SHIFT Project: redefining financial support for university students

Financial barriers are often identified as a key obstacle preventing access to Higher Education, with increasing tuition costs and decreasing financial support for students.  The financial crisis and associated budgetary constraints led many governments across the European Union to lower investments in education and significantly decrease grants and scholarships for university students.

The SHIFT Project wants to develop an innovative model that combines different financial tools to introduce efficiencies in the financing of the public good of access to higher education.  The SHIFT Model will combine concepts of an endowment, investment and revolving fund; once developed, the SHIFT Model will be validated through Stress Testing techniques.

SHIFT (Strengthen HE through Innovative Financial Tools) is co-funded by the European Commission through the Erasmus Plus Programme; the project brings together partners from academia, the private and third sectors from four European countries.

For more information and details about the SHIFT Project, please visit www.project-shift.eu