Universities across Europe are collaborating to advance AI

Higher education institutions are forming national, regional and pan-European networks to manage the advance of generative AI and emerging technologies and to pool available knowledge and expertise across institutions.

Universities are sharing strategies and infrastructures and forming communities in individual countries and across the continent to drive the responsible and ethical use of AI in their institutions.

A session during the 2025 European University Association AI Conference, on an interuniversity approach to addressing AI in higher education, looked at how four different networks were evolving out of shared concerns about the challenges facing the sector. The online conference, titled “How universities are shaping the era of artificial intelligence”, was held on 22 and 23 May.

Nordic AI Hub

Professor Thomas Moeslund, from Aalborg University in Denmark, outlined how the university was working alongside Lund University in Sweden and Bergen University in Norway. All three institutions had anticipated the rise in technologies such as ChatGPT years ahead, with AI centres opening in 2019, 2018 and 2021, respectively.

Initially, AI initiatives started out as small “bridging” interdisciplinary projects to see how information and experience might be shared within an institution. “The three universities are independent of each other, but all of us had built bottom-up initiatives with top-down support.

“The money came from the top, but it was led from the bottom because it is researchers and educators who know what is needed,” said Moeslund.

“For example, we engaged in ‘bridging’ projects which involved two different disciplines working together with funding of around €7,000 [US$8,000] per project. We were sceptical at first that they would want to get involved, but it turned out to be a huge success, especially for younger researchers because they built connections within the university.”

As AI evolved, universities began to discuss the implications with each other. Professor Kalle Åström, of the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at Lund University, said that an initial exchange of ideas led to the universities seeking funding from the Nordic Council of Ministers to allow the network to take off.

“We use the funding for small projects, to run seminars and workshops, and to try out different models and ideas to promote AI use.

“But we are also now onboarding other initiatives primarily in the Nordic countries and the Baltics. We are continuously talking to universities in these areas to try to find out if there are any other initiatives that would like to join the Nordic AI hub,” he said.

Irish Innovation

In Ireland, meanwhile, seven universities are now accessing information, experiences and outcomes via an open access platform that shares case studies of how generative AI is being used.

The initiative was the brainchild of Dr Ana Elena Schalk and Dr Pauline Rooney from the Centre for Academic Practice at Trinity College in Dublin, who spotted the potential challenges that ChatGPT might cause.

“We firmly believe that while generative AI raises challenges for us and for the academic community at large, it also presents opportunities for enhancing teaching, learning and assessment.

“And this raised two pivotal questions for us. First, how can we best support our educators in responding to these challenges? And secondly, how might we influence and support strategic initiatives and policy development regarding generative AI at the institutional level?” Rooney explained.

“We knew that colleagues across the sector were grappling with the same challenges, and so we decided that the best approach would be to tackle these questions together,” she noted.

Discussions were sought with colleagues in other Irish institutions to find out how AI was being used, and an open-access digital publication was created, which could be constantly updated with case studies and reflections on new developments and lessons learnt.

Each institution had an ‘editor’ who brought together the stories from their university or college using a template which described the context of their innovation, how it was implemented and what results it showed. The site now has more than 30 articles from across all university disciplines and faculties.

Leveraging expertise in Germany

Ruhr University Bochum is one of 40 universities in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, involved in projects relating to the use of AI technologies. The projects are funded by the state ministry of science after Ruhr University initiated the first strategy for meeting the challenges of new technologies.

Robert Queckenberg, project coordinator at the university, said: “The project rests on three pillars, which support three strategies: giving staff and students safe access to commercial AI tools; evaluating the potential of open-source tools and providing training, guidance and networking activities.”

The network organises small-scale pieces of research and larger conferences and has some funding for projects at other universities, the outcomes of which can add to the sum of knowledge about AI use and applications. It also organises training activities and provides resources.

“We have built, with good communication, network building and activities, a community of experts and institutions that we can leverage for the work we’re doing now and in the future,” Queckenberg added.

Lifelong learning in Belgium

A regionalised approach is also used in Flanders, where the Flanders AI Academy (VAIA) has been established to deliver lifelong learning not only to university staff and students but also to upskill the existing workforce in AI use and knowledge.

Lise Hilte, liaison for the University of Antwerp at the VAIA, said: “We believe that lifelong learning is the key – to educate yourself and the entire staff of your institution, and in Flanders, the government is actively stimulating this.

“We have an AI policy plan in place, with the AI Academy as a non-commercial institution to facilitate learning. But we also bridge the gap between industry and higher education.”

The VAIA has implemented a learning trajectory for learners, with a range of nine modules that learners can sign up for, including an introduction to AI, using AI for research and dealing with sensitive data. To date, more than 500 people in higher education institutions alone have already accessed the courses.

Another project focuses on the use of AI by doctoral students, said Tine Goovaerts, liaison for Ghent University at the VAIA. It analysed what Flemish universities themselves offered in terms of AI training.

“We found that while the offer was quite big, it was very general and lacked the specific types of courses that would benefit PhD students. For example, it would be useful to know how AI can be used to benefit research and where I can find this,” she said.

The academy plans to create a separate training track, including a more modular course design, which would be tailored to the needs of specific groups of students, such as those doing PhDs.

As generative AI reshapes teaching and learning in universities across Europe, collaboration – not competition – has become key to tackling the technology’s complex challenges and opportunities. Perhaps, when it comes to AI, universities can achieve more together than going it alone.