Standards Guidelines for Harmonisation (SGH)
The EUt+ Standards and Guidelines for Harmonisation (SGH) are a strategic instrument developed to support deep institutional integration by providing a shared framework for embedding the EUt+’s mission, values, and objectives within its member universities. Inspired by the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG), they adapt quality assurance principles to the alliance level, combining common standards with flexible guidelines and defining harmonisation as a process of convergence that supports trust, transparency, and shared understanding across all core EUt+ missions.
Unlike university networks, European University Alliances are based on a collective commitment to shared long-term objectives, joint structures, and coordinated implementation, experimenting new forms of integration beyond traditional cooperation. While existing quality assurance frameworks provide strong guidance at programme and institutional levels, they do not fully address the systemic nature of alliances or the assessment of joint academic objects, creating a need for alliance-level quality approaches aligned with European priorities of trust, transparency, and recognition.
This shift raises quality-related questions that can only be addressed at alliance level, particularly regarding coherence, resource use, institutional embedding, and European added value, highlighting a gap in existing quality assurance tools focused on single institutions.
Quality assurance within EUt+ is conceived as a strategic and enabling function supporting long-term transformation and a shared quality culture. Anchored in the EUt+ Quality Management Plan, the framework distinguishes between strategic intent and operational implementation and relies on a coherent set of instruments to ensure transparency, relevance, and evidence-based evaluation.
The SGH provide a structured but non-binding framework to guide reflection, dialogue, and self-assessment on how EUt+ objectives are embedded in institutional practices. They do not replace national quality assurance systems or impose uniform solutions, but support incremental, context-sensitive harmonisation across all core missions, recognising diversity of implementation as an essential strength of the Alliance.
The EUt+ SGH describes a structure around ten standards, supported by a set of guidelines. The full document can be downloaded below.
Read the EUt+ Standards and Guidelines for Harmonisation
Unlike university networks, European University Alliances are based on a collective commitment to shared long-term objectives, joint structures, and coordinated implementation, experimenting new forms of integration beyond traditional cooperation. While existing quality assurance frameworks provide strong guidance at programme and institutional levels, they do not fully address the systemic nature of alliances or the assessment of joint academic objects, creating a need for alliance-level quality approaches aligned with European priorities of trust, transparency, and recognition.
This shift raises quality-related questions that can only be addressed at alliance level, particularly regarding coherence, resource use, institutional embedding, and European added value, highlighting a gap in existing quality assurance tools focused on single institutions.
Quality assurance within EUt+ is conceived as a strategic and enabling function supporting long-term transformation and a shared quality culture. Anchored in the EUt+ Quality Management Plan, the framework distinguishes between strategic intent and operational implementation and relies on a coherent set of instruments to ensure transparency, relevance, and evidence-based evaluation.
The SGH provide a structured but non-binding framework to guide reflection, dialogue, and self-assessment on how EUt+ objectives are embedded in institutional practices. They do not replace national quality assurance systems or impose uniform solutions, but support incremental, context-sensitive harmonisation across all core missions, recognising diversity of implementation as an essential strength of the Alliance.
The EUt+ SGH describes a structure around ten standards, supported by a set of guidelines. The full document can be downloaded below.
Read the EUt+ Standards and Guidelines for Harmonisation
Date of update 05 February 2026