The European Investment Bank channels most of its institutional relations with Universities through an EIB Universities Research Action consisting of three different programmes.

1. EIBURS, the EIB University Research Sponsorship Programme, a programme to support EU University Research Centres working on research topics and themes of major interest to the EIB.

Main features of EIBURS:
EIB sponsorships are awarded through a competitive process to interested University Departments or Research Centres associated with Universities in the EU, Acceding or Accession Countries, with recognised expertise in areas of direct interest to the Bank. The sponsorship aims to expand their activities in these areas.

A EIBURS sponsorship will entitle the beneficiary (the EIBURS Centre) to obtain up to 100 000 euros/year, for a period of three years, in exchange for the commitment to develop additional activities to those normally carried out by the centre. These activities will be jointly agreed and will entail the delivery of a variety of outputs (research, education, networking, dissemination of results, etc.) that will be the subject of a contractual agreement with the Bank.

The initiative on academic and research activities is expected to come from the University. The Bank could, however, propose some specific activities, in particular regarding research and continuous education involving EIB staff.

The lines of research to be financed by EIBURS are defined by the CBU (Comité BEI-Universités / EIB-Universities Committee). The number of new EIBURS sponsorships made by the EIB will depend on available budget.

For the 2011-2012 period, the selected lines of research are the following:

European IP regimes and their impact on Technology Transfer / IP finance

Analysis of investment needs in infrastructure sectors

The rising of credit risk in microcredit: origins, warning signals, current state and future prospects
Deadline: was 16 September 2011
Read more about EIRBURS here.

2. STAREBEI, STAges de REcherche BEI, a programme for financing young researchers working on joint EIB-University projects.

The STAREBEI Programme supports the joint interests of University Centres and EIB staff through the sponsorship of junior researchers interested in carrying out research projects proposed by the Bank under the joint supervision of a University tutor and an EIB tutor.

This synergy between the academic world and the Bank’s professionals should provide a rich experience for young researchers and produce outputs contributing to the know-how of both the Bank and Academia. Unlike EIBURS which is based on activities proposed by the University Centres, research initiatives for STAREBEI must originate from within the Bank.
The STAREBEI programme has a different approach to the traditional in-service training at the EIB. It is research-oriented and has stronger academic requirements. The duration of the stage is longer, but normally only short periods will be spent in Luxembourg at the EIB headquarters. The remuneration for the researcher will be competitive and based on the conditions prevailing at the partner University.

Read more about STAREBEI here.

3. EIB University Networks, a sponsoring mechanism for university networks, focused on areas of interest to the EIB.

The EIB Group can establish partnerships with University networks showing characteristics that are of particular relevance to support the objectives of the Group. These networks are used by the EIB as preferred vehicles for the dissemination of EIBURS and STAREBEI projects and for information on other research requests from the services that cannot be accommodated through these two programmes.

On the other hand, the networks are expected to provide the Bank with information relevant to its activities. When appropriate, universities are entitled to use the “EIB label” in their promotion.

Read more about EIB University Networks here.