The European University Initiative (EUI) suggests that alliances between higher institutions from across Europe should explore the option of setting up a legal entity for the alliance – such as a foundation or association. Based on the experiences of the first EUI legal entities, several issues should be considered before embarking on this journey.

Legal entities and university alliances

The European Commission launched the European strategy for universities in 2022 where it suggests that European Universities should explore deeper cooperation also in terms of a legal statute. A joint legal entity of the alliance would assist in consolidating strengths, making collective strategic decisions, unifying operation, and facilitating pooling of resources, activities, and data. This would support deeper, long-term, and flexible cooperation by allowing the sharing of capacities, exchange of personnel, and implementation of joint programmes, ultimately aiming to award joint degrees at the alliance level, including a joint European degree. (European Commission 2022).

Laurea University of Applied Sciences is a member of the PIONEER European University Alliance (PIONEER 2025). As an EUI alliance, Pioneer will need to assess whether it should seek to establish a legal entity and if so, what choices to make.

The European Education and Culture Executive Agency EACEA together with the Directorate General for Education and Culture (DG EAC) organised a conference on European Universities’ legal entities in May 2025. To date, out of 65 alliances, 14 legal entities exist. Of these, 8 are currently included as beneficiaries (i.e. receiving EU funding), with the allocated budget to the entities ranging from 70 000 euros to over 2 million. (EACEA 2025).

One size does not fit all

In the conference, European University alliances (7 beneficiaries and 3 non-beneficiaries) presented their experiences with a joint legal entity, revealing substantial differences in the mechanisms of setting up as well as the tasks, roles and resourcing of the entities (EACEA 2025). The oldest legal entities of EU university coalitions date nearly 20 years although most have been established in the 2020s. Most commonly the entities are set up in Belgium as non-profit organisations (ASBL or AISBL), although Austrian, Dutch and German entities also exist. At least one is set up as an EU European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG) entity. The options have specific legal requirements for alliances’ non-EU partners, which is one key issue to consider.

In terms of personnel, the smallest entities have no permanent staff and are run by member universities’ staff part-time while the largest have up to 20 staff members. All entities are funded completely or partially with member fees, with its proportion ranging from 100% to 25% of total. The rest of the entities’ funding comes from public funding, mostly EU grants. It appears that the largest proportions of EU funding are allocated to legal entities that have been designed to either coordinate the EUI alliance, take part in multiple work packages, or participate in multiple funded EU projects. (EACEA 2025).

Correspondingly, the tasks taken by the legal entities differ widely. At the lower end of the resourcing spectrum the entity is assigned with the task of creating an identity for the alliance. With higher resourcing more tasks are assigned to the entity, such as strategic planning, managing alliance communications, finances, hosting IT systems and issuing microcredentials for e.g. short courses. (EACEA 2025).

Benefits of a legal entity

A European university legal entity has multiple potential advantages for an alliance. These range from general economies of scale to more strategic benefits. A legal entity can help save costs through joint procurement and centralised services. It can also enable true sharing of resources, most notably through employing staff directly in the legal entity that are serving the entire alliance without ties to partner universities.

The financial aspect is also relevant as the legal entity can assume a role in external funding in e.g. Horizon Europe, where an alliance is normally not eligible as a beneficiary. Some of the alliances have made the legal entity responsible for grant management in EUI and others. The entity can also serve as a centralised fundraising organisation and enable joint investments. It can also function as a handler of internal funding, such as for seed funding for smaller projects. (EACEA 2025).

In terms of cooperation within the alliance, the legal entity can facilitate shared responsibilities and joint projects as it is an independent party and serve only the alliance’s agenda. The issue of goal alignment was raised by multiple alliances. The legal entity can help in cooperation outside the alliance and function as a point of contact. Specifically, cooperation with the European Commission was raised by many speakers as a benefit of the legal entity. (EACEA 2025).

Finally, the legal entity can have strategic benefits related to the sustainability and commitment of the alliance. An alliance that is committed to a legal entity can be seen as stronger in maturity (EACEA 2025). Also, the entity can have a role in the implementation of the alliance’s strategy and a role in governance as well. For the alliance, the entity offers a way to solidify its future beyond EU project funding.

Challenges and potential issues

All in all, the consensus seemed to be that establishing the entity was a substantial amount of work. The difficulties seemed to be related either to the day-to-day operations of the entity or more abstractly, alignment within the alliance. (EACEA 2025).

Setting up the entity involves registering a new organisation, setting up a small team, a HR function, finances and accounting and similar steps that are usually taken for granted in large organisations like universities. Expertise in local legislation, public tendering, VAT and other taxation issues are critical and can cause issues particularly if the location of the entity is outside the alliance.

The funding of the entity is another new issue. Typically, mechanisms for membership fees and administration procedures need to be established. As the universities become fee-paying members of the entity, they need to continuously perceive that the membership produces more value than it costs. The fee structure is a potential issue as fees are usually identical for all members in a membership category, by design or by law, but this does not always correspond to the level of cooperation with a member. (EACEA 2025).

Finally, some participants felt that it was difficult to change the focus or level of ambition of the entity once it had been set up. Particularly, if changes would be reflected in membership fees, the consensus seemed to be that a change would be very difficult. (EACEA 2025).

Issues to consider

Based on the discussions and presented materials in the conference (EACEA 2025), the PIONEER alliance should consider at least four aspects of the legal entity:

1. Purpose. The legal entity cannot be a goal; it should be a means to reach a goal. The mere existence of the entity is unlikely to provide sought benefits. Also, if the focus is more on economies of scale such as joint procurement, the requirements and design may be different than if the focus was on e.g. lobbying and PR.
2. Level of synergies. The level of synergies in European university alliances differ substantially. Firstly, the simplest form is an administrative entity with minimal tasks and low resourcing, to the point of not having full time staff at all. Secondly, the entity can focus on fundraising, grant management and finances. Certain EU funding mechanisms require that the applicant has a legal identity, and, in this respect, the entity can function as a means of channelling funding for the alliance. Thirdly, the entity can be a true base of synergic benefits, pooling resources and enabling joint educational offerings. Some of the current legal entities have already started issuing microcredentials on behalf of the alliance and some are exploring seeking accreditation.
3. Commitment. While the existence of a legal entity can be seen to signify deep, long-term commitment of the alliance members, it is not a formal requirement for EUI funding. On another note, a legal entity brings a new level of cooperative difficulty in the alliance. Most of the current legal entities are financially dependent on member funding, which may cause commitment issues while the public funding of universities is diminishing. For this reason, it is crucial to involve the universities to solidify the vision and ensure alignment.
4. Location. The majority of the current legal entities are based in Belgium, with some also having a substantial physical presence. Proximity to the Commission is one obvious benefit of the choice. Another is that the Belgian legislation seems to offer benefits for this type of coordination. The downside is that setting up an entity in Belgium requires local knowledge which must be outsourced unless the alliance has a Belgian party that possesses this type of capability.

Rather than seeing the legal entity as an end, any alliance should weigh the balance of expected benefits and potential issues and choose which path the alliance is looking to take.

For the PIONEER EUI alliance, the key finding from the conference is that setting up the legal entity is not a legal question. It is a strategic question that may help solidify the alliance but requires consideration of the multiple aspects and options in the process. As was noted in the ending remarks, it is important to explore the legal entity, “where appropriate”.

References

• EACEA 2025. European Universities Legal Entities Conference, held on 21 May 2025, Brussels, Belgium and Webex
• European Commission 2022. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social committee and the Committee of the Regions on a European strategy for universities. Accessed 26.5.2025. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52022DC0016
• PIONEER 2025. The PIONEER Alliance. Accessed 26.5.2025. https://pioneer-alliance.eu/