The OpenEU alliance, coordinated by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), brings together 14 universities—including the Open University of Cyprus—and 13 academic institutions, university networks, non-governmental organizations, and businesses from across Europe to create a Pan-European Open University. OpenEU is one of the 14 new alliances funded under the European Union’s "European Universities 2024" initiative. The participation of the Open University of Cyprus in the OpenEU consortium is a significant honor, both for the university itself and for Cyprus as a whole, as it contributes to the digital transformation of higher education institutions and the integration of new technologies into educational practices.
The Rectors, academic and administrative staff of the 10 universities that are the main partners of OpenEU met in Barcelona on January 16-17, 2025, laying the groundwork and action plan for the project's first year of implementation. The Rector of the Open University of Cyprus, Professor Stavros Stavrou, stated: “European University alliances represent the future of higher education, and the OpenEU alliance aims to develop open and distance learning and promote the digital transformation of European universities. Within OpenEU, the Open University of Cyprus joins forces with other distance and conventional universities, social entities, networks, and organizations to make higher education more inclusive, open, digital, and green. The Open University of Cyprus draws inspiration from and inspires the OpenEU alliance, striving for greater outreach and internationalization”.
OpenEU's strategic objectives for the next four years are the three major challenges in higher education: lifelong learning, inclusion and equity, and digital transformation. OpenEU’s key thematic areas are Climate change, European values and democracy, and Digital transformation. More than 368,000 students and 24,000 academic, research, and administrative staff members from the participating universities will benefit from this alliance. The initiative focuses on distance education, lifelong learning, mobility, employability, and inclusion. Planned future initiatives include joint international degree programs, a shared portfolio of microcredentials, a unified digital education and mobility space, and significant research activities aimed at enhancing quality, research, innovation, and the range of academic opportunities available to students.
Core partners: Bifröst University (Iceland), Daugavpils University (Latvia), FernUniversität in Hagen (Gemarny), Hellenic Open University (Greece), Open Universiteit (the Netherlands), Open University of Cyprus (Cyprus), Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Spain), Universidade Aberta (Portugal), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Spain), and St Cyril and St Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo (Bulgaria). The alliance also includes associated bodies such as the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU) and the International Association of Universities (IAU), and collaborating universities from the United Kingdom (Open University), Albania (Fan S. Noli University), the Republic of North Macedonia (MIT University) and Ukraine (Ukrainian Engineering Pedagogics Academy).
The OpenEU is financed by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ European Universities Alliances
