Five years of ENLIGHT, five impactful achievements
(27-01-2026) Five years ago, Ghent University joined forces with eight other European universities to form the ENLIGHT university alliance.
What began in 2020 as an ambitious European project has now grown into a structural partnership between 10 universities (the University of Bern joined the alliance in 2023). Together, they have a tangible impact on education, research, student participation and social engagement.
We summarise that impact below in five concrete achievements.
1. ENLIGHT encourages UGent'ers to engage in international collaboration
More and more researchers and lecturers are participating in international collaborations through ENLIGHT. The alliance encourages and finances bottom-up initiatives through various calls for projects, which have also attracted considerable interest at Ghent University. Over the past two years, Ghent University has been involved in more than half of all 248 project proposals, with a total of around 3,000 academics participating.
The 115 selected projects often form the starting point for sustainable collaborations in education and research, across faculties and national borders. The 10 ENLIGHT partners also focus on developing several joint programmes. Finally, enthusiasm for the alliance is also evident from the growing participation in ENLIGHT activities and bilateral visits.
2. Students participate in decision-making
Students are strongly represented within ENLIGHT, including Ghent University students. Through the ENLIGHT Student Network, they participate in the alliance's decision-making, project work and communication. They also set up their own initiatives, for and by students, and represent ENLIGHT in European forums. This is entirely in line with how we view student participation at Ghent University.
3. Impact as a shared ambition
ENLIGHT profiles itself internationally as a pioneer in impact-oriented working. The impact methodology and tools developed are widely used and shared with other European university alliances. In this way, ENLIGHT is strengthening the focus on social impact in education and research, including within Ghent University. In 2025, that resulted in the ENLIGHT Impact Assessment Report, to which Ghent University staff and students also contributed.
4. An experience abroad or joint doctoral programme becomes easier
Finally, ENLIGHT is taking important steps to facilitate international cooperation. The renewed multilateral Erasmus+ agreement makes it easy for Ghent University students and staff to spend some time in a different university, even where no Erasmus bilateral agreements exist.
Since the launch of ENLIGHT in 2020, Ghent University has concluded no fewer than 31 new Erasmus bilateral (discipline-specific) agreements with ENLIGHT partners: an increase of almost 70%, compared to the agreements that already existed at that time. The number of students participating in exchanges within the network also continues to grow: since 2021, 445 Ghent University students have already gone to an ENLIGHT university. We have also welcomed 524 incoming ENLIGHT students ourselves.
With ENLIGHT we are also strongly committed to innovative forms of mobility. For example, students can participate in blended and virtual mobility programmes. Over the past five years, more than 150 Ghent University students have participated in ENLIGHT Blended Intensive Programmes. New this academic year is a pilot project with around 30 online courses that are open to ENLIGHT students: a total of up to 900 students can enrol for these.
Various joint master's programmes are also currently in the pipeline, building on the strengths of the partners in terms of content and linked to an innovative approach. All these initiatives contribute to the development of a broad joint portfolio of internationalisation initiatives for students.
Finally, Ghent University is working with the other partners on a joint PhD framework agreement, which should make joint doctorates within ENLIGHT structurally possible. This initiative is considered an important breakthrough in international doctoral collaboration.
5. ENLIGHT as a structural partnership
With the establishment of ENLIGHT aisbl (International Non-Profit Association), the alliance has been given a legal and organisational structure that transcends the duration of the project and enables long-term cooperation. The aisbl marks the transition from a temporary European project to a sustainable university network, which Ghent University helps to steer. It provides a stable framework for developing joint initiatives, coordinating governance and embarking on new international projects.
A look to the future
Five years of ENLIGHT shows what is possible when universities, researchers, students and staff collaborate across borders. For Ghent University, ENLIGHT is therefore not an end point, but a shared ambition to continue learning, innovating and creating impact together.
Frederick De Decker, Ghent University's Head of Internationalisation, agrees:
‘A growing number of Ghent University faculties and programmes are developing “stepping stones”. This concept was developed within ENLIGHT and essentially boils down to a coherent and gradual build-up of internationalisation experiences throughout the entire study programme. Moreover, this is increasingly being done in collaboration with ENLIGHT partners, which indicates that the alliance is really starting to come to life.’