IUC call

IUC 2026 - Stage 2 - ​Call for Concept Notes

An Institutional University Cooperation (IUC) partnership is a long-term institutional cooperation project between a university in a partner country and Flemish higher education institutions, lasting 12 years.

 

​(Restricted access: the Call is only open to Selected IUC 2026 Expression of Interest and Commitment proposals) 

More info on the IUC Programme

Download the full call document

Duration

12 years

Budget

600.000 EUR per year

Call Submission Deadline
Project Start Date

An IUC project strategy is steered by the strategic plan of the partner university and focuses on:

  • enabling a change process within the partner university leading to improved institutional performance via transversal institutional strengthening sub-projects;

  • strengthening educational and research capacities via different academic theme based sub-projects.

  • This should capacitate the partner university to operate as driver of change for global sustainable development in its country, region, and globally.  

Discover the selected proposals IUC Stage 1

 

Find an overview of the selected IUC 2026 Concept Note proposals.

/news/iuc-2026-phase-new-iuc-partnerships

Discover the main features

On board?

Let's get technical

Did you miss the information session?

Discover the main features
Different phases

An IUC project, lasting 12 years, is developed via different phases:

Budgetary framework

The maximum annual budget of an IUC project is still under revision. Currently it stands at € 600,000, meaning that the budget for a first phase of cooperation is up to € 3,000,000.

The final budget scope will be mentioned in the IUC 2026 Call for Fully Fledged proposals.  

Important dates

The Call for IUC 2026 Stage 2 Concept Notes has been launched on 23 January 2025.  

An online information session will be organised on 30 January 2025, from 13h30 PM to 15h30 PM CET. 

Deadline for the submission of an IUC 2026 Concept Note proposal is 5 June 2025 (17h00 CET). 

IUC 2026: 3 Stages
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Eligibility criteria

  1. Partner institutions 

  2. Affiliation and statute of the coordinators 

  3. Eligibility of Team Leaders 

  4. Eligibility of submission  

 

  1. Partner institutions
    Restricted Access: this Stage 2 IUC Call is only open to Selected IUC 2026 Expression of Interest and Commitment proposals (IUC partner university+ Flemish coordinating university) 
     
  2. Affiliation and statute of the coordinators (already confirmed in Stage 1 of the Call)
    More detail is included in section 3.1. of the Call document.
     
  3. Eligibility of Team Leaders 
    A proposal of Flemish and partner team leaders (of IUC sub-projects) for the IUC Phase 1 project is part of the IUC Stage 2 Concept Note proposal. The criteria for taking up the mandate of Team Lead of an IUC subproject are outlined in the supporting document - which can be downloaded on the bottom of this webpage- explaining the IUC management structure. More detail is included in section 3.1. of the Call document.
     

  4. Eligibility of submission  
    A project proposal is only eligible when submitted via the online tool, whereby the format is strictly followed, meaning that all sections are completed and all mandatory annexes are uploaded, as prescribed by the call.  


    In order to facilitate the preparation of the information to be submitted directly in the tool, VLIR-UOS made available a Word format as a working environment among project applicants. However, only proposals submitted via the online platform will be taken into account. 

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On board?
Concept Note

Applicants are invited to develop a joint (Flemish-partner) Concept Note. In this stage, the focus is on developing a comprehensive project strategy concept, taking into account the institutional capacities of the partner university, and consortium development (MIP and MSP). The Concept Note also needs to take into account the recommendations of the IUC Selection commission from Stage 1.  

Selection procedure
  • The IUC selection procedure follows a 3-stage procedure. This Call for proposals concerns the IUC 2026 Stage 2 Concept Notes, to be selected by an IUC Selection Commission, composed of external experts. 
  • The maximum number of selectable IUC2026  Concept Notes will be 6 projects. 
  • Timing: the selection commission meeting will take place, indicative, in the 2nd week of September 2025.
  • More details on the selection criteria and desciptors are included in the Call document under section 7.
Let's get technical
Project formats

The proposal needs to use/contain all information incl. annexes as requested by the call. The maximum budget and project duration foreseen in the formats is to be respected. Without the requested information (formats), we cannot accept the proposal.

  • Format for a project proposal (offline working document)
  • Annex 1: Overview of the Team Members
  • Annex 2: Visualisation of a Basic Theory of Change 
  • Annex 3: CV of coordinators and Team leader per proposed sub-project (links to online accessible CVs, preferably ORCID identifier link)
  • Annex 4: Letter of commitment rector/president of the partner university 

More details are available in the Call document.

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Submission Tool

Apply here!

Did you miss the information session?
IUC 2026 - Stage 2 info session of 30 January 2025

(re)watch the recording of the information session

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IUC 2026 information session presentation

Find the presentation here

IUC 2026 - Institutional Assessment

(re)watch the recording of the briefing workshop of the Institutional Assessments

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Call & Formats
IUC 2026 call stage 2: Concept Notes
IUC 2026 Call Stage 2: Format for Concept Notes
IUC 2026 Call Stage 2: Annex 1 - Team members
IUC 2026 Call_Stage 2_Infosession
Background information
IUC Management Structure and Team composition (updated)
Methodological handbook for Theory of Change development
Overview ongoing IUC projects & mandates

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