University of Bergen (UiB) is an internationally recognised research university in Norway. With approximately 20 000 students, more than 4 200 faculty and staff and seven faculties, UiB has joined the eight CHARM-EU members, contributing to the design of an innovative European University with shared common values such as academic freedom, professional leadership, sustainability and inclusion.UiB rector Prof. Margareth Hagen highlighted the importance of this collaboration saying that “this is a forward-looking way of thinking about university collaboration. I look forward to the further collaboration with the other partner universities in the alliance”.

UiB’s arrival is added to University of Barcelona, Trinity College Dublin, Utrecht University, Eötvös Loránd University, University of Montpellier, Åbo Akademi University, Julius-Maximilians-Universität of Würzburg and Hochschule Ruhr West. Prof. Joan Guàrdia, Rector of the University of Barcelona welcomed the new partner by stressing why this partnership is important for the future of the alliance: “welcoming the University of Bergen to the CHARM-EU alliance implies adding a high academic quality and fruitful tradition partner to the consortium. The European Universities Initiative, as proven by success stories such as the one we are developing in CHARM-EU, is proof that the collaboration between universities is feasible and the best way. University of Bergen’s European trajectory guarantees excellence, commitment and high impact in this new and ambitious stage of the CHARM-EU project” he says.

Together, the alliance emphasises its pursuit in leveraging the synergies in the knowledge square and following the strong interdisciplinary research and innovation capacities of the consortium members as well as in becoming a key element in contributing to solving the policy issues within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that the EU and its Member States are currently facing.