes Aarhus University (Denmark), King's College London (United Kingdom), UCLouvain (Belgium), the University of Pisa (Italy), the University of Vienna (Austria), Université Paris Cité (France), the University of Oslo (Norway) and the University of Belgrade (Serbia). ↩

Circle U. offers students the opportunity to gain international study experience in various ways: for example, you can virtually attend courses made available by the partner universities, or take part in free on-site summer schools as well as hybrid semester-long or short-term challenge-based programmes such as hackathons or boot camps. Circle U.'s offers are mainly interdisciplinary and often open to all semesters of study. Depending on the scope of the offer in question, you may be able to gain ECTS.

Of course, with Circle U., you can also do a semester stay or an internship lasting several months at one of the alliance universities. Every year, you also have the opportunity to apply for seed funding and pursue your own European projects. Take advantage of what Circle U. has to offer and network with fellow students from Europe!

You can find all current opportunities for students on the Circle U. website. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact the Circle U. team at HU.

Circle U. offers scientists various opportunities to internationalise their research and teaching. In the Academic Directory, you will find colleagues you can implement projects with. Take advantage of the opportunity to jointly design or redevelop the content and structure of your courses – for example with the support of the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) scheme.

If you would like to get more involved in the development of the Open Campus and joint European degree programmes, keep an eye out for the Knowledge Hubs' calls! The Hubs are where Academic Chairs work closely with Student Fellows on the future of European higher education in the areas of climate change, democracy, global health and artificial intelligence.

The alliance also strives to facilitate more joint interdisciplinary research. Alongside its networking opportunities, it offers the annual Circle U. Seed Funding2 call. To be eligible, projects need to bring together researchers from at least three of the member universities. for your research partnerships.

You can find all current opportunities for scientists on the Circle U. website. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact the Circle U. team at HU.

  1. Here you can have a look at the successfully seed funding projects supported by Circle U. to date. ↩

Joint teaching and research depend on shared expertise and common administrative structures. Circle U. therefore supports staff from the various areas of university administration in collective international training and networking programmes. One way for you to get involved with Circle U. is to take part in one of the staff weeks, which are regularly organised on various topics.

You also have the opportunity to develop your own initiatives and, together with colleagues from other Circle U. universities, apply for funding through the Seed Funding Programme. All current offers for employees can be found on the Circle U. website. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact the Circle U. team at HU.

Background: The European university alliances

On 26 September 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron gave a speech at the Sorbonne in which he proposed the creation of "European universities", networks in which students would have the opportunity to study at several universities in at least two languages. The European Commission took up the idea and since 2019 has selected over 50 consortia in several rounds of calls for proposals to further develop European higher education with funding from the Erasmus+ programme. Circle U. was established in 2020. For measures within the alliance framework, Humboldt-Universität receives additional financing from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

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Contact

    • 04.09.2025

      12:00 — 12:45 ​

      online

      Circle U.

      Cir­cle U. seed fund­ing in­fo ses­sion

      Are you eligible for seed funding from Circle U.? Should you go for it? Join this online info session to find out everything you need to know about the call and hear from previously funded teams! Of course, you'll also get to ask your specific questions.

      Go to event page

    • 22.09.2025

      10:00 — 13:00 ​

      bologna.lab, Hausvogteiplatz 5-7 and online

      Circle U.

      Work­shop "Hy­brid teach­ing across bor­ders: from ideas to prac­tice”

      In this practice-oriented international workshop, you will explore key concepts of hybrid teaching, reflect on your own experiences, and develop a hybrid teaching scenario for your own course. Join us on-site or online – registration is open until 15 September.

      Go to event page

    • 26.09.2025

      10:00 — 17:30 ​

      Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum and online

      Circle U.

      From Recog­ni­tion to In­clu­sion – Re­think­ing Eu­ro­pean Lan­guages

      This Circle U. Open Conversation, followed by a panel discussion and roundtable sessions, explores how European education systems can move towards practices of genuine linguistic inclusion – where all students’ languages are made visible, valued, and integrated.

      Go to event page