In March 2019, Essex joined seven other universities across European to form the Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE) Alliance. in June 2019, the European Commission announced YUFE was one of 17 projects that will receive funding for a three-year pilot under the European Universities Initiative funded by the Erasmus+ programme. The aim of the programme is to create 'European Universities' based on cross-border alliances of higher education institutions that share a long-term strategy and will promote European values and identity.