More than 250 students from 35 countries today embark on the Una Europa Joint Bachelor of Arts in European Studies (BAES) – a truly joint European Bachelor’s degree and the very first of its kind in Europe. With a shared vision for a European University of the Future with high-quality international education and mobility at the core, eight Una Europa partner universities have pooled their expertise to create a unique multidisciplinary and multilingual curriculum.  

“I chose the BAES as the programme’s combined multidisciplinary approach and mobility dimension is unique in Europe. Having the flexibility of choosing your specialisations and the opportunity of studying in up to three different countries lays an excellent academic foundation for students’ future professional and political lives in Europe and beyond.” 
 
Henrik Arhold, Joint Bachelor of Arts in European Studies, Class of 2025; the first student to register for the programme 

Across Europe, the Una Europa alliance is celebrating the inaugural BAES cohort with opening ceremonies taking place today at Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna (Italy), Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) KU Leuven (Belgium) and Uniwersytet Jagiellonski w Krakowie (Poland) – the four degree-awarding universities from which the undergraduates may select to begin their studies. Students can continue their studies at a further four mobility partner universities – Freie Universität Berlin (Germany), The University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom), Helsingin Yliopisto/Helsingfors universitet (Finland), and Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (France). 

“The Joint Bachelor of Arts in European Studies is the culmination of exceptional collaboration among Una Europa partners, who are committed to empowering the Graduates of the Future. We are proud to welcome the first cohort of students to the programme and look forward to seeing them shape the Europe of tomorrow. This is just the first step in Una Europa’s ambitious plans of developing innovative multidisciplinary education of the future.” 

Peter Lievens Vice Rector, KU Leuven, 1Europe Coordinator 

Over the next three years, BAES students will study the fundamental aspects and values of the European Union and European states and societies, and critically examine the role of Europe in the world. Supported by the BAES’s comprehensive embedded mobility programme, students will select two or three destinations out of eight countries, enabling them to master a second European language, immerse themselves in other cultures, and develop the transversal skills that are vital to the Graduates of the Future. This includes an introduction to research skills, a novelty at Bachelor level and a defining feature of Una Europa’s joint educational offering.  

On successful completion of their studies, BAES graduates will be jointly awarded a single European Studies diploma by all degree-awarding partners – testament to their truly European student experience.