Education Summit

Learning Together, Graduating Together?

From Shared Educational Experiences to Joint European Degrees

Tuesday 17 November 2026 | 15:00 (Brussels Time)

European University Foundation

13 Rue d'Egmont 1000 Bruxelles | Brussels, Belgium

Learning Together, Graduating Together?

From Shared Educational Experiences to Joint European Degrees

Since 2019, the European University Alliances have been at the forefront of developing innovative forms of European education. As the European higher education landscape continues to evolve, universities are exploring different ways to collaborate across borders—from degree-enriching opportunities, such as microcredentials and flexible learning pathways, to degree-building initiatives, including joint programmes and future European degrees.

During the YUFE Education Summit, we will explore the strategic choices behind these approaches and discuss their opportunities, challenges, and implications for students, institutions, and the future of European higher education.

Please note that this event's registration page is for in-person attendance only. If you are interested in our educational model, please contact the secretariat email.

Meet Our Speakers

Join us as leading experts and innovators from across European University Alliances share insights on cross-border education, quality assurance, student representation, and joint degree development. Explore our speaker lineup below:

Maria-Valerie Schegk

YUFE Alliance Secretary General

Maria-Valerie Schegk serves as the Secretary General of the Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE) Alliance. With extensive expertise in higher education management and cross-border cooperation, she leads YUFE’s mission to build an inclusive, student-centered, and open European university model. She is dedicated to fostering innovation, mobility, and impactful collaboration across European institutions.

Veronique Eurlings

YUFE Education Coordinator

Veronique Eurlings (MA) is an experienced higher education professional at Maastricht University and plays a leading role in the development of innovative European education within Young Universities for YUFE. She led the development of the YUFE Joint Bachelor programme, created with 10 European partner universities and accredited through the European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes.

Bálint Koós

Executive Committee Member, European Students Union

Bálint Koós is a PhD student and Vice-President of the European Students’ Union (ESU), leading the organisation’s work on the European Education Area and on Internationalisation and Mobility. His work focuses particularly on European University Alliances, democratic student participation and international students. Before joining ESU, Bálint was actively involved in student representation both at local and national levels in Hungary.

Antonin Charret

Junior Research Fellow at University of Oxford & Higher Education Consultant at SIRIS Academic

Antonin Charret is a Junior Research Fellow at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, and a Consultant at SIRIS Academic. He holds a PhD in Higher Education and Research Policy from Oxford, where he studied the governance of the European Universities Initiative. Over the past seven years, he has examined the initiative from multiple angles: its political ambitions, how alliances organise and collaborate, and its wider effects on European higher education. His work includes academic publications, a forthcoming co-edited volume and the co-organisation of an annual research and practice symposium, alongside direct advisory work with alliances on governance, strategy and evaluation.

Olga Wessels

ECIU Micro Credentials Presentation (ECIU University Case)

Olga Wessels is the Head of the ECIU Brussels Office, supporting the network and European University Alliance engagement with European institutions and policymakers, for example in the field of flexible learning and micro-credentials. Wessels is also the coordinator of FOREU4ALL, supporting cooperation among European University Alliances.

Ramón Martínez Rodríguez-Osorio

Full Professor, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, EELISA Alliance

Ramón Martínez, Full Professor at Telecommunication Engineering at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM). Since 2021, he has the role of Deputy Vicerrector for Academic Strategy at his University. He is the Academic Coordinator of EELISA Alliance on behalf of UPM. In 2024, he led the JEDI project, one of the Erasmus+ first policy experimentation projects to prototype a Joint European Degree Label in the field of engineering, science and technology degrees. Since then, he has been involved in the design of joint degrees compliant with European Degree Label features.

Robin Schormans

Policy Advisor Quality Assurance

Robin Schormans serves as Policy Advisor Quality Assurance for the Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE) alliance and is a member of its Quality Assurance Board. At University College Maastricht, he is a Lecturer with a background in Science & Technology Studies. [His career in quality assurance began at Maastricht University, where he led educational development and accreditation for interdisciplinary programmes bridging engineering, biotechnology, and data science as part of the university’s expansion into technical education]. His work increasingly focuses on cross-border quality assurance. He co-led the European Approach accreditation of YUFE's Joint Bachelor's in Urban Sustainability Studies and is a task lead in EDL-STEP, a nine-university exploratory action preparing joint programmes for the European Degree Label.