In 2004, discussions among foreign university chiefs who had been invited to receive honorary degrees at the Université de Montréal's quasquicentennial led to a subsequent conference in Belgium and a decision to establish a formal association.
[2] Bringing together a limited number of universities from diverse countries, the forum was founded on October 11, 2007, at the Université de Montréal with the mission of "promoting the expression of values that underlie the mission of public universities in an era of internationalization".
[3] In 2008, the consortium included 13 of the world's 200 top universities according to Times Higher Education rankings.
[5][6] Enhancing mutual understanding, integrating possible resources for supporting teachers, and facilitating the application of joint research projects in accordance with international influential events or organizations.
[1] Meetings have been attended by World Bank experts in tertiary education.