Euskampus Bordeaux: building a Euro-regional Campus of Excellence

The Universities of Bordeaux and the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) have been working together since 2014 to build a Euro-regional Campus of Excellence, enriching for students as well as staff and a vehicle for international cooperation.

Photo : The cross-border project, OceanI3, focuses on ocean sustainability © OceanI3
The cross-border project, OceanI3, focuses on ocean sustainability © OceanI3

In a nutshell:

  • 400 students currently in mobility programmes
  • 40 jointly-supervised thesis projects
  • 12 international cooperation projects
  • 6 dual or inter-university degrees

In 2014, boosted by their respective Campus of Excellence projects, the Universities of Bordeaux and the Basque Country officially joined forces to develop a Euro-regional Campus of Excellence: Euskampus Bordeaux. Over the past eight years, it has brought together a community of more than 150,000 students, 18,000 researchers and nearly 5,000 administrative staff.

The Euskampus Foundation is in charge of project coordination. The objectives? Organise a solid network to be a leverage for the Nouvelle Aquitaine campus sites as well as the Basque universities, and carry out joint projects to provide these institutions with a territorial base and to give them an even more international dimension.

Numerous staff, researchers and students are given the opportunity to do exchanges within the framework of these projects, which draw on partner universities' intellectual resources and skills, while also helping to strengthen their attractiveness.


Effective partnerships

#ZIRBOTICS © Euskampus
#ZIRBOTICS © Euskampus

Since the launch of Euskampus Bordeaux eight years ago, many students have participated in mobility programmes: currently approximately 400 students (including 100 on long-term exchanges).

Overall, the project has united an active academic community of over 300 members (including lecturer-researchers and project managers). Six Master or undergraduate dual or inter-university degrees have been launched.

The degree programmes are dedicated to a range of different fields, such as marine resources, polymers or oenology. They allow the universities to pool their skills to work on issues related to their regions. Two of the six degrees have received the Erasmus Mundus label. 

The 40 co-supervised thesis projects are yet another demonstration of this willingness to work together. Supervised by a University of Bordeaux director and a Basque university director, they lead to a Doctorate degree granted by both universities.

At least three cross-border joint research laboratories have been set up, including the "QuantumChemPhys" lab, dedicated to theoretical chemistry and physics at the quantum scale. Plans for three others are underway, illustrating the motivation fostered by the collaboration between campuses.

Finally, Euskampus Bordeaux also provides the opportunity to create joint cross-border laboratories (LTC) on a variety of topics and to develop partnerships with areas of excellence and regional companies.

Diálogo Award

Euskampus received the Diálogo award in 2018, paying tribute to the leading role played by the partner universities in developing academic and scientific cooperation between France and Spain.


An international scope

Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea and the Donostia International Physics Center are also Euskampus Bordeaux partners.

Thanks to its scientific and intellectual dynamism, Euskampus Bordeaux has enabled its institutions to participate jointly in 12 international projects presented within the framework of European, Euro-regional or national  calls for projects. One of them, the cross-border OceanI3 project focuses on the ocean sustainability.

Firmly grounded in the Atlantic corridor stretching from Bordeaux to Bilbao, Euskampus Bordeaux aims to become a reference of international cooperation.

 

Ceremony for University of the Basque Country doctoral graduates  © Euskampus
Ceremony for University of the Basque Country doctoral graduates © Euskampus

Contact

  • Katixa Peigneguy

    Euskampus Bordeaux Campus Manager

    bordeaux%40euskampus.eu