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COIMBRA GROUP

CG

Founded in 1985 and formally constituted by Charter in 1987, the Coimbra Group is an association of long-established European comprehensive, multidisciplinary universities of high international standard committed to creating special academic and cultural ties to promote, for the benefit of its members, internationalisation, academic collaboration, excellence in learning and research, and service to society.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Bogdan Andrzej Zdrojewski (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and Deutsche Industrie- und Handelskammer and

28 Jan 2026 · Stakeholder dialogue on establishing the Erasmus+ programme for the period 2028-2034

Response to European Research Area (ERA) Act

10 Sept 2025

The Coimbra Group (CG) welcomes the efforts of the European Commission to give new impulse to the European Research Area (ERA) through the forthcoming ERA Act and appreciates the opportunity to provide feedback at this stage of the call for evidence, as well as through the targeted consultation in April 2025. CG has always been a strong advocate of a fully implemented ERA as a genuine single market for researchers, scientific knowledge, and technology across the EU. Since the adoption of the new ERA and its more inclusive governance framework, CG has actively contributed to shaping and advancing successive ERA policy agendas (2022-2024 and 2025-2027). Yet the exclusive reliance on voluntary commitments by Member States has proven insufficient to tackle the structural barriers and persistent gaps that continue to hinder, for our universities, the full realisation of the ERA and the achievement of the promised fifth freedom. The urgency of this issue is clearly highlighted in the 2024 ERA Communication and in the Letta and Draghi reports, among other key documents. Overall, CG fully endorses the problem assessment and strongly support the proposed solutions, which we consider essential to embed in future EU legislation. CG stands ready to contribute further to the development of this legislative proposal, drawing on the expertise and experience of its member universities across 22 countries. To prepare this contribution, all CG universities were consulted via email to gather their insights on the context and objectives of this initiative, their specific needs and challenges and existing or proposed solutions. The submitted document first outlines key concerns expressed by our members, followed by a set of considerations intended to inform the further development of the ERA Act. In summary, based on the needs and considerations expressed by CG members, the following actions could guide the development of the ERA Act or related EU legislative acts: - Integrate a binding target of at least 3% of GDP for investment in R&D, complemented by a specific target for public sector funding. - Reinforce institutional autonomy: an ERA act could potentially further enshrine this principle, for instance, by laying the basis for a system of ombudsmen or similar, that could react to infringements of institutional autonomy. - Simplify and harmonise visa and residence rules for international researchers. - Strengthen and streamline legal and financial safeguards to enable universities and their researchers to focus primarily on research and fully benefit from the realisation of the ERA. - Recognize challenges specific to gender and support inclusive policies for disabled and minority staff. - Establish common minimum standards for researcher careers and contracts, while preserving institutional flexibility. - Support sustainable infrastructures and staffing for Open Science, including FAIR publishing models. - Advance recognition and assessment reforms in line with CoARA principles, recognising diverse research outputs (regardless of format or language) and valuing researchers broader contributions to society. - Provide clarity and incentives for universitybusiness cooperation, including recognition of knowledge transfer in assessment frameworks. - Better protect fundamental academic values, starting with institutional autonomy and academic freedom. This could also include safeguards for whistle-blowers. - Create a harmonised framework for a sustainable, equitable Open Science ecosystem. - Strengthen digital sovereignty, reduce reliance of universities on proprietary providers and closed, non-interoperable systems. - Collect reliable national-level data on research careers and mobility (including at PhD level). - Ensure the portability of pensions and social benefits for researchers.
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Meeting with Marcos Ros Sempere (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

2 Sept 2025 · Meeting with Coimbra Group

Response to Quality Jobs Roadmap

29 Jul 2025

The Coimbra Group (CG) - the longest established European network, formed by 42 leading institutions from across the continent - welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the development of the upcoming EU Quality Jobs Roadmap. As key actors in education and training of the future workforce, universities play a central role in preparing graduates with the skills necessary to enter the job market, as well as with elements to recognise what constitutes a quality job. The voice of universities is essential in ensuring that employment and social policies reflect and at the same time inform academic offerings, and in ensuring that societal needs at large are taken into consideration. For this, open dialogue and continued cooperation between academia and enterprises is fundamental, in order to allow universities to adapt and improve their offer according to market needs, but also for businesses to better understand and appraise the skills that graduates acquired during their studies. To gather insights and experiences and elaborate our networks position, the CG universities were consulted through their representatives in the Employability Working Group. The first section of this paper presents a set of considerations and university-specific challenges, when it comes to preparing students and graduates to quality jobs, followed by concrete recommendations on the main needs and priorities identified by our member universities to support the development of an EU Quality Jobs Roadmap.
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Meeting with Lucilla Sioli (Director Communications Networks, Content and Technology) and

9 Jul 2025 · Exchange between AI Office and representatives from the Guild, CESAER, EUA, Coimbra Group and YERUN

Meeting with Maria Cristina Russo (Director Research and Innovation)

9 Jul 2025 · Échange de vues sur les sujets d’actualité relevant de la direction « Prospérité »

Meeting with Michael Arentoft (Head of Unit Research and Innovation)

9 Jul 2025 · Updates on Open Science and Research Assessment

Response to A European Strategy for AI in science – paving the way for a European AI research council

5 Jun 2025

The Coimbra Group (CG) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the development of the European Strategy for AI in science. As key actors in scientific research and education, universities play a central role in shaping responsible, innovative, and inclusive AI development and application across disciplines. Their voice is essential in ensuring AI policies reflect academic values and societal needs. We must foster bridges for dialogue and cooperation, as universities are uniquely positioned not only to advance AI technologies but also to implement them meaningfully in scientific research and training. Considerations and Recommendations: - Prioritise long-term, stable public investment in foundational AI research and infrastructures, while ensuring alignment with core European values such as openness, inclusivity, transparency, and human dignity. - Promote the development and adoption of open-source AI tools and models, to reduce dependence on proprietary systems and strengthen European digital sovereignty. - Support FAIR-aligned, secure, and inclusive research data ecosystems, including federated infrastructures that allow for cross-border collaboration without compromising data protection or national autonomy. - Ensure robust funding for interdisciplinary AI education and training, with specific emphasis on cross-disciplinary collaboration between STEM, social sciences, humanities, law, and the arts. - Recognise the critical role of SSH (social sciences and humanities) in evaluating societal impacts and shaping ethical, legal, and democratic frameworks for AI in science. - Embed ethics, transparency, and explainability into AI governance, with clear mechanisms to ensure accountability and public trust across all scientific domains. - Foster distributed, collaborative governance models that respect institutional autonomy and national diversity while pooling expertise and resources. - Ensure policy and regulatory clarity, including on the further implementation of the AI Act in research contexts, to support compliance without supressing innovation. - Continue and expand initiatives like the Living Guidelines on the Use of Generative AI in Research, keeping them adaptive, community-driven, and broadly disseminated across disciplines. - European AI in science strategy should place greater emphasis on hybrid intelligence rather than relying solely on data-driven or fully automated approaches.
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Meeting with Kurt Vandenberghe (Director-General Climate Action)

30 Apr 2025 · Sustainability goals, sharing best practices, and playing an active role in shaping the global climate agenda.

Meeting with Laurence Farreng (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur for opinion) and League of European Research Universities

10 Apr 2025 · Accord de Commerce et de Coopération avec le Royaume-Uni - enseignement supérieur

Meeting with Filip Van Depoele (Head of Unit Education, Youth, Sport and Culture) and European University Association and

4 Apr 2025 · Exchange of views on the future of the international dimension of the Erasmus+ Programme

Meeting with Malika Sorel (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and League of European Research Universities and

12 Mar 2025 · Alliances universitaires européennes

Meeting with Laurence Farreng (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and League of European Research Universities and

12 Mar 2025 · Réunion des parties prenantes sur le futur des alliances d'Universités européennes

Meeting with Laurence Farreng (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

5 Mar 2025 · Futur des Alliances d'Universités européennes

Response to Single Market Strategy 2025

31 Jan 2025

Besides its intrinsic value, education is the bedrock of societal progress. It is the bedrock of every economy and it is absolutely critical for competitiveness (see for instance OECD, 2024: Education contributes to greater productivity and economic growth. Moreover, education has spillover effects: human capital is at the heart of innovation, and a more educated workforce fosters innovative ideas leading to more and better jobs.) Only with a highly educated and skilled workforce, the EU can stand at the forefront of global innovation, ensuring that its economy stay competitive in an ever-changing world. Education is not just a personal benefit, but a collective investment in the future prosperity and stability. Europes ability to scale its companies and compete on the world stage depends heavily on the quality and diffusion of its education, research and innovation. Continuing to look at the Single Market through the prism of the four freedoms with a primary if not exclusive focus on goods and services, does not address the challenges of our century. Furthermore, Letta clearly emphasises how the current categorisation embedded in the Single Market framework (free movement of people, goods, services and capital) fails to reflect the evolving dynamics of a market increasingly shaped by digitalisation, innovation and uncertainties related to climate change and its impact on society. In his analysis, such approach falls short in addressing the shift from an economy based on ownership to a new one, based on access and sharing. Coimbra Group finds it particularly disturbing for an EU strategy being developed as described in the call for evidence with the aim to create a new momentum for a modernised single market, that the main recommendations of Enrico Letta's Report on the Future of the Single Market as presented to the European Council in April 2024 (less than one year ago) are totally omitted by the European Commission. We are missing a unique opportunity to establish and legally enforce the fifth freedom, focusing on research, innovation, knowledge and education, to enhance the Single Markets innovation capabilities within the new global landscape. These are critical times for supporting the free movement of students, researchers, innovators and knowledge across borders. Coimbra Group strongly supports Lettas recommendation that the fifth freedom entails embedding research and innovation drivers at the core of the Single Market, thereby fostering an ecosystem where knowledge diffusion propels both economic vitality, societal advancement and cultural enlightenment. This is aligned with Coimbra Groups view that a broader definition of competitiveness is urgently needed, where education, research and innovation are not only focussed on developing the economy but also preparing society for societal challenges. The Social Sciences and Humanities have a critical role to play here. The integration of the fifth freedom should be aligned with the European Research Area (ERA) and the future ERA Act, and respect the fundamental values of academic freedom, institutional autonomy and contribute to further promote open science. Coimbra Group deplores that higher education institutions are totally missing from the list of stakeholders listed in this call for evidence. It is crucial that in the future they are also included in the list. Societal development and economic growth must go hand in hand in a society that values education, knowledge, research and innovation. Realising the fifth freedom in the next five years is an opportunity for a more integrated Europe in all these areas.
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Meeting with Vanessa Debiais-Sainton (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu)

27 Jan 2025 · Exchange of views on the upcoming Union of Skills and the key role of higher education.

Meeting with Christian Ehler (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and European University Association and

27 Jan 2025 · FP10

Meeting with Christophe Galand (Head of Unit Budget) and European University Association and

23 Jan 2025 · Discussion on research place in the the future Multiannual Financial Framework

Meeting with Christian Ehler (Member of the European Parliament)

13 Mar 2024 · Science and research policy

Response to Boosting European learning mobility for all

13 Mar 2023

Prior to a Coimbra Group feedback to the public consultations, we are attaching relevant documents for the call for evicence on "Learning opportunities (learning mobility) abroad in Europe for everyone"
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Meeting with Mariya Gabriel (Commissioner)

17 Jun 2021 · Role of Universities in the Knowledge Square and in the future of the European (Higher) Education Area and European Research Area

Meeting with Jean-Eric Paquet (Director-General Research and Innovation)

16 Nov 2020 · Keynote Speech and discussion at Closed Rectors’ Meeting of the Coimbra Group

Meeting with Mariya Gabriel (Commissioner)

11 Sept 2020 · Meeting with Chair and Vice-Chair of the Executive Board of the Coimbra Group on exchanging views and ideas ahead of a strategic and pretty unusual academic year for the European Higher Education an Research area

Meeting with Mariya Gabriel (Commissioner)

7 Jul 2020 · European higher education and research current challenges and future developments, European Education Area