Joint press release, CIVICA, March 2019
Building on already strong existing ties, seven world-leading institutions decide to further
unite to create the European University of Social Sciences. Through an alliance of both longterm
strategic goals and joint concrete activities that will benefit students, faculty, staff and
impact the broader public, CIVICA will prototype the university of tomorrow, it will generate
innovative solutions to the world's most pressing challenges inspired by the social sciences,
and it will promote European civic values.
Bocconi University (Italy), Central European University (Hungary), the European University Institute
(European Intergovernmental Organization), the Hertie School of Governance (Germany), the
National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (Romania), Sciences Po (France)
and the Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden) have submitted a joint application under the
name “CIVICA - The European University of Social Sciences” to become one of the pilot European
Universities in the first round of Erasmus+ applications in February 2019.
In a joint long-term mission statement, the seven Presidents recognize the special role of
European social sciences in generating solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. CIVICA
embodies their ambition, as forward-thinking higher education institutions, to assume their civic
responsibility as Europeans towards the future European generations and towards the role of
Europe in the world:
“As world leading European institutions of social sciences, we are united in a unique mission: We
want to educate the next generation of professionals who serve their societies across sectors,
whose minds are concentrated on tackling the most pressing problems of the world, and who are
driven by values of democracy, respect and civic resilience”.
CIVICA aims to unite leading European higher education institutions in the social sciences, the
humanities, business management and public policy to form a broad European inter-university
campus that links teaching and learning, research and innovation, and society at large across
cultural, linguistic, and national borders. It will connect 38,000 students recruited from across
Europe and all over the world to a community of 7,000 faculty members and some 3,000
administrative staff. CIVICA will also be joined by the London School of Economics as an Associated
partner on many levels, and an ambitious set of activities will be dedicated to the international
attractiveness and competitiveness of the alliance.
Being able to build upon decades of successful partnerships amongst many of the partners, and
on the new complementarity sets of expertise that can be foreseen, the seven partners have a
unique capacity to engage in long-term joint strategic goals as well as immediate concrete action,
at all levels of their institutions. The more than 100-page long CIVICA project already provides the
frame for prototyping and testing operational trans-European activities for the emergence of a
European University. The proposal includes:
• The building of the physical and digital spaces and systems supporting a networked European
Campus for learning, knowledge production and application;
• At the Bachelor level, a multi-campus, interdisciplinary bachelor’s education experience with a
core focus on civic engagement;
• At the Masters level, a flagship multi-campus integrated course involving hundreds of students
in team-work across Europe and dozens of faculty to respond to contemporary European and
global challenges. Joint policy labs, incubators and capstone projects and hackathons with the
same objective of combining education, research and innovation while also contributing to
more European identity.
• At the Doctoral level, the emergence of an integrated European space for European Early Stage
Researchers in the Social Sciences and Humanities based on a trans-European hub for
mentoring and supervision
• Recognising the special role the social sciences must play in tackling global problems, four
dedicated multi-campus knowledge creating teams will be created to conduct results-oriented
joint work and feed in the three levels of the European campus: Challenges to Democracy in
the XXIst Century; Societies in Transition and Crises of Earth; Europe Revisited; and Data Driven
Technologies for the Social Sciences.
• CIVICA is to be an active agent in European society. Trans-European actions for civic
engagement and inclusion will include University for all Tours d'Europe, the promotion of
access to higher education for all and the Open learning initiative for refugees and asylum
seekers.
Through coordinated strategic planning, transformative governance and integrated activities,
including embedded mobility at all levels, joint and flexible curricula, a networked approach to the
students’ preparation for careers, civic commitment and hands-on societal outreach, CIVICA will
contribute to the international competitiveness of the partners of the alliance and the European
Higher Education Area and it will generate solutions to persistent European and world challenges.
CIVICA – the European University of Social Sciences is certainly formed at a momentous time in
European history; it shall strongly impact the future of Europe and the higher education sector
globally.
Press contacts
• Bocconi University: Tomaso Eridani: tomaso.eridani@unibocconi.it
• Central European University: Ildiko Rull, rullI@ceu.edu / +36 (1) 327 3800
• The European University Institute: Marco Incerti: Marco.Incerti@eui.eu / +39 055 4685 433
• The Hertie School of Governance: Nikolas von Hoffmann: hoffmann@hertie-school.org
• National University of Political Studies and Public Administration: Anca Goga:
anca.goga@snspa.ro / +40726.317.063
• Sciences Po (Main coordinator of CIVICA): Marie Frocrain: marie.frocrain@sciencespo.fr / +33
1 49 54 37 71
• The Stockholm School of Economics: Hanna Flodmark: hanna.flodmark@hhs.se

05.05.2025
CHOOSE EUROPE FOR SCIENCE: SCIENCES PO STRENGTHENS ITS POLICY OF WELCOMING INTERNATIONAL RESEARCHERS WITH THE RECRUITMENT OF NEW AMERICAN SCHOLARS
Paris, 5 May 2025 – Sciences Po, a world-class research university, has been host to a significant number of leading international scholars for over two decades. With nearly 50% of its student body made up of international students and one of the most open academic communities in Europe, Sciences Po offers an interdisciplinary environment suited to analyse contemporary disruptions, all within a framework that safeguards academic freedom and freedom of speech — key conditions for academic work.
“Europe’s strategic autonomy lies in part on an intellectual ambition: acknowledging universities as a central pillar of European identity, agency, and influence. Through the defence of academic freedom, the promotion of open debate, and the protection of long-term knowledge, higher education constitutes a critical infrastructure of our democracies.”Luis Vassy, Director of Sciences Po.
In December 2024, Sciences Po launched a call for applications within the “Sciences Po Visiting Fellowship” programme, aimed at welcoming scholars from the United States. The two selected fellows, Professor Sanyu A. Mojola from Princeton University and Professor Rachel Beatty Riedl from Cornell University, were chosen from among numerous prominent applicants. They will join Sciences Po for one semester: Professor Mojola will be hosted by the Centre for Research on Social Inequalities (CRIS), and Professor Riedl by the Centre for International Studies (CERI).
Sanyu A. Mojola is a Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs and holds the Maurice P. During Chair in Demographic Studies at Princeton University. Her research, which combines multiple methodological approaches, investigates how societies produce health and illness, with a particular focus on the HIV/AIDS pandemic in diverse contexts such as Kenya, South Africa, and the United States. She has studied how social dynamics within schools, communities, labour markets, cities, and ecosystems contribute to health inequalities. Her work pays particular attention to the ways in which life course, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic status shape health outcomes.
Rachel Beatty Riedl is the Director of the Center on Global Democracy at the Brooks School of Public Policy and Professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University. Her research focuses on democracy and authoritarianism globally, with a particular emphasis on Africa. She explores regime transitions, participation, institutions, political parties, religion, and local governance.
This initiative highlights Sciences Po’s commitment to fostering open, rigorous, and independent research. The Visiting Fellowship programme will be renewed for the 2026–2027 academic year, with two new positions opened.
Strong and Longstanding Ties with the United States
Sciences Po maintains close educational and research ties with the United States. Each year, between 15% and 20% of all American students who choose to study in France do so at Sciences Po. Americans represent the largest international student population at the university, with nearly 1,000 enrolled for the 2024–2025 academic year — from among over 140 nationalities. This is in part due to our 84 university partnerships, including 10 dual degree programmes with leading institutions such as Columbia University, UC Berkeley, and Georgetown University. The United States is also the leading destination for Sciences Po students in their third year abroad: in 2025–2026, over 220 students will study at one of our American partner institutions.
Our research collaborations with the United States are equally robust. These include the Alliance programme, which brings together Columbia University, École Polytechnique, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and Sciences Po to promote bilateral academic cooperation; and our doctoral fellowship programme with seven American partners, aimed at building a transatlantic network of young researchers. At present, nine American scholars are members of our permanent faculty (out of 280), alongside numerous PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and visiting professors — among them the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.
Read more