€3.6m University of the Greater Region Research Centre to be Established

On 1 January 2018, the six universities of the "University of the Greater Region - UniGR" network (Kaiserslautern, Liège, Lorraine, Luxembourg, Saarland and Trier) will launch a research centre within the Greater Region; created with the support of the Interreg VA Grande Région programme, the three-year cross-border project aims to develop and promote research on border areas.

For this centre, entitled "Border Studies - European centre for Resources and Skills in Border Studies", the partners have a total budget of €3.6 million, of which €2 million come from the European Union.

In this interdisciplinary field of research, human and social science researchers will work on border issues, such as their significance and their effects on the economy, politics, social affairs and culture. The programme will connect scientists from UniGR universities, ensure optimal research conditions, promote dialogue between scientists and political actors, and open a new research structure for students from partner universities.

In particular, it is planned to develop key concepts for border studies in a trilingual glossary and to collect important documents on border area research in a trilingual online database. There will also be scientific seminars on the border and its challenges. In addition, cross-border and multilingual education needs to be simplified and modern learning solutions developed.

The University of Luxembourg is responsible for the scientific part

"The project responds to the growing demand for scientific knowledge about borders and border dynamics," said Dr. Christian Wille of the University of Luxembourg and project scientific co-ordinator. "Thanks to the funding of the European Union and the support of the presidents and rectors of the partner universities, we have, in the medium term, a secure framework for planning the development of border studies in the Greater Region. For the University of Luxembourg, this centre offers the opportunity to position itself internationally in an emerging field of research."

The University of the Greater Region, a pioneering model of "European universities"

UniGR includes the universities of Kaiserslautern, Liège, Lorraine, Luxembourg, Saarland and Trier, which represent 132,500 students and more than 10,000 teacher-researchers. The UniGR offers a wide range of services to study, carry out a research stay, or use the documentation resources of this network at no additional cost.

"The University of the Greater Region shows how research and education can transcend borders in order to sustainably improve the quality of life in a region," commented Prof. Ludwig Neyses, Acting Rector and Vice Rector for Research. "The UniGR initiative significantly contributes to the networking of researchers, policy makers and students, and opens the way to a model of a European University. "

At a time when the European Union is showing the will to develop "European universities", in the sense described by Emmanuel Macron in his speech of 26 September 2017, the UniGR network is now emerging as the most integrated form of cross-border university groups at a European level.

The University of Luxembourg is actively involved in this development. In September, it opened the "Master in Border Studies" with 15 students, set up with the support of the Franco-German University. In an independent project, researchers from the University also created the gr-atlas portal, an interactive atlas of the Greater SaarLorLux Region.