Four universities, one degree: first certificates awarded in pioneering Arqus consortium

University representatives celebrated the first Arqus graduates: Florian Bieber, Ana María García-Campaña, Amelia Díaz Pérez de Madrid, Janine Kläge, Ieva Giedraitytė, Mireille van Poppel, Stephan Kaschner, Emma Lantschner, Dorothy Kelly, Steffi Marung, and Artūras Vasiliauskas (from left). Photo: Fotogenia

The European University Alliance Arqus has been in existence since 2018, with the University of Graz collaborating with eight partner institutions at various levels. The first joint master's programme began in 2023. Twenty-one graduates recently celebrated their graduation in Graz.

The Joint Master's Programme in European Studies is the first joint degree programme offered by the University of Graz in collaboration with its partner institutions in Granada, Leipzig and Vilnius as part of the Arqus alliance. At the end of January, the graduates of the first cohort received their certificates in the auditorium. Representatives of the participating universities and students celebrated, some of them online. The ceremony can be viewed on YouTube.

Joint educational programmes within the alliance are designed to offer students a more enriching experience than a degree from a single university. Arqus coordinator Dorothy Kelly emphasised this in her keynote speech. "You as our alumni will be our ambassadors and we need you both out there and inside Arqus to help us to continue to improve and to enrich future students' experiences," Kelly concluded. Mireille van Poppel, Vice-Rector for International Affairs at the University of Graz, also referred to the added value of the alliance, which benefits students: "Getting to know different cultures, accepting, even embracing, celebrating the diversity within the different countries and organisations is the essence of having European Alliances and is the core of Arqus."

Feedback from graduates has been consistently positive, both in terms of the content of the programme and the opportunities for international networking. Interest in the joint master's programme is also high: last year, 150 applications were received for 60 places. The registration deadline for the autumn 2026 intake is 31 March.

In addition to European Studies, three other Arqus Master's programmes are currently offered at the University of Graz: Food, Nutrition and Health, Cybersecurity and Cyberintelligence, and Translation. Further programmes are in development.

Dagmar Eklaude

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