Kildare: The European Commission has selected 20 European Universities alliances for funding under the 2026 Erasmus+ call, in a result announced on 9 July 2026. The alliances will share a total of €145.6 million, and each can receive up to €7.2 million over two years, according to the Spanish rectors’ conference CRUE and the Academic Cooperation Association.

Competition was tight. Of 36 proposals submitted, 20 won grants, two went onto a reserve list and four received a Seal of Excellence, which recommends them for national, regional or other funding. The result brings the number of European Universities alliances supported since the initiative began to 65, representing 190 higher education institutions across Europe.

The money is designed as bridge funding. It is meant to keep activity going until the next multiannual financial framework starts, so that the European Universities alliances can maintain and scale up their work from the autumn and winter of 2026. The funding comes from the Erasmus+ Annual Work Programme 2026, which sets the budget for the call. For universities, the 2026 results confirm that the Commission still treats the alliances as a flagship of European higher education cooperation.

Spain shows how widely the programme reaches. CRUE reports that 19 of the 20 selected alliances include at least one Spanish institution, and that 20 Spanish universities receive funding in total, all of them CRUE members. The sources do not give a full country breakdown, nor do they say how many of the winners are new and how many are renewals.

Politics surrounded the announcement. On 10 July 2026 the Fourth Forum of European University Alliances met in County Kildare in Ireland, under the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU. The forum discussed the funding architecture beyond 2027, which is the question that matters most to every alliance on the list.

That question is practical. Alliances run joint degrees, shared campuses and mobility schemes that need stable money over several years, and a two-year grant covers only part of that horizon. Universities that missed out, including the four with a Seal of Excellence, must now look for other sources if they want to keep their plans alive.

The coming months will show whether European Universities alliances can turn short grants into lasting structures. Ministers and the Commission have yet to say how the initiative will be funded after 2027, and the sources reviewed mention no date for the next call. Until that gap closes, the 20 funded European Universities alliances hold a two-year window to prove their value.