An Erasmus+ seminar in Tunis to strengthen cooperation between Africa and Europe

Consolidating international cooperation between higher education institutions from Europe and Africa, expanding existing partnerships towards new thematic areas and new partner universities, while promoting strategic alliances and innovative forms of academic collaboration. This is the focus of the international conference "Erasmus+ aiming higher: Mediterranean bridges across Africa and Europe for shared academic pathways", organised in Tunisia by the Erasmus+ National Agency INDIRE within the MedNet network; a partnership involving the Erasmus+ Agencies of Cyprus, Croatia, France, Greece, Italia, Malta, North Macedonia, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey.

The initiative is scheduled from today, Monday 20 to 23 April 2026 in Tunis, in the framework of an Erasmus+ Transnational Cooperation Activity (TCA) and is organised in collaboration with UNIMED - Union of Mediterranean Universities and the National Erasmus+ Office in Tunisia, in Tunis. "The conference - says the Director General of the National Erasmus+ Agency INDIRE, Flaminio Galli - is held at a strategic moment to strengthen the role of academic cooperation between Europe and Africa, in view of the future Erasmus+ 2028-2034. Consolidating the dialogue between territories, creating new bridges between universities, expanding cooperation networks and promoting shared paths means experimenting with increasingly inclusive and sustainable models of collaboration. For the Agency, this means investing in truly international higher education, capable of offering more mobility opportunities to students and teachers, fostering skills growth and supporting open and innovative higher education systems."

The event comes at a particularly significant stage for the Programme, and contributes to the relaunch of international cooperation in the future generation of Erasmus+ 2028-2034, which is currently being defined. Within this framework, Tunis will become a privileged venue for fostering dialogue between Europe and Africa on the main shared challenges, good practices and development opportunities for international academic cooperation.
The meeting brings together some 170 representatives of universities and higher education institutions from the MedNet countries, the Southern Mediterranean and sub-Saharan Africa, offering them a valuable opportunity for networking, finding new partners and exchanging experiences.

In particular, evidence will be given of the added value that the opportunities offered by Erasmus+ actions bring in terms of developing academic internationalisation strategies - as in the case of Capacity Building for Higher Education initiatives or Erasmus Mundus joint pathways - and of the impact on individual participants in International Credit Mobility projects for higher education students and staff, with the aim of building shared and increasingly inclusive academic pathways between the two shores of the Mediterranean and the African continent.