University of the Greater Region

The University of the Greater Region (UniGR) is an innovative university alliance with the following universities: Kaiserslautern-Landau (D), Liège (B), Lorraine (F), Luxembourg (LU), Saarland (D), Trier (D) and htw saar (D) as an associate partner. Cooperation between the seven higher education and research institutions of the Greater Region began in 2008 as part of a European project. Since 2015, the group has had its own legal structure that allows it to carry out projects for the benefit of its members and to ensure joint coordination of cooperation.

The main objective of the UniGR is to train generations of convinced Europeans by creating conditions for study and research based on mobility between partner universities, between scientific disciplines and language proficiency.

The UniGR is also developing its international profile by focusing on targeted areas to respond to certain territorial and societal challenges in the Greater Region. This specialization is characterized in the form of "Interdisciplinary Centers of Expertise". The UniGR-Center for Border Studies, which specialises in border studies, is the first interdisciplinary centre of expertise. Its second centre "UniGR-CIRKLA" is dedicated to metals and materials in a circular economy.

In developing UniGR-CIRKLA, UniGR plays a central role in promoting the project and connecting stakeholders from research, industry, public policy, and society. The centre serves as a contact point for citizens, companies, students, and emerging professionals, and supports the development of practice-oriented skills in key areas of the circular economy. It also fosters exchange between these actors, thereby stimulating innovation and actively contributing to the economic development of the Greater Region.

UniGR also coordinates communication across all project partners and brings together the various perspectives into a coherent overall vision. As an institution that itself emerged from an Interreg project and has successfully consolidated another initiative through the UniGR-Center for Border Studies, UniGR also supports the UniGR-CIRKLA partners in practical aspects of cross-border cooperation in higher education and research.