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Coimbra Group
Data
Established	1985
Members	37
Continent	Europe
Countries	mostly EU countries also Norway and Switzerland
Honorary President 2006-2007	Jaak Aaviksoo, University of Tartu, Estonia
Chairman of the Executive Board	Guido Langouche, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
Office Director	Inge Knudsen
Address	Egmontstraat 11, rue d'Egmont 1000 Brussels Belgium
Acronym	CG
Homepage	http://www.coimbra-group.eu

The Coimbra Group (CG) is a network of European universities that gathers 37 universities, some of which are among the oldest and most prestigious in Europe, which was founded in 1985 and formally constituted by charter in 1987.

The group took its name from the city of Coimbra, Portugal and the university located there, itself one of the oldest in Europe. The University of Coimbra celebrated its 700th anniversary in the same year the group was founded.

Contents 1 Mission 2 Activities 3 Members 4 See also 5 External link

The Coimbra Group is:

...an association of long-established European multidisciplinary universities of high international standard committed to creating special academic and cultural ties in order to promote, for the benefit of its members, internationalization, academic collaboration, excellence in learning and research, and service to society. It is also the purpose of the Group to influence European educational policy and to develop best practice through the mutual exchange of experience.

—Coimbra Group

In pursuit of its Mission the Coimbra Group aims to:

• Facilitate knowledge transfer between its constituent universities by means of staff and student interchange so that they can benefit from the added value given by membership of the Coimbra Group, whilst respecting the cultural and national identities of individual universities and their individual freedom in learning and research.
• Work with European Union (EU) institutions with a view to participating in or organizing EU higher education and research projects to the benefit of Coimbra Group members.
• Contribute to the debate within Europe on quality in higher education and promote the adoption of quality assurance mechanisms within its member universities.
• Become a driving force in the creation and further development of the European Higher Education Area and promote the academic expertise of its members within this area and the European Research Area.
• Be recognized as an expert body, able to advise its members and EU institutions on various matters relating to higher education, such as information technology (IT) as applied to new teaching methods and lifelong learning.
• Encourage co-operation in cultural, social and sporting activities between its members.
• Promote the Coimbra Group worldwide as a source of academic excellence in Europe, with a view to attracting students to the universities in the Coimbra Group and encouraging academic collaboration and interchange with its members.

Austria

• University of Graz

Belgium

• Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Dutch-speaking)
• Université catholique de Louvain (French-speaking)

Czech Republic

• Charles University in Prague

Denmark

• University of Aarhus

Estonia

• University of Tartu

Finland

• Åbo Akademi University
• University of Turku

France

• University of Lyon
• University of Montpellier (Montpellier is treated as 3 institutions)
• University of Poitiers

Germany

• Georg-August University of Göttingen
• University of Heidelberg
• Friedrich Schiller University of Jena
• University of Würzburg

Greece

• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Hungary

• University of Budapest

Ireland

• National University of Ireland, Galway
• Trinity College, Dublin

Italy

• University of Bologna
• University of Padua
• University of Pavia
• University of Siena

The Netherlands

• University of Groningen
• Leiden University

Norway

• University of Bergen

Poland

• Jagiellonian University

Portugal

• University of Coimbra

Spain

• University of Barcelona
• University of Granada
• University of Salamanca

Sweden

• Uppsala University

Switzerland

• University of Geneva

United Kingdom

• University of Bristol
• University of Cambridge
• University of Edinburgh
• University of Oxford

• List of universities and colleges by country
• League of European Research Universities (LERU; an association of top European research universities)
• Ivy League (a group comprising some prestigious US universities)
• Group of Eight (Go8; a group of leading Australian universities)
• Russell Group (a group of some of the top research-focused universities in the UK)
• Group of Thirteen leading Canadian universities

• Coimbra Group official site